Monthly Mosaic Blog

I have to say I am glad to be inside blogging today since as I type it is a chilly -14 outside.  Unfortunately that makes my studio a little too cold to be in unless I have quite a few layers on and a space heater next to me.  A good day for computor work!  Here is my latest mosaic.  It is called "Nature's Layers"  I thought that would be fitting since I was going for the layered effect with use of different tones of color.  I used many materials-I find this is my favorite way to work, kind of like collage with glass.  Within in this is stained glass, glass rods, beads, various glass tiles, milliferi and paper under glass.  My intention for the background was always to complete it in a white, but decided that the black and grey background helps to definitely draw your eyes in.  I wanted a lot of movement within this and thought with the circlular movement and the composition of the "leaves" it helped to keep your eye moving around.  Elements in this are obviously the birch tree, sunflower, a sunset looking over the water along with a nighttime sky.  In the background I brought in some of the circular shapes and layers using stained glass next to the matte cinca tiles.

 

 

This is a sketch for a comission.  It is based off of a rug design that they have within their home and wanted to bring that design into a mosaic.

 

This is how far I am on the piece.  I have a goal to finish it by the 1st weekend in March-I am assuming I will be able to get it done by then.  I am once again using many materials.  Stained glass, beads, marbles, buttons, karma and vitreous tiles, ceramic, charms, smalti and a few clay tiles.  There is going to be a lot of textural qualities to this which is the fun part of mosaics verses any other medium. 

Well I am signed up for SAMA!  I am looking forward to 5 days of mosaic education.  I signed up for a few tours, one of them being a tour of the Spectrum Glass Factory.  They are one of America's largest stained glass manufacturers.  We will be able to see the mixing of the ingredients to the ladling of molten glass from the furnaces to the sheetsof hot glass rolling along the conveyor belts to the cutting stations.  The other tour is a Tour of the mosaics of Seattle one of them being Anne Gardners modern 5-story kinetic mosaic Lebeg.  I will also be helping with the community mosaic which is a triptych that will be going in the lobby of "The Boys and Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound.  I did sign up for one workshop-I wanted to try something totally different then what I have been doing-it is Micromosaic with Orsoni's Maestra Antonella Gallenda.  In this workshop I will be learning about the Roman filati mosaic technique.  On top of those is all the wonderful education from the speakers they bring in and by the networking with other mosaicists.

One other thing that happened in this new year is that I have decided to be on the Board for our local art guild along with cochairing the programming for the year-I think this will be an exciting and busy 2013!  I have been a part of the guild for a few years now and thought it is time to help out more with this wonderful group of people.

Goals for the the month
Finish "Bloom and Grow" mosaic
Sketch a design for a mosaic for the SAMA Salon.
Attend MN Mosaic Guild meeting
Attend Buffalo Art Guild meeting
Update my website
Take many deep breathes as my thoughts are with our daughter who is the last one leaving our nest.

Quote of the month
"A man (woman) should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture everyday of their life, in that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul."    -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe