Around twenty years ago, I became bored with stained glass. The opalescent glass no longer amused me. It was dull and too consistent to be interesting.

I often found myself drawn to nature’s translucency, especially sunlight filtering through treetops. Whatever the season, the ever-changing light and shadows and the flickering of color held my interest.

I explored impressionist paintings to see how other artists interpreted this phenomenon with quick brush strokes, an almost reckless approach that brought a fresh, emotional feeling to the canvas.

I wanted to create windows like they create paintings. I wanted a background of subtle colors upon which I could place pieces of colored glass like brush strokes. I wanted to be able to move the pieces around to compose them before fixing them to the glass. Above all, I wanted to find a way to eliminate having to wrap each piece in foil and lead, which was stifling the light and the color of my composition.

I was aware of flame-working glass, where an artist holds glass over a flame to create art. I set up a small torch, cut some strips from sheets of glass, and gave it a try. Working hot glass is different from “cold working,” but it held my interest and was quicker, considering I didn’t need to make a pattern and hand-cut each piece.

I knew from the very first pieces I had found what I was looking for.