While I was in Paris over spring break, we were supposed to chose a specific topic to focus on, in order to inspire us to make our own work. I had a difficult time bouncing back between Impressionism and the stained glass windows that I saw at all of the churches and museums. So, naturally I made a piece for both inspirations!

You’ve all already seen the one based on Impressionism, the Paris rooftops. But I made another piece that is of abstracted stained glass. I started out with thinning down my oil paints, and choosing a light, pastel yellow for the base color. After I covered the canvas in the base color I began blocking in some more vibrant colors, like the ones I would see in the stained glass. I struggled with deciding whether or not I wanted to keep the edges of the color soft, and blending together, or use harsh lines that were used in stained glass. Next I had some gold leaf that I wanted to incorporate into this piece! I love gold leaf and how it looks in paintings. I made the mistake of trying to adhere the gold leaf to the canvas when the oil paint was still wet (I’m so impatient)! I let the painting dry for a week or two, and went in and added the gold leaf. I used the gold leaf to block off different colors, and used it as a divider. I absolutely love the result and would like to make more paintings like this one!