Wild Flowers 1985
Collection of the artist

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Before turning to the medium of stained glass, Leap was an accomplished watercolor painter. This early work was inspired by his painting of wild flowers pictured here.

Typically in the medium of stained glass, the color is inherent in the glass itself. Wherever different colors are used, they have been cut from a solid sheet of glass of that color.
Glass painting refers to the application of a layer of opaque pigment, usually black or brown, that is made from glass and metal oxide. The pigment is painted onto the surface of colored glass to create imagery and to modulate the transparency of the glass itself. Once applied, the pigment can be manipulated by reworking it with a variety of brushes to achieve different effects. The pigments must be heated in a kiln to the point where the glass particles in the paint fuse to the surface of the glass it has been painted onto. This process, called firing, renders the imagery permanent.