Today we will look at some of my recent art that, once again, looks at geometric design. As I traveled this road, I found my interests turned toward the world of Rose Windows – those circular stained-glass windows found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. Rose windows are typically divided into segments by stone mullions and other traceries.
Spiral Mosaic – Created by Don Cheke
Spiral Mosaic was inspired by a piece of geometric art I had seen on the artist’s forum that I occasionally visit. I thought that the pattern was quite stunning, so I decided to model it in TurboCAD and then give it my own color scheme in my Rebelle painting program. The pattern looks quite simple but working out the math to keep the distance between each square consistent, while increasing in size, was too much for my non-mathematical mind to handle. I ended up having AI help with the math. Interestingly enough, CoPilot supplied incorrect results, while ChatGPT nailed it. I found that the dark charcoal textured background worked well – making the spiral mosaic really pop, as they say. In some ways, this piece reminds me of one of those black velvet paintings that were popular back in the day.
Cathedral – Created by Don Cheke
Cathedral started out as something completely different but what I had in mind just wasn’t coming together. While I was working on the original piece, I saw the pointy piece seen above in black show up as an unplanned element. I thought that it looked like a cathedral of sorts and decided to enlarge it and have it take a prominent place in a new painting. The red textured canvas and raised concentric circles came to be after much experimentation. In the end, as simple as it is, I found that I liked the final piece very much. I hope that you do too.
Rose Window – Created by Don Cheke
Although this piece is called Rose Window, it did not start out with that in mind. Really, I just wanted to continue my experimentation with geometric design. I began the design above in my vector drawing program called Affinity Designer. I started with the central circle and just added interesting elements as I expanded on the radial design. I then brought the black-line design into my painting program and painstakingly painted each element. I felt like I was painting in a coloring book. Again, I used a dark charcoal background to really bring out the colors of the now, rose window.
After completing the piece above, I started to think more and more about rose windows and decided I would make a 3D model of a rose window in TurboCAD and render it in KeyShot. I decided to use the North Rose Window of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris as a reference, which I found with a Google search. Mine is not an exact replica, and the stained-glass portion of mine is not a true representation of the original truly mind-boggling piece. That said, below is my attempt at the rose window with a much simpler “glass” color scheme. The modeling process was quite intense, but I enjoyed it very much. The results, while okay, did not sing to me as I hoped it would. The “glass” seems too simple – it lacks the wow factor that many rose windows have with their colorful pictorial effects.
Rose Window (TC-KS) Radial Brighten – Created by Don Cheke
Rose Window (TC-KS-REB) – Created by Don Cheke
In an attempt to give my model a bit more life, I added a painted texture to the window in my painting program. Overall, this piece and the one above are not as rich and appealing as I would have liked. I wanted them to be more reflective and awe-inspiring, like the original Notre Dame rose window is.
To get a truly inspiring rose window, I thought that it should have pictures created as stained-glass art.
Family Rose Window – Created by Don Cheke
Because I didn’t want to spend the time it would take to create numerous stained-glass images, I decided that I would use photos instead. First, I created a new window design in TurboCAD, which I then brought into Affinity Designer. As I looked through my huge photo repository, I decided that I would use family-related images for the window. As such, all images have something to do with my family, whether they are the people themselves, or places that mean something to us as a family. I found it a challenge to come up with the right color for the window frame and the background. After several tries, I settled on what you see above. Although I think it looks nice, and has special meaning to me, it still lacks the real-world stained-glass look of a real-world rose window. To end this on a positive note, my wife, Denise, wants to get this family rose window printed large format – one for us, and one for our daughter Emma. I think that is a great idea! Years ago, Denise and I made a posterboard size collage of our family using photos cut to suit. We ended up making several copies and gave them to family members at Christmas. The one we kept still gets displayed every Christmas all these years later.
Have you ever had the opportunity to travel and see some of the world’s truly spectacular rose windows in the many cathedrals that exist all around the world? Let me know in the comments what/where your favorite has been.
Donald B. Cheke – September 8, 2025
Thank you for including me in your art work!! It looks like it was a lot of work to put this peice together.
You have been part of my family for about 45 years, so you definitely have a place in the window. Although I have many pictures of you from the past (days of film), I only had the one of you in digital format. I took this one while we were in the Mano’s lot and you had your blue truck. A nice sunny day!