Stained glass painting is a fascinating (and occasionally frustrating!) process. Our old boss Roy described it as not fixating on the mark the brush makes, but the area around it. It’s quite different to other types of painting as it is predominantly done in the negative, which involves a different kind of thinking and planning to achieve the desired effect. The first painting stage, tracing, involves applying line to the glass to create the structure of the image. The second painting stage, creating tonal values, involves applying a layer of paint over the whole area of glass and then using brushes, sticks and needles to remove the paint to create semi-tones and highlights which allow the light to refract  through the glass where and how you want it. It really does feel like painting with light.