The Annunciation

The Passion

This series was born of my experimentations with impasto acrylic applied with a palette knife over a dark base paint and the desire to try to recreate the visual feel of stained-glass windows. I had been playing around with the palette knife painting, and I was liking the results I was getting, so I decided to see how a series would come out. At around the same time I was looking at photographs of stained-glass windows, especially those of churches and cathedrals. I really like the sense of light and space these windows can create in an environment.

The first part of the process is a solid dark undercoat, which mirrors whatever the predominant top color is. Then I begin adding swatches of color, mostly ever lighter shades of the main color, but also bits of the other colors in the painting. It is a fairly lengthy process, but the acrylic dries pretty quickly, so there is not a lot of wasteful downtime. The basic color wheel is the palette, and the colors came out rich and vibrant.

There was originally intended to be a fifth painting, an endpiece larger and with slightly different proportions. It is one of those unfinished tasks that has lingered for years now. This seems to be a recurring issue with my work, but I can always say that at least it leaves me with plenty to do if I run out of ideas.

Acrylic on canvas. 30x33 in.

Available as prints

O Holy Night

Pieta