SAMA Mosaic Summit, Houston

I recently returned from SAMA's annual mosaic summit in Houston, TX where I spent four days attending presentations, dropping in workshops to see what friends were teaching and creating, selling my book at the vendor marketplace, and making new friends!

The first day I hadn't signed up for any workshops, but I was very curious as to what others were doing, so with the permission of the instructors, I popped into several classes to check out what they were up to.  I visited the classes of Carol Shelkin, Laurie Mika, and Marian Shapiro, all wonderfully creative artists and teachers who I highly recommend.

Brownian Bee Press booth

On the second day, the vendor marketplace opened where I sold my book with Barb Keith and her two books in a shared booth.  Barb was also promoting her new book, I Love You to Pieces, which will be available this summer. You can find her books at Brownian Bee Press.  It was so great to meet so many new people this way and to share our love of children's books and mosaic art. 



Dreaming

Marian Shapiro and I at the salon
Photo by Carol Shelkin

That night was the Mosaic Art Salon where attendees display and sell their art.  I created a small piece, 8x9" called "Dreaming," made with Mexican smalti and glass fusions, that sold and is now residing in Mexico City.

Friends at MAI
Photo by Carol Shelkin

Flair Robinson and her MAI piece
Photo by Carol Shelkin

The third day was more marketplace, the start of presentations, and the opening for Mosaic Arts International (MAI), a juried exhibition of member artwork.  Always a good time to hang with friends and ooh and ahh over mosaic art!

The final day of the conference started with some flooding in the vendor marketplace (still not sure how that happened, a broken water valve, I think).  Some booths had to be moved and the marketplace was closed for about 45 minutes so all booths lost some sales.  Our booth was at the back of the market so the water did not reach us. 

More presentations followed, then a raffle and a nice dinner with Carol.  She left early and I finished my dinner alone, the first moment I had to myself in four days.  It was rather nice!  The closing party was next, but I didn't go - utterly exhausted!  I went back to my hotel room to pack and relax and flew home the next morning.



Croutons this big are only in Texas!
Photo by Carol Shelkin

Next year, Philadelphia!  A city I've never been to before and am looking forward to getting to know.  My buddy Carol is on the committee so you know it's going to be good!!  See you there.  :)


Hooray, my book is now available!!

It is the classic, The Night Before Christmas, written by Clement C. Moore and illustrated by me with stained glass mosaics.  It has been a four and a half year journey and I’m so excited I can finally share it with you!!  It is filled with personal touches, including my family, our cat, items in our home, and a dedication to my mother who recently passed away, that I was able to add right before the book went to the printers, so it is a true work of love for me.

The book can currently be purchased on my web site, and eventually on Amazon.  It was published by Brownian Bee Press, so if you’d like to also buy Barb Keith’s books at the same time, go over to her web site where she is selling my book as well as her two wonderful children’s books illustrated with her stained glass mosaics!

I hope you like my book, let me know!

Two Years on my Book!

I know I haven't posted in over a month, but trust me, I've been working hard on my book! This week marks two years since I started the process. Wow! I remember thinking I'd be done in a year. Now I'll be happy if I'm done in three!

I'm in the middle of mosaic #9 and have gotten the hardest parts done, so the rest should go much faster (famous last words, right?). Here's a little bit of it. Raymi makes her fifth appearance in the book. She's really small in this mosaic, about 1x2", and I struggled with cutting glass for her eyes because of that. However, I found this millefiori that fit just right! She looks a little bug eyed at the moment, but she'll look better grouted. :)

I decided after my last mosaic trade that I was going to focus on the book alone and not create mosaics for any other purpose, (unless a commission happens to come my way!) With that in mind, my ultimate goal is to finish one mosaic a month. At that rate, I would finish around January of next year. I would then spend a couple of months making changes to the mosaics. I have a long list of them, some very small, others will take a lot longer. I realize my style and skill level have changed and grown since I began, so that is making it a bit difficult because I'd do so many things differently now. However, I'd never finish the book if I kept making changes as I grew! So I will try and keep it under control, ha.

After that, transferring the mosaics on mesh to wedi and grouting them will take me a looooong time. Then photographing them and having Barb put the book together will be about another month. All in all, I'm hoping the book will be ready to go to print by summer of next year. I can hardly contain my excitement! But that is good motivation to finish as soon as I can. Thanks for following my progress!

A Trade With My Buddy Barb Keith

I have long wanted a mosaic by Barb and finally I've got one! And oh how much I love it. She made me a mosaic of our family cat, Raymi, and it is just beautiful. The colors are fabulous, and the expression is so her. I love the whiskers! And she framed it and got cards of the mosaic made for me, too. So cool! She put so much thought into it all and I just adore it.

It's funny because I had considered making a mosaic of one of her pets, too, but since she has a few, I didn't want to single one out and make the others feel bad, haha. So I picked birds, as Barb has made many mosaics of birds and so I felt pretty confident she loves them. :) When I was getting close to finishing the mosaic, Barb and I had an email discussion about how long we've been penpals and friends. We came to the agreement that it was sometime in the beginning of 2007. The next time I worked on the mosaic, I saw us in the birds, and then it was only fitting to name the mosaic, "To Friendship." Thanks Barb, for the mosaic and the friendship!!