Monthly Mosaic Blog

I will be away from my computor for about a week and did not want to miss mentioning on my blog everything that has been taking place in July.  I did finish my "Orange Wave" triptych.  This was done on those little mirrors from IKEA.  I am selling this in the gallery as a set.  Each one took about 2-1/2 hours including the grouting.

I had an interesting change in my monthly goals.  We were doing some changes in our backyard and came across some free stone slabs.  What else is there to do with free material but make a mosaic!  My husband and I were quite the team.  He framed in the stairs, tamped down the sand, layed the large square stones and I broke up and placed the rest.  Some were pretty heavy and large.  I came up with a way to break them using a medium stones edge as an "anvil".  I would then throw down a large piece and they broke pretty nice that way.  It was hot, heavy and tiring work and I can't beleive how much fun I had doing it!

Yay!-the finished product after 4 days of work

Here's a small mosaic that I started, it will be interesting with figuring out colors on this one.

Another challenge and exciting project I will be working on is a grid project.  I am part of the Buffalo Art Guild and there are 18 of us each doing an 11" x 11" square of part of the picture below.  We get to choose which medium to work with, of course my square will be a mosaic.  This project is not due until November so hopefully plenty of time.   I am looking forward to seeing all the squares come together then.  This will eventually be a community piece of art that will be displayed locally.

I will be taking a class with Yulia Hanansen on mosaicing flowers.  I am excited to meet and work with her at the Cape Cod Mosaic School.  She is a second generation mosaicist and has won many awards for her beautiful work.  This is a picture of a rosebud I took a few years ago and thought it would be interesting to do a mosaic with it for the class.

One more thing (I unfortunately did not take a picture) I am part of our Minnesota Mosaic Guild's group show in Stillwater, MN.  It is at the 310 Gallery.  We had our opening last weekend and it is an amazing show.  I feel very proud to display my mosaic art among so many talented artists.

 

Well...lots of challenges behind me and more to come my way in August.  That is why mosaics are such an exciting medium to work with! 

Goals for the month of August
-Finish rosebud-hopefully in the workshop
-finish small mosaic for the gallery
-Head up our mosaic guild's field trip to St Michael church-there are bueatiful mosaics by Christine Carlisle there.
-Start my large sunflower piece

Quote of  the month
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.  To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable."       -Helen Keller

Monthly Mosaic Blog

Happy July!  I am amazed how quickly these months go by.  I was able to meet my goals I set for myself for the month!  I finally finished my Koi mosaic.  This is a 12 x 12 on Wedi board.  I used stained glass and vitrious glass for the body and the water in the background was vitreous glass.  I used Karma for the swirls-thought that would help them stand out more.  This is obviously a complementary color theme-I seem to be using a lot of blue and orange in my work lately.  I did frame it in a floating frame.  The adhesive I used was gorillas glue to adhere into the frame but I would NEVER use that product again for that purpose.  When it dried it foamed up and I had to go in with my tools and scrape it all out of the inside of the frame along with scraping it off the back.  I will definitely use liquid nails next time.  This one will be going in the Buffalo Art Gallery for a few weeks, then if it does not sell I may put it in the Stillwater show July 20th.

This next one is going to be a tryptich and will hang the long way. I still have the one square left to finish.  This will be sold as a set at the Buffalo Art Gallery also.  I thought it would be fun to do a small monochromatic piece again.  The squares are only 3" x 3".  I have the wave pattern running through the tryptich.

This is a sketch of a larger piece that I have been wanting to do.  I drew it up a few years ago and found it again.  This was a study about Picasso's cubism and I thought instead of straight lines I would use rounded ones.  I would love to give "birth" to it as a mosaic.  I am still figuring out colors and what type of materials I would like to use.  Not sure where I want this to go yet.  I apologize for the direction of this picture it is meant to have the birch tree off to the left.

Another thing I have been doing this month is listening to my Podcasts when I go for my walk.  It is a great way to learn and get motivated creatively.  My favorite art blog right now is called Art and Soul radio.  It is such a nice way to listen to what other artists are doing and what keeps them inspired and motivated.  I usually pick up a few good tips each time I listen to it. 

Goals for this month

-finish tryptich

-change out pieces in the gallery

-get items ready for the stillwater show

-start on my new design

-finish another smaller mosaic for the gallery

-Attend a mosaic workshop at the Cape Cod Mosaic school with Julia Hananson!  (I am all signed up and can't wait to work with her)  We are working on flower mosaics.

Quote of the month

"All you need is deep within you waiting to unfold and reveal itself.  All you have to do is be still and take time to seek for what is within, and you will surely find it."

-Eileen Caddy