Creating a Sunset Mosaic using stained glass

Last Christmas I was commissioned to do a Sailboat Sunset for a client's future father-in-law. I have never attempted a gradated mosaic. I have done so in drawing, but never with glass. Initially I found it rather stressful and found I was overthinking it.

I gathered all of my yellows, oranges, reds, shades of blue and sketched out approximately where I wanted to have the variations of color. From there it was just a matter of cutting the glass and positioning pieces until I liked the way the transitions from light to dark looked.

I did print out a few photos of sunsets to give me an idea of how the color changes should look, but mostly it was trial and error. The following photos give a better idea of the process.

I started with the water reflection and this photo shows some of my progress. I laid out the horizon line first, the boats reflection and worked from there.

The third photo shows considerable progress. I am fairly pleased with the way it is going. Once I complete the water, I will begin work on the sky.

I have added the beginnings of the water. The next to last photo is the completed mosaic without grout. This piece was a real challenge for me. I had to think a bit outside the box, I have never done clouds, sky and reflections. I am really happy with the results.