Crabby Toadstool
Reverse glass · 6 × 8 in
Reverse glass painting · Est. 1992
Light, caught from behind the glass.
Original Hinterglas paintings from a working studio where the Atlantic meets the Cape Breton highlands. You're warmly invited to come and see them in person.
North Shore Sun Bather
Reverse glass · 16 × 24 in
Scroll
The craft
An old European art, worked entirely in reverse.
Hinterglas is painted onto the back of the glass — graphite, charcoal and watercolour laid down in the opposite order you'd expect. The glass itself becomes the finish, so every colour reads as though lit from within.
I
Composed in mirror
The entire scene is planned in reverse, resolving the right way round when viewed through the front of the pane.
II
Foreground first
Highlights and the nearest details are painted first, then each layer builds backward toward the horizon.
III
Sealed with light
A soft white backing closes the work; the glass protects and brightens the colour for a lifetime.
The glass remembers light. Painting in reverse is simply learning to see the way it does.
The reverseThe working surface — built up on the back of the glass.
Selected works
The collection test
Each piece is an original, painted in reverse on glass — many find a home the week they leave the easel. Prints and cards follow.
Sirens of the Sea
Reverse glass · original
North Shore Sun Bather
Reverse glass · 16 × 24 in
On the Edge
Reverse glass · 18 × 22 in
Puffin Perch
Reverse glass · original
Luna Moth & Mushrooms
Reverse glass · original
A Whale's Tale
Reverse glass · 12 × 26 in
Angels' Trumpets
Reverse glass · 16 × 20 in
End of Summer
Reverse glass · original
Caught in the Fairy Ring
Reverse glass · 8 × 10 in
Forest Fairy Land
Reverse glass · 16 × 20 in
Celtic Song Birds
Reverse glass · 10 × 12 in
The mark
One letter, reflected into two.
The name opens and closes the same — two B's. So the signature is a single B mirrored across its own axis, the two spines meeting to form one quiet line.
Seen straight on it settles into a figure-eight — fitting for an artist whose entire craft turns on reflection, and on reading an image from the far side of the glass.
Bonnie Bews
In the studio · Skir Dhu
The artist
From a Bavarian forest to the Cape Breton shore.
A sketch in a Munich piazza led to an apprenticeship with master glass painter Rudolf Schmid — and to a medium that never let go.
Bonnie Bews has painted on glass since 1992, when she returned to Germany to study Hinterglas. Fairies wandered into the work during those studies and have stayed ever since. Her paintings have shown in galleries across Germany, England, New York and Ontario, and live in private and corporate collections.
In 2025 she traded Muskoka for Cape Breton Island. Salt air, morning walks along the north shore, and the soft, mossy forest floor are all finding their way into new work.
Queensville, Ontario · 1967Georgian College of ArtSchmid Studio · BavariaMuskoka · 1992–2024Cape Breton · 2025 →
Visit the gallery
On the Cabot Trail, between sea and summit.
The Hinterglas Art Studio & Gallery sits on the North Shore — 40 minutes north of Baddeck, 20 south of Ingonish. Watch new work take shape among originals, prints, illustrated books and fairy dust, alongside Jodie May's polymer-clay pieces. Ample parking, wheelchair accessible, and always a warm welcome.
Find us
43118 Cabot Trail Rd., Skir Dhu, Cape Breton · B0C 1H0
Season
Mid-June – October · Daily 9:30–4:30 (Fri 9:00–2:30)
Enquiries
bonniebews@gmail.com · shop online
The North Shore
Skir Dhu · Cabot Trail