Brooksville artist Robert Smith is at the top of the class in glass

Robert G. Smith owned and operated a junkyard in Stuart for 30 years. The 12-year resident of Hernando County never realized he had an artistic bent.

Then one day as he sandblasted the paint and rust from a junker car — the engine showed possibilities of renewal — Smith inadvertently turned the sandblaster on a car window. It exploded into a million pieces. But the incident prompted his curiosity and interest in glass.

Smith, 74, has been pursuing artisan work in glass ever since.

The energized Smith, who gets around like a man at least 20 years younger, eagerly shows off his sandblasted glass etchings: tabletops, fire screens, glass doors, window insets and mirrors, smaller works worth framing, even coveted by art aficionados. Some are produced from patterns he has purchased; others are free-form drawings of his.

Each work is of several dimensions — minor infusions of etchings to deeper-cut sandblasts — to create a harmonious measure of foreground and distance. Each step in the process requires the application of thin vinyl overlays, which Smith cuts himself, to protect the glass not yet worked on. A single piece may take six weeks to make.

The walls of Robert and Dorothy Smith's home are filled with his works, including his freestyle landscape paintings. He has come to the forefront now, he says, because "I've run out of space." Indeed, some glassworks are stacked upright on the couple's lanai.

In 30 years of creating art on glass, Smith has given away most of his work. He donated 16 etched windows to St. Anthony Catholic Church in Brooksville, where he is a member.

He came to the aid of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Homosassa when it remodeled its vestibule, adding glass doors into the sanctuary. A congregant walked into the unseen glass and fell down. Smith etched the glass to prevent future accidents.

He has accidents of his own.

"Working with glass, you know (breakage) is going to happen now and again," he said.

He bemoans dropping a large, donated plate-glass tabletop, but, ever creative, salvaged pieces and etched them as decorative art pieces and sandblasted smaller pieces as paperweights.

Smith uses a variety of sands for blasting, even digging on occasion in his back yard for what he deems the proper sand for etching or polishing.

Where did his artistic abilities come from? "Who knows?" Smith said. "The good Lord gave me the talent."

In fact, Smith has exhibited many talents. He seems to be a jack-of-all trades. He lathes and carves wooden pedestals for his glass tabletops and blacksmiths iron structural upholds for some. He built his own sandblasting shop, a semi-outdoor structure with an area for large works and a skirted area where he can create small pieces, all while wearing a protective hood.

Smith, who studied automotive mechanics in high school, drew on that background to build a sugar cane press from a lawn mower for his son-in-law.

"If I wanted a trailer (for hauling supplies)," he added, "I built it."

Smith seems amazed by his own abilities. "I've been able to have an idea of something in my mind," he said, "and I've been able to do it."

Beth Gray can be reached at graybethn@earthlink.net.