Fused Glass Painting Class with Shelley Long

Finished fused glass Winter Rivers Scene

As part of its educational program, the Glass Art Guild of Utah hosts classes a few times each year. In late January, the Guild brought in ceramic and glass artist Shelley Long for a three-day multi-layer glass painting class. The class was hosted in the home studio of Guild artist Kathy Watt, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend.

I have worked with glass paints, but my results have been mixed. I was looking forward to learning how to better use the paints, and also learning more about creating thicker, layered glasswork. The class with Shelley provided all this and more!

Shelley works exclusively with Colors for Earth glass paints. These powdered enamels are mixed with a medium to get the desired painting consistency. We jumped right in the first hour mixing paints, while Shelley talked about various painting techniques to ensure good coverage of paints, shading, and watercolor washes. Over the course of three days we painted six different pieces of glass to create Shelley's Winter Rivers Scene design. The last day Shelley discussed breaking down a photograph of our own for a layered design, as well as damming and firing the final piece.

Shelley and her amazing
three-dimensional glass paintings

The class was a great, long-weekend glass get-away, filled with good food, good conversation, laughter, handmade chocolates (thanks, Mary Young!), and of course fused glass and new painting techniques.

If you have the opportunity to take a class with Shelley, I very much recommend it. While "live" classes are invaluable, if taking a class with Shelley isn't an option, check out the list of Resources below. Shelley offers several glass painting tutorials on her web site, including the Winter Rivers scene that was the subject of the class (check out the video below for a sneak peek!)

Thank you, Shelley and the Glass Art Guild of Utah for a great learning opportunity!

Dana

Resources

Shelley Long, Winter Rivers tutorial

Bullseye Glass, Working Deep tip sheet

Bullseye Glass, Working Deep educational video

Glass Art Guild of Utah, http://www.glassartguild.org/
Colors for Earth glass enamels, http://colorsforearth.com/product-category/glass-enamels/

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Painting tools of the trade!

Guild member Andrea Tatkon-Coker
works on her sky

Shelley and Guild member Julianne Tronier

Having too much fun!
Connie Lundberg, Barb Wesley, Mary Young and Kaleen Knight
(clockwise from the top left)