Mosaic for Glass Patterns Quarterly Magazine

It's Cold Out! - 10", stained glass, millefiori, beads







I was recently invited by the editor of Glass Patterns Quarterly Magazine to create a mosaic tutorial for their winter edition. This mosaic is 10" in diameter and is made with stained glass, millefiori and beads. The tutorial includes the design pattern and gives step by step instructions and photos on how to create it. The issue will be available in December and will also be available as a purchasable download.  



Grouting in progress

Mosaic Tribute, For Mom, Installed

My mosaic triptych, For Mom, can now be viewed by the public in its permanent location, GoletaValley Cottage Hospital. The panels, which are four feet high and total six feet wide, are made with stained glass and millefiori. They have been installed in the hospital's nondenominational Sacred Space, available for patients and families of all faiths. The design is of a Jacaranda surrounded by day lilies and was created with love for my mom who passed in 2013. You can read more about my tribute to her in this blog post.

 

 

A Mosaic Tribute to My Mom

Five years ago I was commissioned to create a mosaic triptych for the Sacred Space at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital in California. After several years of delay, I began working on the design of a whimsical tree and colorful sky. It had just been submitted for approval when my mother suddenly passed away. My mosaic project quickly became more meaningful to me as I requested additional time to change the design and pour my love of her into it.

My mother adored nature and one of her favorite trees was the Jacaranda. She also had a tremendous love for daylilies, buying them, selling them, creating her own hybrids. She was deeply and enthusiastically involved with the daylily community with daylily pals all over the country. My original design had no flowers but I knew my redesign absolutely must.

My mother had more than 100 potted daylilies as well as maybe 100 more in the ground.  I couldn't possibly take them all home, so took 25 of her favorite potted ones and dug up 10 more. They had just finished blooming so had no flowers when I brought them home.  I used my mom's photos of them as inspiration for the design. 

A year later, as I was cutting glass for the flowers, they bloomed for me for the first time. As they were all different, I had no idea what colors or type they would be. For the next two months, I couldn't wait to go out in the morning to see what had opened that day. Sitting on the deck with my coffee and my cat, I was with my mom and her beautiful creations all around me. They are each magnificent and unique, as she was, and I am so grateful to have this part of her with me always.

After months of working on the mosaics, they were installed last week while I was out of town. I will be at the hospital this Thursday for the dedication ceremony to commemorate the opening of the hospital. The lighting is beautiful in the Sacred Space and I can't wait to see the mosaics in their new home. It will be another place I can go be with my mom, but nothing compares to being in my garden with the flowers she and I both love!

Mosaic Commission Completed

Oh! I'm done with my mosaics for the Central Texas Medical Center! It was a two month project that kept me from working on my book, but I was so happy to do it. It is my first public commission out of state, so I'm very proud of it. The five panels (large one is 24x36" and the four small ones are 18x24") will be hung in the labor and delivery waiting room so they will be super visible and will hopefully bring a sense of calm to the expectant mother and her family and friends. :-) They are made with stained glass, millefiori and vitreous. I am anxious to get back to my book but have one more project to get done first: I participated in a game on Facebook where you create something for the first 5 to respond. Well, I took nine names so I'd better get to it! But after that, THE BOOK!!

Okay, where have I been?!!

I unfortunately (or fortunately?) had to put the book aside while I completed a commission for my wonderful (YES! Wonderful!) dentist. Everybody should have a dentist like mine. If you're in the Santa Barbara area, sign up with Sonia Kim and her husband, Calvin Kim, immediately! They have the friendliest, warmest staff as well, and it is a pleasure to go.

So the past few times I've visited her, she has pulled up my web site on the monitor above me and praised the mosaic trees I've done (yes, while she cleans my teeth!). Last visit she asked me to make her two trees, one for herself and one for her in-laws. Here are the results. The one with the white and blue flowers, Sonia's Tree, is 8 1/2 x 16 3/4" and the other one, Spring, is 6 x 11 1/2".

It will be awhile before I get back to the book as I just started working on a large public commission for Central Texas Medical Center! Woo Hoo! Pictures to come soon...