a truly remarkable thing about the internet, and about having a website, is being able to meet people from all over the world. a few weeks ago, i had the good fortune to meet antoaneta stoimenova, from cyprus, via the internet, and we have remained in contact since. she is a new email pal. she is also a very talented mosaic artist. you can see some of her work at this link.

recently, she started dabbling with making jewelry, and she has a great talent for this artform as well. click on the first thumbnail to take a look at a sampling of her beautiful jewelry pieces.

click on the second thumbnail to see one of antoaneta's recent mosaics, titled couple. antoaneta is very creative in her use of natural materials... like the ammonite fossils in the heads of the figures... and i wonder what the red pebble-like material is... very nice!

enjoy!

the mirror has been completed! i think the frame works for it... do you? i am very happy with it. next year, perhaps, i will do another one... i will be more adventurous and try something more colorful! this will not be easy, as i tend to really like the rich, warm colors like i chose for this one. we will see...

i have been very busy finishing up my latest floating planes piece from my above and below series, which i have titled la piazza. this piece was very challenging for me. i went from 5 planes on gold rising to 21 planes. this piece uses 6 different shades or orsoni gold, and planes at 3 levels.

overall, i am very happy with the result. about midway through mosaicing the planes, i realized what i needed to do to get the planes mosaiced more accurately on the grid. i ended up having to go back and redo some of the previous planes to make them more accurate. i still could have done better, i think, and on the next one, i should get even closer. i hope that you like it.

the gold is really quite irregular... quite noticeable when you are trying to grid it like for a project like this. i had to trim just about every piece... and they vary so much in size... so that is part of the challenge. i tend to be a bit too obsessed with precision, and i have to remind myself that mosaics are hand-made, and should not look machine-made.

also, i have been upgrading my laptop to the new apple operating system, new photoshop, new pages... new everything, it seems. the weekend has been kind of crazy. a little problem with photoshop... but i trust my brilliant son will get it figured out in no time!

i have vowed not to buy any more mosaic materials until after january. this is a big deal! this is in part to make an effort at self-discipline, and in part to help save money to pay for my new imac...

i am having the mirror framed, and when it is ready, i will get a new photo... should be quite nice!

all for now...

my apologies... i just realized today that my journal links to some of my artcraft mirror photos were linking to the wrong photos. this happened when i moved the mirror from my current work portfolio to my mirrors portfolio a few days ago. this has been corrected, and i am sorry for any inconvenience.

take a look at these wonderful pieces by pam givens, a northern california mosaic artist and email pal of mine. they are titled as follows:

1) emma's mandala
2) pink mirror
3) emerging peace
4) spring in the foothills
5) finding my way

pam creates wonderful mandalas, and has a great sense of color... more bold than i am... which i love about her work. and notice the frame on the pink smalti mirror?... i never would have thought to pair smalti with a distressed frame like that, but i think it is perfect! thanks, pam... for the inspiration!