Mosaic #6 for book is done!

Yay! Another mosaic for my book has been completed. I am now almost half way there! This mosaic took about 100 hours in a two month time span. Unfortunately I had many things slowing me down on this one. I'm hoping to pick up the pace on the next ones. It would be so great if I could have it ready to print by next summer! It is doable if I do nothing else, but that is not likely to happen. I had a lot of fun with the millefiori in this mosaic. I browsed Laurel Skye's book, Mosaic Renaissance, for inspiration in cutting the mille in different ways. Very fun! Here are a couple of detail shots. I will be able to show more in mosaic #7 so stay tuned!!

Day of the Dead ATC mosaic swap

I swapped mosaic ATCs with my super talented friend, Rebecca Collins! Rebecca creates such fun and creative mosaics with the most incredible eye for color I've ever seen. And I love her choice of subjects from dogs to beetles to octopi to robots - so playful and unique! Rebecca started a mosaic ATC swap blog if you're interested in joining in. The next theme is hearts or the color red. Here is the dog I received from Rebecca and the skeleton face I made for her.

Not only does Rebecca create awesome mosaics, but runs a fabulous computerized pet portrait business of which I took advantage of directly after adopting our cat, Raymi! She so easily and beautifully captures the essence of the animal and her skills in composition and color, I'm telling you, are to DIE for! I admire her talent so much and am so lucky to own two works of art by Rebecca. And I do intend on my collection of her art growing in the future. :)

Here's Rebecca's portrait of Raymi. Beautiful, huh?!!

Mosaic 5 of book is done!

This was a very challenging mosaic for me, so many details, I had to really stretch myself with this one. While the previous mosaic took 105 hours, this one took 120 hours - twice as long as the first two in the series! There were so many decisions to make each step of the way. I also redid some things once I finished gluing the final piece, so that stretched it out longer. Here's one more detailed shot. I'll take a little break and work on a couple of small commissions and then onto mosaic #6! (I'm about 1/3 of the way done with the book - woo hoo!)

Book progress! 5th mosaic well underway

I am so happy to be back at my book! I was away from it for about 4 months creating work for shows and small commissions. At the beginning of August I began working on the fifth mosaic and while I still have a lot more to complete on it, I thought I'd share a couple of work in progress photos. This is by far the most detailed mosaic I've done for the book and already I have spent more than 100 hours on it. The most detailed parts are done, so I'm hoping that, even though it's mostly background fill to do, it will go faster than the first half! Wish I could share more (boy, do I) but here's a little for now. :)

Second cat done

Finished just in time for the group show I am participating in at the end of this month. This mosaic, entitled Please, Can I Come In? is 8x8" and made with stained glass and millefiori. I was originally going to do the background in blue, which would've been gorgeous against the brownish orange of the cat, but I thought the cat would rather want to come in from a snowy, cold outside than a beautiful sunny day! I worried about that choice, thinking it would be too white or too stark, but now it makes the composition interesting to me. Plus the different shades of white, the mille, and the andamento keep it from being a boring background. I like it!

This mosaic and the other mosaic cat will be at the Cabrillo Arts Pavilion in Santa Barbara, CA from July 27 to August 29. If you are a local or are in the area, stop by! I will have three or four of my older pieces there as well.

New mosaic: Lookit What I Can Do!

I'm participating in a local group show next month (details coming soon) and so will have two new cat mosaics to show. This is the first, inspired by the funny things cats do to get your attention. Sometimes my cat rolls over and just acts cute (well, IS cute) to get me to come over and pet her. Other times she does amazing acrobatics, then looks at me for approval and applause. Well, she IS talented. Second mosaic to be posted soon. Just adding the whiskers. :)

Burano: New Mosaic For Donna

I created this little mosaic (about 3x8") for Donna Van Hooser, an amaaaaaazing mosaic artist I met on Flickr. It is inspired by the wonderfully colorful houses of Burano. I just love how they are situated by the water with the little boats. As soon as I drew the design, I knew exactly where the mille was going! I even found some teensy, tiny, seriously almost microscopic mille for the door knobs! I'm finding one of my favorite parts of creating my mosaics is determining where I will be putting millefiori. :) And I have been saving these two shades of fabulous mottled blue glass for just the perfect occasion and found it with this mosaic. I really like how it gives depth to the sky and water. The sun is a little fused piece of glass, given to me by Jane Denison (master mosaicist of houses, who I thought of often as I made this piece!).

Donna made me this mosaic, with lovely, lovely blues, my favorite color, and look at the andamento!! She does the most perfect cuts. And of course I love the mille. I don't know if she meant it or not, but I see a leaf blowing in the breeze - maybe because it is a recurring theme in my mosaics of nature! She framed it, too, and I always appreciate when artists do that. Thanks so much, Donna!!