The Reef - Installed

Here is the reef mosaic installed in its permanent home. The owners plan to install some kind of lighting behind it so that it will be visible at night. This is a daytime view. Everyone is very happy, including me! It turned out almost as I expected. When I purchased the glass, although most of it was translucent, I worried that some of it might be too opaque for the project, but that turned out not to be the case. The fish in the center is not as distinct as I would like, but I think that is due to the sunlight shining in from outside. All in all, a successful project and totally suitable for a house in the keys!

A Reef for a Window

My brother and sister-in-law commissioned a mosaic to be set into an existing window (it is long and narrow and looks out on the uninteresting view of another building). Instead of learning how to do stained glass in the traditional way, I used stained glass pieces to create a mosaic. I chose mostly transparent colors (instead of the more opaque ones I'm used to buying for the glass mosaics I do on boards) to better filter the light coming in the window. I purchased a wood frame and a piece of glass to fit inside it, and stuck the mosaic pieces onto the base glass piece. I experimented with different glues first; on board I generally use white glue (Weldbond), which dries clear (supposedly), but between two pieces of glass it takes forever to dry and is not 100 percent clear even then, so I used my trusty silicone adhesive, Lexel, which is messier to use but is clear from start to finish. The glass base allowed me to place my full-size template underneath, meaning that it was oh, so easy to follow the plan of my drawing! The photos show the template and two stages of completion. I grouted with a light gray, which I have found is best at receding into the background so the viewer is concentrating on the design itself. The window will be installed sometime in the next month, and I'm really excited to see it in place!

Still Here; New Project

I just realized how long it's been since I last posted. This summer has been heavy with work (work work as opposed to artwork) as I'm putting in extra hours to be able to take a week off every couple of months to visit my mother and continue the job of getting her packed and moved to Florida.

She will be living with my brother, who is the source of my latest commission: a stained glass mosaic to go in a horizontal window. This is the template I finally had time to create, after consulting with my brother and his wife. I will be using translucent glass, as opposed to the opaque glass I use on boards, because this will be done on a sheet of clear glass, then framed and set into the window. Another newish technique. I plan to use a clear silicone adhesive; although white glue dries clear eventually, it takes a long time, and maybe never if not exposed to air. So silicone it is.  I have not yet decided how to grout; at the moment I'm thinking of a medium gray that will blend into the background, but I'll have to try a few colors.

The designated window looks out onto another building -- that's why this particular treatment. My brother, who is a wonderful handyperson, will rig lights behind it so it will show up even at night. The theme is a reef with several true-to-species fish, a little crab, some seaweed, and maybe some shells; the final details will probably occur to me as I work, as they usually do! The finished size will be about 2 by 4 feet. Looking forward to purchasing the glass and getting started; it will be nice to spend regular hours in my studio again.  

"Summer School" Variation Installed

I just received this photo from the client for whom I made this variation on my blue and green mosaic called "Summer School." Since they live across the state, I didn't install it myself. I think they did a wonderful job with the color of the alcove walls. Originally we had talked about adding flexible molding around the inside edges, but we both agree that this looks much better. Bravo John and Donna! 

Garden Art Around Town

I was driving downtown a few weeks ago and saw this wonderful wall in front of a house near Sarasota's arts district, Towles Court. I love the haphazard nature of it, the riot of colors and materials, and the combination of cinder blocks and bottles.

It got me thinking; remember the gecko that I had to redo? Well, I saved all the tiles I removed from it the first time, and they are piled in a big bucket just waiting for a project like this. Now to just find the time . . .

"Summer School" - Take Two

The subheading for this post is "The Customer is Always Right." I made this piece for clients who had seen the green and blue "Summer School" that I made a couple of months ago and wanted something like it but in a different color scheme, for an alcove in their home. They wanted to match their decor in mostly browns. I started with more pastels than brown, thinking it would be livelier, but the feedback I got was that they wanted less pastel - especially no pink, and no bright yellow or orange. At first I was not so happy with that directive, because when I think of fish, I think of bright colors, but then I found some beautiful caramel colors of glass, and some pale orange, and an off-white, as well as a rich honey brown and vibrant rust, and as the piece began to take shape, I realized they were right; there are so many variations to the base colors that the finished piece is as lively as if the fish were swimming right there on the wall! So the moral of this story is Listen to the Client and Everything Should Turn Out Right!

"Summer School"

I just completed this mosaic, called "Summer School," to enter in a competition sponsored by the online mosaic community Contemporary Mosaic Art (CMA). The assigned theme is "camouflage." I used all scraps in my green and blue boxes cut into squares for this piece. The tiny eyes are purple millefiori. It was really fun to do, and I could easily see this design in a backsplash or filling a wall niche. The finished size is 24" x 24". 

CMA is a wonderful community that always inspires me. It includes forums to share projects or get help with mosaic questions, and they create a new "slide show" every few weeks to showcase members' artwork.