MAPEI Invitational 2015

Untitled, 12x12", stained glass, millefiori

A couple of months ago I was invited by SAMA (Society of American Mosaic Artists) to be one of 20 artists to participate in the 2nd MAPEI Invitational. Each artist created a 12x12" mosaic interpretation of MAPEI's 2015 marketing campaign theme, The World of MAPEI, to display in their booth at the International Surface Event in Las Vegas in January. The mosaics will next be exhibited at the upcoming SAMA Conference (March 10-15) in Philadelphia so if you're attending, look for them in the vendor marketplace. Finally, they will be permanently installed at MAPEI's America's headquarters in Florida and the world headquarters in Milan, Italy. To see all 20 mosaics, visit SAMA's Facebook page here. Thanks, SAMA!

Display at International Surface Event, Las Vegas

A new community for me - SCBWI!

Woo Hoo!  A new adventure coming up!!  I recently joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).  It is something I have been thinking about doing ever since I started the process of creating my book, but didn't consider myself an illustrator so didn't join.  I am still not sure about giving myself that designation, but now that I have a book, and am planning on another one, I feel a bit closer to it.  And I'd really love to meet others who love creating books for kids.

Soooo, I have registered for the SCBWI winter conference in New York next month.  Eep!  Talk about jumping in blindly!  At least when I went to my first SAMA conference, I had been making friends online for years and felt at home immediately upon arrival.  This will be a completely new experience for me to go without knowing anybody, but from what I can tell reading about previous conferences, these members are an extremely friendly and playful bunch and I think I will easily fit right in.

I am currently getting my portfolio together as I've never had a physical one before.  My presentation folder is being handmade and customized for me and it is going to be so beautiful, I can hardly wait!!  And I just ordered new postcards and business cards so I'll be good to go.  I haven't been to New York in more than 20 years, so I'm excited to be there once again.  I'm really looking forward to what this new adventure brings!

New Work

This mosaic was created for the mosaic salon at the upcoming SAMA conference in Lexington, KY, where it will hopefully be sold to the highest bidder!  It is 7 3/4 x 8" and was made with stained glass, millefiori and fused glass which I bought from Helios Glass at last year's SAMA conference.  The original design was of the cat playing with a ball, but when I started adding the spots to the cat, I thought it would be fun to have one of his spots falling off.  I titled it, Now How Did That Happen?

P.S.  Just finished my design for book mosaic #12 and am laying glass on it today!!

Designs for SAMA Mosaic Marathon

Yes! Me! I will be leading the mosaic marathon at the next SAMA (Society of American Mosaic Artists) conference in Lexington, KY this coming February. I've created designs for three panels that will be made into mosaics by the conference goers in four days! The triptych will be installed in the lobby of the not-for-profit organization, The Nest: Center for Women, Children & Families. It will be the first time I lead a community built mosaic, so this will be a very new experience for me.

I knew immediately I wanted to use birds in the designs. I did research on the common birds in the area, as well as the trees. I asked the director of The Nest what birds were in the area and he told me that goldfinches were everywhere! I wanted to choose a bird that most people were familiar with so I went with them. When I looked up trees, I fell in love with the tulip tree, the state tree of Kentucky. What gorgeous flowers!!

Now that I had my bird and my tree, onto the design. I love the bird art of Hokusai (here's one of my favorites) and I really wanted to create something with that same kind of space. Once I decided on the size of each panel, I created small rectangles, 1/6 the size of the actual mosaics, so I could draw the flow of the branches first, which, to me, are the most important part to get right because it determines the underlying composition. (I work quite small when I design for large projects because I can see the overall composition so much easier.) Once the basic lines (very basic!) were decided, I could then go into detail and add the leaves, flowers and birds.

When my drawings were done, I scanned them, cleaned up the pencil marks in a paint program, and then printed them to color in. Once they were colored, I noticed a break in the flow of the composition. I realized there were too many flowers in the second panel. The flow of the branches wasn't working for me. Here's what I saw. When I took out two of the flowers, I was much happier with it. Because the panels will not be hung right next to each other, it didn't matter if the flowers connected from one panel to the next.






Once I fixed the flowers, I then began to play with the background in the paint program. For me, the background color is very important to get right, so I like to experiment with colors in the paint program before I actually color them with pencils. Here's some of the many colors I tried:












Once I decided on the periwinkle color, I printed the three panels very tiny so I could figure out the andamento of the background. I have much more control of the flow when it's so small. I draw right over the foreground so my lines are smooth and continuous.



I then colored one of the scans with these new andamento lines and wa la! Done. Here is where they will go. The first panel will be 2 1/2 x 3', the middle panel will be 2 1/2 x 5 1/2', and the last panel will be 2 1/2 x 4 1/2'. The mosaics will be made with Mexican smalti, provided by smalti.com.  The first two panels symbolize the families who come to The Nest, receiving nurturing, support and guidance.  The last panel represents the families, when they are ready to be on their own, flying away.

I am super excited about this project! I am really looking forward to seeing my designs come to life in February. If you're at the conference, please come by and lay a few pieces down! I'd love to see you. :)

Recap of SAMA Chicago 2010

As I'm packing and getting ready to go to SAMA's (Society of American Mosaic Artists) annual mosaic conference this Tuesday (in Austin, TX), I realize I never did post about my experience last year. Last year the conference was in Chicago and it was my first time there, and wow, what a city! I loved it! I don't care for large cities (having grown up in and moved out of Los Angeles) but I adored Chicago. The conference was four days long of mosaic heaven. I took three workshops: a smalti/millefiori/glass fusions class with Martin Cheek; an andamento class with Gary Drostle; and a design class with Sue Giannotti. Here's the mosaic I started in Martin's class and finished when I got home. I loved working with the Mexican smalti and fusions, which I had never used before.

One of the highlights of the conference was the mosaic walking tour. Saw some gorgeous mosaics, my favorite being Marc Chagall's Four Seasons. I could've spent all day looking at it.

The mosaic marathon was fun, as was the mosaic art salon, where you get to bid on another's mosaic art and sell your own. Here's mine, which sold to a woman who also bought my mosaic at the mosaic salon at SAMA, San Diego, 2009! I'm bringing another cat mosaic to this year's salon, so we'll see if it sells or not. :) Had a great time browsing the vendor marketplace, hoping for a winning ticket at the raffle, and listening to some intriguing panels of speakers. There was also a group trip to Chicago Sici's as well as end of the week dancing and pj party!

And one of the best things about these conferences - seeing all of my online friends and meeting new ones! Looking forward to catching up with my buddies in Austin in just two short days!! Will give a full report upon my return!

New Work - I Gotta Be Me

I am still working on the book, I promise! Nearly finished with mosaic #4, but I had to take some time out to create this mosaic for the SAMA mini salon in March in Chicago (can I even express how excited I am to go?!). It will be my second conference and I've never been to Chicago but have always wanted to. Can't wait to reconnect with all my mosaic buddies and meet some new ones!!

I'm glad to finally make a mosaic with this theme. Not only do I feel strongly about being yourself in your art and not creating for others, only YOU, but too often I see people being affected by the judgments of others and letting them dictate how they feel about themselves, how they act and what they choose to be and do. I like to live like the little orange cat - knowing who I am and not being swayed by what others think I should or should not be, spoken or unspoken! It's a much happier life and I wish the same for all of you!!