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How I Dived into Glass Painting

January 12, 2025 | By

A DIY glass painting adventure sparked by a shattered prayer cabinet panel. Our reluctant artist Rachna channels her inner Van Gogh, armed with third-grade art credentials and family’s skeptical support. 🎹Spoiler: She becomes “world famous” at home!😁

Glass Painting – Before and After 😊

 

Look, I can paint. I mean, if you ask me, ‘Hey, can you paint?’ I’ll reply, ‘Yes I can’. I mean, if you pester me enough, I may. I mean, if you fall at my feet, I might, even. I mean, if you hold a gun to my head, I’ll get to it with the alacrity of a puppy fetching a ball. I mean, you get what I mean.

And then, when I do get around to painting, the beginning is tedious. I feel dull and morose. I feel it’s too cloudy and dark, and my eyesight is too weak to paint. Then I feel sleepy. I try to hide my paints and brushes out of sight. I almost cancel the project just before dragging myself to sit at it. You get the drift. That is my real process.

Necessity has to beckon before I wield a brush or, for that matter, do anything at all.

We have a prayer cabinet, backed with wood and the rest enclosed by four frosted glass panels, two by four feet each.

One of the four glass panels broke, and a zillion pieces spread all over the floor, reaching every nook and cranny. I looked at my husband in horror. He looked at me in horror. We looked at each other in horror. We had to clean up the floor before a barefooted being stepped onto a piece and had to be carried for emergency surgery to the hospital. We stood transfixed for a while, both debating mentally about which hospital, mode of transport, etc. Then we got verbal. I told him to stay put while I tiptoed and got the broom and dustpan. He asked me to stay put and said he would do what was needed. After some to and fro, both of us tiptoed and got a broom and dustpan each.

I can sense the restlessness in the reader, who wants me to get to the point. Watson was famously advised not to omit details and hence I continue stoically.

We restored the floor to its safer self and started scouting for replacement panels. We needed to replace all four so they matched.

I started googling for options and then got interested in stained glass images on the web. That is when my inner Van Gogh was invoked.

“Get me plain glasses, I shall paint them”, I announced, Michael Angelically. My family looked at each other askance. I caught the circumspection writ large on their faces, before they wiped their expressions clean. With great indignation, I reminded them of my third-grade school days when my art teacher would write ‘v. good’ on my sketches and paintings.

Glass painting panel for the patio

A Rangoli design in the colour of haldi kumkum for a puja cabinet

My intuitive self senses the reader’s restlessness rising. At this point, I find it prudent to defer to the alarming trend.

The panels were ordered, and I breezily explored a few glass painting tutorials on the web. A couple of calls with an artist friend and I was ready with my painting supplies and more.

I bought water-based Fevicryl glass colours, easy to use and without the harmful fumes of solvent-based paints, as advised by my friend. ‘These fumes may affect your delicate brain further’. I was touched by her concern.

The process of making the Lady with the Umbrella Glass Painting

The process of making the Lady with the Umbrella Glass painting

The first step was to decide on the pattern. While I looked up the web at different images, the MF Hussein in me was militant about creating something of my own.

I stuck a few sheets to make a two by four feet size for the pattern and lay it flat on a table.

That’s when the self doubts crept in. What was I even thinking before embarking on such a project! Perspiring profusely at my temerity, I moped around a little. I played and fidgeted with random tools and paints that I had collected.

Finally I mustered up some courage and sketched a few harmless looking leaves. I added a few more, listlessly. And then some more. I connected them with a vine. I perked up. The pattern was looking respectable and I breathed easy. This would be the common pattern for all the four panels.

Prayer Room glass painting

Prayer Room glass painting

I put the first clear glass panel carefully over the pattern on the table and started tracing the outlines with a fevicryl gold outliner, with great trepidation. The fear dissolved soon enough and confidence built up.

It was time for the ‘litmus test’, colouring. I picked a leaf in the pattern and poured in some red; then some green and then some blue. I took a thin brush and made swirls in the colours ever so lightly and then with some unnecessary dramatic flourish. Now the entire leaf was filled with colours inside its outline. It looked cool! Da Vinci patted me on the back. Some colour dripped onto my clothes in the process. (Mind voice — be mindful of the dripping brush in hand, while following instructions from dead voices).

As I worked on each leaf, the psycho psychedelic in me got unleashed and I set up a stampede of colours. The iridescence of glass colours was mesmerising!

The last step was to give a coat of varnish on the painting for longevity. The final outcome was a success. The crowd went wild at home and the faith in my art teacher’s judgement was restored.

Uske baad, maine peechhe mud ke nahin dekha; for a while, that is. I got a crick in my neck bending over the painting for hours and weeks. Now I know better of course and use the right seating height to work.

The breaking of the glass panel turned out to be serendipitous! I have made a few more paintings since then. My personal favourite being ‘The girl with an umbrella’.

Today, I am world renowned in my house as the Picasso of glass paintings. After completion of every piece, they indulge in my ramblings for a straight five minutes (I look pointedly at the restless reader).

Enjoy creating your DIY Glass Painting the Rachna Rajesh Way đŸ„°

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Solitary Moments – Water Colours on Canvas Paper

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After being in the chemical engineering profession for two decades, Rachna is a homemaker by choice now. She stays busy deciding which of her diverse interests to pursue, leaving little room for doing much. Reading, writing, singing, painting, making short video montages and some community service are a few things she dabbles in. Through all of this, Hindi film music and R D Burman remain a constant in her life.
All Posts of Rachna Rajesh

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2 thoughts on “How I Dived into Glass Painting

  • NS Rajan

    Rachna, THAT was a fantastic piece of ART ! (To say nothing of the ‘Song & Dance’ that went with it).
    Seriously, everyone can get ‘Ideas’ but artistically carrying them into definte shapes and objects worthy of universal admiration is something else.
    As the famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison said: “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”. You have effectively combined both, never mind the respective percentages.
    And, the lively presentation in words and ‘Action’ matches the verve.
    Hope you are into more of this already.

    1. Rachna Rajesh Post author

      Thank you so much for your kind words, uncle. They are especially motivating , coming from a stalwart who possesses incredible talents !
      You have always inspired and motivated me to pursue my interests. I can happily state here that if not for you and Antara being on my case, this writing and video would not have happened . And I am eternally grateful for it.

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