Glenn Greene not only shares a birthday -- Feb. 16 -- with Jerome Bettis, but says he works with stained glass the way "The Bus" plays football: There's no stopping him.

And like Mr. Bettis, the 43-year-old Regent Square artist pleases his fans.

"I get to deal with a lot of smiles," Mr. Greene said. "I get a lot of repeat business and tons of referrals.

"The way I try to run my business is kind of a metaphor for the way I'd like to see the world run: with integrity, excitement and just good, old-fashioned good vibes. If you put out something good, good things happen."

Growing up in Cleveland, Mr. Greene started working in stained glass 27 years ago, apprenticing with a friend of the family. He chose the medium after a childhood spent in an environment filled with art based on light.

"My grandparents had a light fixture store, so I grew up around a lot of crystals and Tiffany shades, and grew up around a lot of light and color," Mr. Greene said.

He moved to Pittsburgh in 1982 for a job restoring church windows and was attracted by the city's rich history with stained glass. He stayed to do freelance repair work and then worked in a Lawrenceville studio for a year and a half before opening his own production studio and store in 1984 in Oakland. He moved his business and life to Regent Square in 1996.

Divorced, he lives with his daughter, Rachel, 14, in a house next to the studio. They are up the street from the bustling shops and cafes of Regent Square's business district on South Braddock Avenue and across the street from a part of Frick Park, from which he draws further inspiration.

Unlike many artists who have "day jobs," Mr. Greene supports himself solely through his stained glass work.

He has become a fixture of the area and has had his art displayed in the windows of Katerbean, an independently owned coffee shop up the street on Braddock, for about 10 years.

Mr. Greene specializes in stained glass windows, creating pieces that maintain a traditional home feel, such as clear glass arranged in geometric shapes with dashes of color within them. But there also are many pieces of art for sale ranging from $15 sun catchers to works worth thousands of dollars.

"Most people, when you say stained glass, think of a church, or a medieval or Victorian look. But there is a highly original and entertaining form of stained glass art going on here," Mr. Greene said.

In Mr. Greene's storefront window space, sun filters through a twilight scene. Abstract trees in rich shades of green hover at the artwork's base while above, a golden moon partly covered by clouds rests against a majestic night sky in deep shades of purple glass.

A small, luminous half-moon with a deep, blue ocean-like filling of glass dangles from the storefront's side window, along with other sun catchers. A blue-bodied dragonfly with crystal-glass wings also hangs there, alongside "love glass," tiny pieces centered with a clear heart and bordered with fragments of red, blue and white glass.

One piece of art hanging in his shop is constructed entirely of glass from carefully placed pieces of six beer bottles.

Shades of green, brown, clear and yellow bottles of Rolling Rock, Belgium beers and Cerveza make up the piece.

In starting a new project, Mr. Greene draws a designed pattern, but he also works spontaneously. He cuts each piece of glass, then leads them together. The glass comes from many domestic manufacturers, such as the local Youghiogheny Glass, as well as French, English and German imports. He also recycles old pieces from discarded windows or works with donated windows that can no longer be used.

Mr. Greene said that a unique aspect of his chosen medium is that it often works with nature springing in the background. The environment behind the window interacts and works with each piece.

"With an art that generally counts on sunlight, you look and it gives it a third dimension to be able to hang it in a window. You are seeing the outside world coming through the art," Mr. Greene said.

Mr. Greene's favorite aspect of living in Regent Square is the natural and inspirational beauty of Frick Park. Nature and the power of the individual are the driving forces behind Mr. Greene's stained glass windows and works.

"My work is based on nature, social awareness and integrity that would reflect my belief in the individual. People should try to be happy with what they are," he said.

Remarkably, Mr. Greene doesn't have a Web site and hasn't advertised in more than 15 years. He is still going strong through word of mouth and a simple, dark green and white sign placed outside his studio.

"I get a lot of repeat business," he said. "Customers come back a year later or a week later, and tell their friends. It really is my Regent Square sign and the stuff I have at the coffee shop. Some come in by chance, but it's mostly my sign and word of mouth. I also work with architects, builders and designers who repeat business with me," Mr. Greene said.

The staying power of his work has proved to affect customers years after their purchases.

"I just talked to someone I made a piece for about 15 years ago and he said, 'It's hanging right where I can see it every day, and I look at it every day and I still love this piece and enjoy it every day.' I hadn't talked to him in years and there's no other reason he would have called me," Mr. Greene said. "That is what I work for. Your pieces should hold up."

Karen Billingsley, assistant to the dean of the Honors College at the University of Pittsburgh, is a great admirer of Mr. Greene's work. When Pitt remodeled the department in 2003, Mr. Greene was hired to install stained glass on the 35th and 36th floors of the Cathedral of Learning, where he was allowed creative freedom to include his abstract art in highlight spots.

Ms. Billingsley enjoyed his work at the college so much that she had him create art at her home in Squirrel Hill.

"He just has a wonderful eye for color, and puts it together, and it just makes you feel good looking at it," she said.

Mary Duquin, of Regent Square, has always been interested in stained glass. When she saw Greene's sign outside his shop, she decided to take a closer look, and then purchased two pieces of art that now are displayed in her home.

"One of the pieces I purchased is a picture of a cherry tree, which is a reproduction of one he had made before. To me it's very Zen. When I come down each day and walk past the piece in the hallway and see the light coming through, it's a nice way to start my day," Ms. Duquin said.

"I'm extremely lucky to be able to create things," Mr. Greene said, "and I feel like I make a whole social and political statement with the way I do it. Art is number one with me. It should thrill and delight and enrich people's lives, and make them think and be conscious of the world around them."