New Beginnings

I've been commissioned to cover this little stone table (yes, it's solid stone - very heavy!) with mosaic. The client had a sack full of broken mugs and dishes that she wanted to use for the project, which I have happily shattered with a hammer (very therapeutic!) and then had to further cut into small pieces with the tile nippers. I say small, but I should have said tiny; because the pieces are curved, they need to be cut into very small pieces if they are going to lay - sort-of - flat on the table. Grout, of course, is the great leveler. 

Here you see the table "before" and again after the underside of the top was finished (before grouting). Now I will flip the table back upright, put the top on (which I created earlier on mesh) and finish the sides. It's a wonderful way to get back in the game, because my client did not want any sort of recognizable design, so it is easy to just nip and stick any which way.

Keeping On, Keeping On

As many of you know, I was sidelined for several months this past spring by a serious illness and a long recovery. But I'm glad to report that I am back in business. Not quite up to speed yet, but getting there. Everyone whose friendship kept me going has my heartfelt thanks.

Now I am anxious to get back to art! I have several projects in the works, one of them this bird-in-progress that was inspired by the buckets (OK, not buckets, but boxes and bins) full of faux pearls in various sizes and shapes that I've collected over the years. Sometimes it's the materials that inspire a design, rather than the reverse: starting with a design and then choosing materials for it, which is the usual pattern. When I started it, last fall, I didn't have a finished product in mind. I still don't, but I find it evolving every time I sit down at my work table to look at it. Sometimes I add a string of pearls; other times I just stare at it for a while. Recently I found a perfect white shadowbox frame for it, which is an impetus to finish it. I'm thinking right now of filling in the body with more lines of pearls -- at least a few, not sure if I want to completely fill it -- and maybe fill the background with clear beads (since I painted the substrate) or black and dark blue ones. I'll just have to try some and see how they look. Just like life -- you keep trying until it works.

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!

Appetite for Birds (Visually, That Is)

In going through my mother's house last week (we're moving her to Florida in the fall), I came across this small bird book printed in 1905, written by Chester A. Reed. It doesn't say, but I imagine he is also the artist. The descriptions include this priceless statement about the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: "Range: Formerly the South Atlantic States and west to Texas and Indian Territory, but now confined to a few isolated portions of Florida and, possibly, Indian Territory." Indian Territory included part of Oklahoma, which was not granted statehood until 1907, and Arizona and New Mexico joined the Union in 1912. The illustrations are charming, and I am sure they will be a great source of inspiration for future mosaics or drawings. As anyone who reads this blog knows, birds are my favorite subject!

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.  

Cubist Cardinals

Something I've been thinking about for awhile is how to move away from realism in mosaics. I thought it would be fun to experiment with Cubism, and picked the bright shapes of a cardinal to start with. These are two panels about 7 1/2 inches square (I still have several of these pieces, made from old shelving, to use up.) While glass can't duplicate the subtle shadings of Picasso or Braque, I think it is perfect for portraying angular dimensions and varying points of view. I found it freeing not to worry about exact representations but to try to capture the "essence" of cardinal attitude. Has anyone else tried this? What do you think?