Chihuly’s work on paper is as exciting and unpredictable as his work in glass. As Chihuly says, “The drawings have given me a new freedom – if I can do it on paper, I can do it with the glass.”

The two paintings at WMODA date from 1996 and were once on display at Wolfgang Puck's Postrio Restaurant in San Francisco along with Chihuly’s spectacular Persian wall now a highlight of the museum.

Chihuly’s expressive paintings epitomize his energy and spontaneity as he works very quickly using acrylic paints with broad brush strokes. In his words, “I don’t know what it is about drawing. It is a very physical thing. You get into it. It’s like a workout. You start sweating and working with it. The bigger the drawings are, the more physical they are.”

“You can more directly sense my energy in my drawings than in any other way perhaps. And from the very beginning, the drawings were done, as my glass is done, very quickly, very fast.”

Read about Louise’s visit to the Reflections on Nature Chihuly exhibit at Kew in Across the Pond.