The images you will see here are to be found in private residences throughout Sydney and regional centres of NSW and the ACT. They represent a small selection of many hundreds of commissions completed over the past four decades.
My brief for this window was to tell the story of my clients' journey from a relatively restricted, conservative society, the United Kingdom, to the freedom they discovered in Australia. I landed on using very traditional painted and fired, Victorian stained glass in the top left corner as a metaphor for what they left behind. This imagery fragments and dissipates as the eye traverses the Australian landscape.
From the Bondi wave, we move into a forest of eucalyptus leaves, over distant mountain ranges and geological stratification to glimpse The Olgas in Central australia, known as Kata Tjuta, where winds from the Valley of the Winds blow across a meandering river (the Rainbow Serpent), and upward into the window.
Balmain fanlight
2021 Fanlight over front entry, Balmain (detail)
Very much a part of the family, my clients wanted to celebrate Nel in the new stained glass window. To create some sort of logic for Nel sniffing the flowers, I included a bee buzzing about.
This is the left hand portion of the panel
Honkyoku (reverse)
2021
250cm x 90cm
stained glass partition, Beecroft
This is the reverse side of the internal glass screen shown in the adjacent image. Formerly a doorway, during renovations the clients decided to make this a opening feature artwork in the house. This side is the parents' domain.
The title refers to meditational solos for Japanese flute, the shakuhachi
Honkyoku
2021
250cm x 90cm
stained glass partition, Beecroft
From time to time I will receive an open brief where a client is familiar with my ouevre, loves my work and offers me a free hand in the design of the window. Within certain parameters, this was such a commission. The work had to speak of the wind in the trees, bird song, walking through the bush. I turned to the music of contemporary Australian composer Ross Edwards for direct inspiration, and spent hours walking Sydney's bushland.
The title refers to meditational solos for Japanese flute, the shakuhachi, featuring prominently in Edward's compositions.
Balmain fanlight
This is the middle section of an interesting commission for a couple of guys in Balmain. The specific request was to celebrate their beloved Labrador and include Australian native flowers
Kangaroo paw, "billy buttons", thorny mountain devil, banksia and native hibiscus.
2002
85cm dia.
porthole or 'oriole' to living room, Beecroft
From time to time I will receive an open brief where a client is familiar with my ouevre, loves my work and offers me a free hand in the design of the window. In such cases, more often than not, the result is an aesthetically significant work which comes from the heart and which usually (though not always) receives a title.
"Dreamscape" conveys the sense of flying over the Australian landscape as if in a dream.
2019
2.8m x 2.8m o'all
sidelights to front entry, Seaforth
The detail shown here is from the left hand panel in a set of
sidelights, and features one of several peony flowers in the set. This bloom is adapted from a Chinese watercolour belonging to the client and hanging in their Hong Kong apartment.
2019
2.8m x 2.8m o'all
sidelights to front entry, Seaforth
"Chinoiserie" was created as a response to a commission from a Chinese Australian woman and her mother for a stained glass window to the entryway of their new house. It features all their favourite flowers and fruits: peonies, lilies, guava and grapes and includes elements adapted from exquisite Chinese fabrics.
2019
2.8m x 2.8m o'all
sidelights to front entry, Seaforth
A detail from the right hand sidelight, showing the uppermost peony blossom with two buds. I've used opalescent glasses in these flowers, enhanced with glass paint and pink enamel to provide depth of tone. The veins on the leaves are also painted in and fired, along with the little bee at the bottom.
2007
interior panel 100cm x 82cm
My response to a very specific brief, one where the client was extremely particular about the colours to be used (or avoided). A fascinating process exploring freedom within strict parameters.
The client was a delight to work for. She has an abiding love of glass, with a significant collection of Australian Studio Glass, including Peter Crisp, Brian Hirst, Colin Heaney and Tina Cooper among others.
Looking closely you will see that this panel is an internal screen, located between the hallway and living room. The stained glass receives good light from the external windows which overlook the City of Sydney.
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Lyrebird fanlight, Newtown
2018
38cm x 82cm
Fanlight over front entry, Newtown
This panel was a response to a specific request: the Newtown couple are lucky enough to own a country property where lyrebirds are plentiful. Without being overly complex, the work still needed to reflect the vintage of the terrace house into which it is installed.
2005
front door entryway 193cm x 135cm overall
Just off Dolphin Street in Coogee, a contemporary work installed into a renovated 1930's home. The entryway comprises a full-light door panel, a highlight (or fanlight), corner light and full-height sidelight
2002
double-hung window to study 114cm x 104cm
The brief for this window was to obscure the view of the neighbouring roof, (while allowing in lots of light) with a highly textured but colour-restricted palette. I also had a steel security grille to deal with.
Once again a significant challenge working within strict parameters. Texture became paramount, providing the opportunity of interrupting the strident vertical grid and animate the work.
1999
oriole to front of house, 86cm dia.
This window looks out over the suburban landscape of Bankstown and so an abstract landscape became the subject of the stained glass.
Ever playful, the view is inverted in an actual lense incorporated into the window below the 'horizon'. It was commissioned by a couple I've known all through my school years: always a great delight being commissioned by a friend, and allowed an open brief.
2007
entryway to study, North Parramatta
Visitors to my previous website would be familiar with the Four Seasons, installed into a house in North Parramatta. A few years back those clients called me with a wonderful compliment, saying that "living with your stained glass windows has enriched our lives... and we want some more!"
This landscape was the result: an amalgam of the special places I've visited throughout NSW and Victoria. The kangaroo (its more of a wallaby really) was a special request. The work is deliberately dense, unlike the Four Seasons on the other side of the house. The outlook here was a white masonry fence and a busy road, all of which has been obscured with the density of decoration in the glasswork.
1988
left hand sidelight to entryway, Pymble
While I did use magnolias in the Malouf House at Parramatta to symbolise Spring, this rendering of the beautiful magnolia blossom graces the front of a house in Pymble. It's one of my favourite flowers
This image here is the left hand sidelight of an entryway.
1998
Panels to an illuminated cabinet, Kirribilli
This client is an accomplished artist herself and consequently had a clear idea of what she was looking for yet had the confidence to allow me a free hand within those parameters.
The most appealing and wondrous aspect of Art Nouveau is its sinuous, rhythmic and organic line. And in these situations I get to play with all the beautiful opalescent glasses of Kokomo, Youghiogheny and Bullseye.
1998
Highlight to living room, Kirribilli
Created for the same client as the Cabinet Doors this proscenium arch lends a theatrical air to the interior. The builder handling the renovation did a beautiful job with the timber joinery, giving the whole apartment an understated elegance, authentic to the period of the building.
1998
Panels to an illuminated cabinet, Kirribilli
These cabinet doors, the proscenium arch and a number of other stained glass pieces are all installed in an apartment in The Rock Fort, an historic brick building overlooking Sydney Harbour at Kirribilli.
1988
right hand sidelight to entryway, Pymble
Such an elegant flower; I love the way the blossoms appear on almost leafless branches. As with all my naturalistic windows I spent quite some time getting to know the subject by drawing from life, gathering sufficient material to compose the cartoon for the window.
This is the right hand sidelight of the Pymble entryway.
2007
6x light entryway 139cm x 205cm overall
A restrained treatment using elements of the existing leadlights, playing with the design but keeping to the period. There's a lovely detail in the door panel: a monogram of the owners' initials and date of installation, painted and fired into the glass.
1995
double hung window to study 116cm x 75cm
One method of conveying a tartan in glass is to use fired enamels: a time-consuming and therefore costly procedure, and to be honest a little hit-and-miss. Together with my leading hand, Ben Jenkins, we came up with a novel solution here: using the actual tartan fabric saturated in PVA and adhered directly onto the glass. The window is quite brightly lit so a really interesting effect has been created.
2007
double hung window to bathroom 97cm x 47cm
When it's appropriate to the commission, I go to some length to achieve an impression that the new stained glass fits in so well with the existing architecture that it would seem to have always been there. I draw on elements from within the building -other leadlights if there are any, timber fretwork, decorative plaster ceilings and tiling.
"Federation" is a broad and often incorrectly used term that describes the style of decoration in vogue at the time the Australian States federated: 1901. Art Nouveau had swept Europe and arrived in the colonies. But in Australia there arose a particular blend of Edwardian and Victorian elements mixed in with the "Arts and Crafts" movement.
circa 1990
double casement window and fixed highlights to stairwell
This large window graces the interior of a grand Mosman mansion. Many of the houses built in the early 1900's fall into that broad style termed Federation (the Australian States Federated in 1901) but that period also coincides with the rise of Art Nouveau and, some 15 years later, Art Deco: one sees elements of both these styles in Australian houses of the period.
When making period pieces, I take my cues for a design theme either from existing stained glass in the house or other architectural features such as timber mouldings and decorative plaster work.
circa 1990
single casement window to bathroom
This charming window is installed in the same house as the Art Deco stairwell window. The client had a special request for this window: to recreate an early Australian design as faithfully as I could. The image appeared in the book "The Federation House" and is a fine example of what is generally termed the "Arts and Crafts Movement", a precursor to full-blown Art Nouveau.
2004
one of two orioles 74cm dia., Rose Bay
Another statement in the Art Nouveau idiom. In a circular canvas however one is provided with an opportunity to design something particularly elegant.
2004
Semi-circular window to music room 72cm x 133cm
In the same house at Rose Bay as the preceeding image: wonderful clients to work for. They knew broadly what they wanted but gave me a free hand with colours and design.
There are endless possibilities with Art Nouveau and after working in the genre for some years one builds up a repertoire of elements to play with. I was totally in love with this style in my 20's.
Sadly both deceased now, Dick and Joan Crebbin had a wonderful collection of contemporary Australian art scattered throughout their house in Mosman.
As well as this three-panelled highlight to the dining area, I installed two triangular dormer windows to the front of their house which could be seen from the street. The Crebbins also purchased one of my full length stained glass mirrors to hang in their hallway.
I am indebted to the Australian jeweller Meridee Cram for her high recommendation.
This client in Balgowlah was very proud of having grown a tree dahlia, a plant not commonly found in Sydney. She was very keen to see the plant immortalised in a stained glass window to her stairwell window.
This set of double doors and the triple door panels shown further on slide into a wall cavity to open up the interior spaces. The house is beautifully appointed with a glass installation by Warren Langley at the entrance and even a glass bridge so that the visitor walks across flowing water to enter the home.
Certainly my largest residential commission in terms of overall scale, this set of double sidelights and a highlight were commissioned through the designer Susan Cadby. Sadly the entire suite of glass art met its demise when the house was demolished in the early 2020's. The fate of the stained glass is unknown.
This is the right hand side panel of the Strathfield entryway. In this photo you can see the reflection of the stained glass in the marble floor tiles. Some of the details in the design took their cue from architectural details in the building.
A sense of opulence was part of the brief; as well as gold lustre fired onto the glass I commissioned a bespoke rondel by Robert Wynne of Denizen Glass, featuring his signature pink and mauve cane work, to be included in this stained glass panel.
Here you see the set of three door panels in the Bellevue Hill House mentioned previously. The design concept was by Bernard Young Interiors, formerly of Surry Hills.
One of a set of double doors and highlights to a house in Cooma NSW, featuring birds native to the area.
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