Mary Gibilisco has done it again. Step-by step, she shows and tells (on DVD) exactly how to paint beautiful glass bottles in four colors. The technique can be applied to anything made out of glass, especially because there are two different colors of translucent glass, a clear glass and an amber, nearly opaque glass bottle.

Mary uses Genesis paints, a special brand that can be dried by heat setting it, but you certainly can use traditional oil paints by referring to the included color change chart. You will have to let the painting dry at certain points, making the heat set paints a definite plus for saving time.

Mary begins with a drawing on her canvas which can be traced from the enclosed line drawing. She then bases the two translucent bottles in greyscale mixtures, the cork in the clear bottle and the amber bottle in brown mixtures. All of the mixtures are shown and the directions for making all mixtures are given throughout the written directions with the lesson.

Once the base is laid in for each bottle, the background is placed around them and the tabletop is laid in. After this, she dries the painting and begins with the glazing to give each bottle it's unique color. If you are using traditional oils, you will just have to set the painting aside at this point since any damp areas would lift out if you began glazing over them.

The DVD shows every brushstroke, every color placement and every detail clearly as Mary describes what she is doing on the canvas. The camera is stationary and never moves except to occasionally show color blending on the palette. This makes learning how to place the lights, mediums, darks and "shines" that glass always has, so easy to understand and execute. One of the bottles has raised lettering in the glass which looks very difficult to do in the photo, but Mary makes it so easy to do as she shows each highlight and shadow that causes the letters to stand out properly.

The "Listerine" bottle has a label with quite a lot of detail which lets it be a balance for the rather large purple bottle, but Mary's easy going style of teaching makes this just as easy as the raised lettering.

For me, the placement of the shines and giving each one the proper amount of strength is one of the best parts of the lesson. I also love using glazes so watching her technique was quite interesting to me.

The package contains a teaching DVD, color chart, color placement charts, pattern to transfer (if you want to use it), step-by-step written directions and a beautiful full color photograph of the finished project. At $ 19.95, this is a big bargain! Mary's fine art techniques make this a "must have" for everyone who wants to be able to paint realistic looking glass in an easy, understandable way.

I just love the teaching packets from Kingslan and Gibilisco. They are very detailed and always add to my collection of artistic knowledge. I learned long ago that one can always learn something from other teachers. This is a great place to get some of that knowledge in an easy to understand format.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss painting glass, please drop me an email or head over to our forum and join n the discussion there. And be sure to request our newsletter (see box at right) so you will get a notification when a new painting article is posted. BellaOnline never shares your address with anyone else.

Happy Painting,
Paula Devore
Painting Editor