This is the final piece for this study. I had intended to do two more but I’ll explain in my next post. I’ll also opine about this project and how I think it went.
That is a very dark orange mosaic gold plate that I used.
This is the final piece for this study. I had intended to do two more but I’ll explain in my next post. I’ll also opine about this project and how I think it went.
That is a very dark orange mosaic gold plate that I used.
In 2010, I had a very large commission in which I had some really awesome leftover materials—I habitually overestimate. So I made this mosaic with some of those materials.
I really liked the way that a component of the commission turned out and repeated and expanded it in this mosaic, Beneath. What I call veins, or the thin, dark tree-like element which you can see below, were made with a very similar composition of materials as Beneath. The inspiration was the mining history of the area.
Daytime and Dreamtime (2011) Commission for Northeastern Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (NEO) in Miami, Oklahoma, facilitated by Oklahoma Art in Public Places (OAIPP). Two diptychs. Each diptych 106" h x 36" w | 264 cm x 91 cm. Marble, smalti, porcelain, mosaic gold, glass, minerals, stone.
This will be my last Feature Friday post. I’ve been at it since early January and, frankly, I am out of work to feature. I’ve only been featuring work that could be nicely staged using the Artrooms app, which is more suited to larger works. A lot of my smaller pieces just did not work well.
I’m relatively new to Instagram so I may start over there.
I have a few gold plates leftover from my Theme and Variations: All Dreams that I finished earlier in the year, and they rather stumbled me upon this idea. I’m thinking that I will follow this theme for the remaining three studies.
On their way to their new homes! Thank you, thank you, thank you for supporting my work and for the support of the medium of mosaic!
I think I’m getting the hang of it!
Currently, I’m planning on making four more and then moving on to something a little more serious. But these have been fun and very worthwhile. It will be interesting to see how I might incorporate this more relaxed execution into my next large work later in the year.
I finished this mosaic in January of this year. It is the fifth in my Music To My Eyes series which is inspired by classical piano music. This mosaic was inspired by a contemporary classical piano piece by Christopher Theofanidis, titled All Dreams Begin With The Horizon, 3rd movement.
I blogged about this work as it was in progress, and you can find those posts here.
I’ve added my Studies in Moderation №s 1-6 to my shop. They are available for purchase at $150 each, including shipping within the United States!
Finally, I was able to get a more relaxed execution with a flowing andamento. I like the way this one turned out.
I would not normally combine purple and turquoise, but I found it very striking with the black marble.
I’m framing all of these little studies in black metal floater frames. I like having a frame on my pieces primarily for handling. These frames are not very expensive and the are not permanently attached to the work.
In 2010, I visited Istanbul for about a week and participated in a mosaic intensive with Sonia King. This mosaic was the project I started while there. I finished it at home shortly after returning.
The background moons, defined by an absence of material, were very tricky. Trying to maintain the flow through them was quite difficult, and required a lot of cutting of angles and odd shapes. The cuts had to be pretty precise to clearly define the moons.
I switched gears from the spring clip-driven little studies. They were fun but I began to find them limiting. I’m sure I could have come up with some more arrangements, but I needed to do something different. These substrates are pretty small and I felt like I did not have too many options when everything was driven by the spring clips.
So, I’m trying something more free-form. This one is about two-thirds finished. I did not draw anything out and I am finding this to be a totally different experience than the spring clip pieces. Still working at a more relaxed, less-controlled execution.
This mosaic was my first one using framing spring clips. I did two others with the same gradation theme and they are all three in a series titled Impromptu. It is on my to-do list to do at least one more in this series, but my gosh! So many ideas, so little time!
I call them impromptus because the design follows from a playing with the spring clips to form some kind of arrangement. For example, I chose green for this mosaic because the arrangement of spring clips made me think of a stream in the woods.
In this video, I talk about the making of this mosaic, which spanned about 18 years, and take a closer look at the materials.
Beginning in January 2008, I participated in the Mosaic Artists Organization Yahoo group (MAO) annual monthly challenge. I only made it halfway through the year before getting distracted with other projects. Each month was a different theme, otherwise there were no specific requirements. So I decided to make minis.
The May challenge was Memoryware. I confess I did not know what Memoryware was at that time. Oh well.
I’ve just added the four available pieces to my Small Works that are available for purchase. You can take a closer look at them here.
I’m getting so COVID-lonely that I’ve decided to make some videos so that I can talk to somebody. 😎
Here is a short little closer look at this vase/bottle that I mosaicked last year. The size of it says “vase,” but the narrow spout says “bottle.”
You can read my posts about making this here, here, and here.
It is available for purchase and I have recently added it to my shop.
Way back when, in 1998 or so, a friend gave me the decorative tiles that she had picked up for me on one of her travels. Of course, they became the above mosaic. The substrate is cement board and I used thin set as both adhesive and grout. The mosaic has been hanging outside since then. I probably brought it in a couple of winters, but have not for years. It has held up very well.
A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting on the porch in the late afternoon and noticed something wedged between the top of the mosaic and the pergola beam. I took a closer look but could not discern what it was. I thought it was some kind of cocoon or something. Early the next day, I went out with a step ladder to take a closer look, but it was gone.
Yesterday afternoon, my husband and I were out on the porch and I saw it again. He, being taller than I, was able to get a closer look and discern what it was. He took a good close-up pic.
Can you tell what it is yet? Here’s another:
This will be the last one with spring clips. I’m going to switch gears and do something different. The plan is to make six more, continuing to work at a more relaxed execution technique.
I really like these colors. The smalti is Chinese, from Peace, Love and Smalti, who I believe is not in business anymore. The exact color is unique and I have not found it in Italian smalti.
The spiral was free-hand. I did not decide on the background andamento until I had already mosaicked the pinwheel. Drawing the spiral at that point was more complicated than what I want this series to be, so I thought: What the heck! Let’s see how well I can do.
This mosaic just might be my favorite of all the ones I’ve made. And I’m not sure why.
As you may know, I’ve been exploring a looser, more relaxed execution technique the last few weeks. And, as you may also know, I’ve been flirting with trying to do this since about 2012. This work is one in which I was trying to do that. I can see some hints of a looser technique, but unless you are very familiar with my work as a whole, it probably is not obvious.
So why is this my favorite? For one thing, it started with just the right-most piece. I was not thinking of doing a four seasons-inspired group when I started. I love neutrals and that explains the palette. I was happy with that first one, and somehow it became the group that it is now. It was spontaneous. I also did not have in mind to have them flow into each other, but that came along spontaneously as well.
I think I like this so much because of its spontaneity, and because, even though they are not compulsively precise, I could be happy with them. Perfectionism is a component of my compulsion for precision, so it was a big deal for me to be able to both accept less precision and like the outcome.
Last year, I got this idea to express the Pride flag colors as a frequency. No idea where the idea came from, but I thought it was interesting and made Pride Frequency № 1 and then Trans Frequency № 1 (see below). I used vitreous glass, cut in strips and laid on its side.
After making these, I wanted to make a few more but I did not want to use vitreous. I wanted to find a better way of executing them because there were some issues with these first two.
I was not completely happy with the variations in the thickness of the pieces, primarily the result of being from different manufacturers or batches. Also, it is difficult to get a level bottom when cutting into strips and trimming off the miter. And I just wanted a straighter line.
So, I thought about using Kismet glass. I had used some on a previous project and felt that it was much better suited for this concept.
After making the LGBTQ-themed pieces, I wanted to further explore the frequency concept and decided to do so with emotional states. Hence, my Interior Frequencies.
Oh my! I’ve got some serious loose going on here.
Study in Moderation № 5 (2020) 9” x 7” | 21cm x 18cm. Marble, smalti, framing spring clips.
I was talking with my musician son about my objective for these studies, and how I really feel like I am relaxing my technique as I work, but then they still look too controlled. He shared with me some advice that his college piano professor gave him when he was trying to develop a new playing technique. The advice was to really exaggerate it to the point where it feels too exaggerated, and then it would be right.
On this one, I followed that advice. What do you think?
After further consideration, I have concluded that the previous piece, #3, is a bit of a setback from #2 with regard to my objective of loosening up. I’m just amazed—and amused— at how challengingly this whole loosening up experiment is going.
I did the smalti first and almost tore out that circular, sun-like area; I thought it was TOO loose, too sloppy. I had decided to do that but forced myself to leave it be. Such discipline! 😎 I chose this andamento because I wanted to be able to compare it to #1, and I believe this comparison does show some progress. What do you think? Maybe I am just seeing what I want to see.
I am encouraged with this #4. It has the degree of looseness as does #2, although the cuts still look too neat, too controlled. I am confident that I have not backtracked. On to #5.