Geoffrey's Seagull - Stained Glass Windows

Back in the early 1980's, I designed and built a simple seagull window that was about 18" x 24" and contained only 28 pieces of glass. 35+ years later it still hangs in my sister's house in Atlanta. Over the years I have wanted to "fancy up" the design and make it a little more complicated. In 2015, I re-drew it into a 22"x 28" size and added a color band and a border of 1 1/2" bevels. A fellow glass artist built 3 of this new design and my sister polished up her glass skills by building one also. Below are 2 examples of the larger design.

In October 2020, Carole contacted me because she spotted a picture of my original seagull on the web. She has a glass sunroom overlooking Lake Superior in the upper peninsula of Michigan. She wanted me to build her a window .... just like my original. Unfortunately, she contacted me 3 weeks after Hurricane Sally devastated my area.... not only did I have tree damage to 2 different houses but am in the middle of building a new home! Regretfully, but politely, I had to turn her down. We talked a couple of times, and then Carole shared with me the reason she wanted a seagull in glass.

It seems that Carole had recently lost her husband, Geoffrey. She told me how they loved to walk the shores of Lake Superior together accompanied by many seagulls ..... and her husband always had a liking for the gulls.

Now I don't have to have any clearer signal than this to know that I had to build this glass for Carole .....just had to make time! We decided on colors and within a few weeks Geoffrey's Seagull was finished. Below is a picture of our accomplishment.

Geoffrey's Seagull measures 22" x 28" unframed, contains 60 pieces of glass and was completed in November, 2020. It is now in Carole's home in Marquette, Michigan overlooking the beautiful waters of Lake Superior. I hope Geoffrey appreciates the tribute Carol has commissioned for him!