Mosaic Mandalas

Afraid to Paint? Here's some Help.

2012-02-06T18:37:27-08:00

In the simplest of terms, painting is the application of paint to a surface. That's it.

For a house painter, paint is applied to the interior/exterior of the house to give it individuality or to make it blend in...not really an artistic statement, more a completion of architecture. For the artist, the application of the paint to a surface is a method of expressing something...an idea, an emotion, an internal picture or the depiction of something seen through the artist's eye - like a landscape or a portrait.

This painting above is one I did a few years ago. It's done in acrylic paints, and is one of four done to reflect the colors of the seasons. The one above is "All the Pretty Skeins of Winter." Below, after all the words, I'll follow with the other three. The drawing is identical in each, but it's the color scheme the differs. This series is popular with fans of knitting and crochet - I sell quite a few prints of them every year.

A post or so ago I promised to offer some help if you find yourself faced with canvas but afraid to throw any paint at it. I've suggested this exercise twice. It's designed to break the block. A student in one beginning acrylics class I taught one year told me that she was literally afraid of putting paint down on the canvas. She didn't want to do it "wrong." Another situation was when I was staffing my booth at an outdoor art show. A woman came in with a friend and commented that she really liked the bold colors in my work and wished she could paint. After a few minutes of conversation she revealed that - like the first example - she was afraid to. In her case, she was carrying around a lifelong scar. It seems that when she was in an early elementary grade her teacher ridiculed her artwork in front of the class and she hadn't tried to be artistic since - although she very much wanted to.

In both these cases I felt that my job was to break away that fear barrier and give these women the freedom to throw some paint around without limits, rules or judgment. I believed, and expressed to them, that breaking this barrier would show them that absolutely nothing negative would occur...rather, they would actually have some fun! Here's what I suggested:

First the supplies:

go to a garage sale or thrift store and buy a small wooden chair or stool...preferrably one in bad shape. This isn't a "make it like new" project. If you can find a discarded one that's even better.
get a set of children's tempera paints...fingerpaints. This is a good, basic, cheap water-based "poster" paint
get a couple of cheap paintbrushes, an inch to two inches wide

Now, put that old chair on an old tarp in the backyard. Set up your jars of paint. Don't draw anything on the chair...no designs, pictures, nothing. Pick up a brush, dip it into any one of your jars of paint and swipe it anywhere on the chair. There! You've Painted! You applied paint to a surface.

Have fun with the rest of the paint: swipe it on, brush it on, drip it on. The idea is to put paint on that old chair. Get your hands messy. There is nothing dainty about art. When you are all done, put the old chair out for the trash pickup.

What was accomplished?

staring down a painting surface and overcoming it
taking control of the paint and the brush
enjoying the freedom of sheer expression through paint with zero judgement or pressure

My student did this exercise. She later told me that it helped her to get over her erroneous ideas of painting a "right way" and a "wrong way." There's only her way.

Now, before you get all art-sy on me, I'll admit that there is much that can be learned and experiemented with. You can learn how to use artist tools and materials. You can learn various painting techniques. However it is what you want to do with it all that matters. It's what you bring to the paint and the painting surface that matters the most. Fear has no place in painting.

"All the Pretty Skeins of Autumn"

"All the Pretty Skeins of Summer"

"All the Pretty Skeins of Spring"

So Why Do I Love Star Trek?

2012-02-05T22:38:22-08:00

I have a comic book collection. Bet you didn't know that! In fact, I could use this trivia bit the next time I'm ever subjected to one of those icebreaker games at a corporate meeting. You know the one...where you have to tell something about yourself that you're pretty sure no one else knows. And in my collection are Star Trek comics.

My collection isn't big and probably not valuable but I hold onto it for sentimental reasons. Who knows - maybe someday Hannah [my granddaughter who is only 3 weeks old now] will find them and think they might bring a pretty penny on the Craigslist of the future.

Over the years I've collected the comics and the novels, both in paperback and hardcover. I've spent my allowance on collecting the various series' incarnations on dvd:

*Star Trek - original series

*Star Trek: Next Generation

*Star Trek: Voyager

*Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [only have 2 seasons of this one so far]

*Star Trek: Enterprise

And yes, I have all the motion pictures and am looking forward with happy anticipation to J.J. Abrams sequel to his first Star Trek with Chris Pine as Kirk. Loved it! And Benedict Cumberbatch will be the bad guy! This actor is so talented...his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is spot on [at BBCAmerica] and season two promises to be awesome. [And, of course, with Martin Freeman/Bilbo Baggins as Watson.]

Okay, where was I? Yes I know I'm a mosaic artist and a photographer and digital artist, but that's not all I am! I'm also a fan of sci-fi and have had a love for Star Trek since it first came out. I was a teenager then and it grabbed my imagination and has not let go. And never disappointed. That's not to say that every one of the movies was stellar or that every episode of each of the series was perfect...that would be silly. No, taken as a whole Star Trek is a universe I enjoy spending time within.

Why do I like it so much?

it's a family of characters
it's a [mostly] positive outlook on the future
it's [mostly] consistent across the various storylines
it's sci-fi

And did I mention it is sci-fi?

Artsy Stream of Consciousness on a Lazy Saturday

2012-02-04T16:21:44-08:00

Our grandson has a fantastic way of telling a story - he just begins and then talks and talks and talks. His story evolves and takes surprising turns. It can make me laugh and make me say "Matthew! Ewwww!" [He's four and a half.] But he can let his consciousness stream along with nary a blip on the radar.

I thought for today's post I'd give it a try. Have to post every day all month long as part of BlogHer's challenge and - it's not that I'm not wordy - but writing when the muse is asleep is hard. So. Let's put a toe in the stream...

Yesterday went to the grocery store and in the isle where the seasonal items are was a bitty greenhouse. It is very inexpensive [cheap?] but you can stand up inside, has on each side two shelves. It's covered with a heavy plastic that has that netting embedded inside and a zippered front so you can close the 'door.' I'd been wanting a little greenhouse for quite awhile to grow seedlings for spring planting and maybe trying my hand at orchids. This little structure ought to do the job.

Began my job of lifestyle change this morning. Last post I said I'd be meeting my daughter at the gym this morning...and I did! A Gold Star for my chart. Tomorrow is a bike ride with the mister. Speaking of bicycles, I'm old enough to remember the days of no helmuts. I'm of 2 minds about this: yes, safety is important, so I wear a helmut. However, I remember the freedom of riding my bike and having the breeze blow through my hair and past my face. I loved that. After my crash of last summer, though, I won't neglect wearing it.

Seatbelts. There's another safety-vs-annoying thing. Yes, I always wear my seatbelt when in a vehicle; but again, I remember the days as a youngster when there weren't any. And don't get me started on the booster seats kidlets have to sit in now.

I think I want to spend the rest of this day finishing up a mosaic. I'm really liking this one. It's titled, "The Grove Mandala Mosaic" and should be ready for photographing later next week.

Ah! Ever wanted to try your hand at mosaic but were too afraid to try? Here's a little experiment. The example at right is one I did using what I had on hand. It's only 3 1/2" x 2 1/2", using some left over tiny ceramic tiles I had and a bit of grout. Here's what you'll need [if you don't have mosaic supplies you can get some basic supplies at Michael's or any good craft store]:

tesserae - you can use anything from bits of glass to beads to buttons; or buy a bag of tiles at the craft store
support - a small square or rectangle of wood...any scrap will do
glue - for this experiment any white glue will do; for my professional work I use Weldbond
grout - you can get a small amount from the craft store; it is like cement that fills between the tiles

Here's what to do:

On your wood support draw a sketch. Doesn't matter what you want to do, just put some kind of simple design.
Before glueing, lay out your tiles on your sketch so you can see where you want to put which colors and shapes.
Glue down your tesserae one-by-one.
Let the glue dry...a couple of days is good.
Mix up a small amount of grout [consistency of peanut butter]. Smooth it over your mosaic with a damp square of folded paper towel. What you want to do is to have the grout fill all the spaces between the tiles. Then clean off the surface.
Let the grout dry. Another couple days.

You're done! Basically that's all there is to doing a mosaic. You add your own creativity, imagination and skills.

Talking about mosaicing really has me itching to get glue all over my fingers, so time to take my toe out of the consciousness stream. Tomorrow: Afraid to Paint? Here's some help.

The Art of Living Well

2012-02-03T17:50:56-08:00

Or, to put it more precisely, The Art of Living with Wellness...as in health and wellness. Is it pure science or is there more art than science in coming up with a balance in our lives that will lead to good health?

I got to thinking hard about this the other day after having spent time at my daughter and son-in-law's house holding the new baby for a while. Just had to get some 'grandma' time in! It was a precious visit because besides having that tiny little one nestled in my arms I was highly entertained by her big 4 1/2-year old brother. I love his many and varied attempts at making his grandmother laugh! or go "ewwwwww!" Both responses on my part are counted a victory for him.

Anyway, after I got home I got to thinking about how much fun it's going to be when those two kidlets are a bit older and we can play kickball in the park. I used to play kickball with my daughters when they were young and we always had so much fun. Then it hit me: I'm quite a bit older now and have been rather [make that very] sedentary the past five years or so. To say that I have pounds to lose and fitness to gain would be an understatement. If I had to play kickball today? Well, I wouldn't be able to. Plain as that. I decided that part of my definition of Living Well is to be able to run around the park playing kickball with my grandchildren. I needed a Plan.

I do have one thing greatly in my favor - heart health. No problems there. Good. The two biggest things I need to do are:

get moving
eat healthfully

My mother used to say [from her days as working as a nurse] that a person knows their own body best...and for me I know by experience that I have to get moving first and the eating part will follow naturally. For other people they can begin with healthy eating then add exercise. Others can start both together. So.

1. Get Moving - If I'm going to be serious I decided to approach this like I do my artwork: getting the necessary supplies and tools in place. My tools: a gym membership and my bicycle. Supplies: shoes that fit properly and have good arch support. We have a beautiful park not 3 blocks away also. So I signed up for the gym and purchased a session with a personal trainer who can help outline a plan for me. My husband and I are going to map out bike routes. I figure between gym visits, walking to the park and bicycling around this ought to get my engine running. Granted I'm nervous about the gym as I presently look like someone who needs to go to one! But this is not the time for vanity...I have grandkids to keep up with!

2. Eat Healthfully - I already am in the habit of eating a good breakfast. Whew, one meal I don't have to alter. What I can do right off the get-go is drink more water. I read one suggestion of drinking a full glass of water right before a meal to make the stomach feel more full so you eat less. Worth a try and water is good for you. Salt. I'm like that salt monster in season one of the original tv show 'Star Trek.' I crave it. A regular salt-a-holic. Okay, that's gotta go. I like cookies. Am willing to let those go for now. Eating out. Love to.

Today I had lunch out by myself. I actually enjoy being anonymous in a crowd and eating at restaurants by myself gives me that. I can think about stuff. Today I had lunch at the Applebee's in my community. I was mulling over this whole topic of Health and Wellness and instead of turning to all the high calorie items as I usually do, I looked at the "Under 550 Calories" section. I was feeling carnivorous - yep, I am not, nor will I ever be, vegetarian. There is a selection called "Roasted Garlic Sirloin." As described on their website:

Garlic marinated 7 oz. sirloin and sautéed onions are served with herbed potatoes and a grilled portobello mushroom cap filled with cream spinach.

OMG! It tasted so good! I'm talking delicious. I like my steak rare and it was cooked to my perfection. And the portion size was just right as Goldilocks would say. *Here's an aside: in America, over the past, oh I don't know 20 years or more, portion sizes have become embarrassing. Who needs to have half a steer on their plate? The manager, Abraham Elemen, was going table-to-table, as they do at Applebee's, checking on the customers' satisfaction with their food and service. I told him how surprised I was that a meal consisting of so few calories could taste so good! I also told him that I was so giddy over it all that I posted it to Twitter!

This Applebee's lunch story is just to show that evidently I am already taking myself seriously! Tomorrow morning I'm putting on my new shoes and exercise outfit and meeting my daughter at the gym. What did I do today to get moving? I mowed the lawn.

Health and Wellness. Who knew that a desire to play kickball with my grandchildren would bring on a new lifestyle for me?!

What is your definition of The Art of Living Well?

Seeing 'Art' in the Garden

2012-02-02T16:50:48-08:00

You might have noticed that there is a new widget in the right hand column a couple of scrolls down titled 'NaBloPoMo/February 2012/Relative.' Wonder what that is? When I noticed this strange looking word, NaBloPoMo, on BlogHer last year I wondered what it was. Stands for National Blog Posting Month [which I guess is in November] - it's an event thing where writers post to their blog daily...every day in the month. BlogHer decided to do a NaBloPoMo challenge every month and this month, February, I decided to join in.

Wow. A post a day for 29 Leap Year days. Can I do it? We shall see. The theme for this month is 'relative.' Bloggers can use it to inspire their writing or not, but I decided to go with it for today.

I got to thinking about relatives and family, then art. Then I did some mental wandering through my memory banks [I'm watching/listening through the 4 seasons of 'Enterprise' while I work this week] and asked "when did I begin to drift towards art?" When I was a kid, my goal in life - now don't laugh - was to be an FBI agent. Could be why I like the X-Files and Fringe so much. However I think it was while spending time in my grandmother's gardens where I began to absorb color.

My paternal grandmother had not just a green thumb, she was a walking, talking green person. Grandma could grow anything. She had prize winning roses and begonias. She had been the president of her community's garden club for many years. She shared with me her love of flowers and garden design. I didn't have a camera back in those days, but I would draw flowers. When I got older is when I started to really pay attention to the fact that Grandpa was a painter! He worked in oils and painted seascapes and California missions...among other themes. I used to sit as he painted and he'd describe his techniques.

I took my first art classes in high school and then many art classes in college. I learned more about color when I took a semester which only allowed us to work in black, white and shades of gray - the value scale. Another semester was spent in an arboretum painstakingly drawing the plants there. The weirdest and most fun was a course in 3-dimensional design. And, of course, I loved all the art history courses. Yes, I learned much in college. But it was in Grandma's gardens where I began to appreciate the relationships between color and form.

I've written before that my grandfather was a representational, realistic painter for the most part. And, even though I learned to draw that way, I have always leaned to the abstract. If I paint a barn, I'd rather pay attention to the colors and shape of it than the fact it's a barn. On a trip to admire Fall foliage a couple years ago, I photographed a barn. Then I took the picture into my Photoshop program and "painted" the building bright red! Now that's a barn!

The Scientist in the Artist

2012-02-01T20:22:11-08:00

I don't know about you, but I love what I do for my J-O-B. Being an artist, facing the challenges of my work table every day - this is invigorating for me. I know a senior software engineer who can talk poetical about what he does. [Is poetical a word? Yes, actually it is. Cool, thought I made it up!]

There is part of what I do that involves trying things out...experimenting. Asking the questions: 1)how do I know this glue will work? or 2)what would happen if it got wet in a flood? You know, important questions like those. Last post I talked about wedi board and how it boasts of being waterproof and stuff. I got to thinking about that. Should I take 'their' word for it? Or should I experiment?

When I was teaching color mixing classes I would get questions from my students...questions like, "Mrs. Smith, what would happen if I mixed these colors together?" or "Mrs. Smith, can you mix black and yellow to get dark yellow?" I loved this! Always I would answer: Let's see! And I'd have my students test it out for themselves right then and there. They learned that if you mix the primaries of red, blue and yellow together you get an interesting neutral. They learned that if you mix black with yellow you get a kind of weird green. Not a darker yellow. Try it for yourself and see. Makes me want to teach color mixing classes again.

I got to thinking about wedi board. What does happen when it gets wet? So I did an experiment. In this first photo is a little piece of wedi about 3/4" wide by 2" long. The next photo shows it on its side so you can see the outer layers of dark gray cement and the inner layer of rigid styrofoam. I put this piece of wedi in a dish of water, submerged it and left it for more than 24 hours. I was curious to know if the cement layers would soften, flake or peel off. Well, after the alloted time, it is as you see it - nothing at all happened to it. It is indeed waterproof. Cool!

Then I got to thinking - what about wedi that already had tiles glued to it? How would that hold up submerged in water? I already had a small 2 1/4" by 2 3/4" piece that I had used to test-glue my tiny ceramic tiles onto before I did the large circular works. I used Weldbond and was quite pleased with the holding power. Short of using a flat head screwdriver to pry them off I used my fingers to try to take them off...they stayed put. So I took the test piece [next photo] and submerged that one for 24 hours and got interesting results.

First thing I noticed while the piece was still wet was that the glue that showed around the tiles had turned back to its original white color. I took the piece out of the water and let it dry until the next day. Next morning I saw that the glue had again dried clear. Then I tried to pry up the tiles. I was curious to know how they faired...only one tile came off...the others are as firmly affixed as before the flood. I noticed that the tile that came off wasn't flat on the bottom and that the glue hadn't actually come into contact with the entire tile...could that have made a difference? On the big 30" diameter works I did on wedi, I put plenty of glue on each and every tile...I even "glue-grouted" between the tiles to give the piece extra protection and sealing.

Actually I'm quite pleased with this experiment. I'm going to begin a new work later this month, again using wedi board as the support. Only this time I'm going to use transparent smalti [glass] tesserae. I was curious to know how best to affix the smalti to the wedi and whether or not to cover the gray surface before I began. Yep! I did another experiment.

I had 5 tiles so I did 5 areas.

1. top left: I had read that you could use thinset as an adhesive so I tried that. It didn't work...I was able to pop the tile off - took a bit of strength, but it did come off.

2. The second spot, top right, I applied the tile to the wedi using Weldbond. I wanted to see how the tile looked sitting just on the gray surface. Although Weldbond is pure opaque white when applied, it dries crystal clear. I think the transparent tile on the gray surface is too dark.

3. bottom left: I put down a layer of thinset, let it dry then sanded it, then used Weldbond to apply the tile. This works pretty well. The tile is there to stay but there is still not quite the bright reflectiveness I want.

4. bottom center [yellow tile]: again a layer of thinset; let it dry and sand it. I then painted over it with white acrylic paint and let it dry. I used Weldbond to glue the tile. My goodness that tile is there to stay! And I like the way the combination of the thinset and white paint completely covers the dark gray. This is the method I'll use.

5. bottom right: I painted a layer of white acrylic paint over the wedi and let it dry. I used Weldbond to glue the tile. This is okay except you can see the waffle pattern in the wedi.

Isn't experimenting fun! Scientists must love what they do.

You're probably wondering how those large works are hung on the wall? My husband helped me to bolt z-bars to the back [on the recommendation of the head of the installation team for the client] before the tile work was started. Z-bars come in two pieces, one goes on the work and one on the wall. The bar was screwed down with the screws going in from the front all the way through the wedi. Weldbond was used to provide extra holding power both for the screws and the bar itself. You're probably wondering why we put the hanging apparatus on after I'd sketched the work rather than before? In this case, because the works were so large and circular, I wanted to be certain that the bar would be in the correct horizontal placement to the sketch. For me this was the best way. After the screws were counter-sunk a bit, I applied some thinset over, sanded and proceeded with the work.

I was asked by someone - what was my favorite aspect of these two works [ "End of Day," "Rise of Day"]? Although I enjoy the process of any work, I have to say it was the foliage work in "Rise of Day" - the photo at the top of this post. My plan was to place all the tiles diamond-shaped on the surface, but also to give the foliage a sense of movement and fullness. I think the movement was achieved by where each color was placed.

Oh, and I do like the graceful curve of the trunk of the tree and how using the dark brown tiles gave the roots a sense of strength and permanence...giving the idea that though this tree grows at the edge of a sandy beach, it will not move, that it is firmly rooted. Kind of makes me think that although our lives are surrounded by shifting sands, we can remain rooted to our ideals and beliefs.

Artistic Creative Process-How Fun is This!

2012-01-23T13:41:46-08:00

Remember last post that I talked about using wedi panel as the support for the two big mosaics I recently did on commission? [well, 30" diameter is a BIG mosaic work for me!]

At left is a sample piece. I put the mechanical pencil next to it for size reference. You can see the waffle pattern I mentioned. The dark gray color is the cement coating/layer. I glued down several ceramic tiles so that I could test the adhesion...Wow! Not only does Weld bond "adhese" securely, it seals the surface [not that it needed it]. Also another mosaic artist told me that the waffled surface does not adversely effect the gluing of tesserae, so you're wondering why did I smooth on a layer of thinset? Mostly it was a creative decision because I wanted a white under layer and not a dark under layer...I did not grout these mosaics.

In the next photo you can see the inner layer of the support...this is what gives it such rigidity. I do like using wood for the smaller works but wedi has opened up the possibility of doing much larger works.

When I design a mosaic I like to initially sketch it out on paper to-size and then color it in using crayons...this makes a color map. Some artists do complete and accurate color renderings but I prefer to keep my color map more suggestive. Coloring in the sketch with crayons gives me a way to see the balance and whether, through color, the design is meeting the objective I want to achieve. Also, because it's not chisled in stone, I can change particular color areas as I work.

The tiles I use in my smaller mosaics are very tiny...usually just the 1/8" [nano size] square and 1/4" [micro size, not quite 1/4"] square sizes. For these larger works I decided to use Tiny Tile Mosaics Micro size and Mini size [about 3/8" square]. That's a lot of little tiles! Over 7,000 for each mosaic.

You can see a bit how I used the two sizes in the progress of the foliage for "End of Day" in the photo to the left.

Then there's the whole idea of andamento - the visual flow and movement in a mosaic work achieved by the placement of tesserae. This is the element of doing a mosaic that is the most FUN for me. I don't preplan the flow...as I mentioned in the previous post I like to have it just happen:

The way I work is to do the basic sketch but to allow the tile placement to be 'organic.' Okay, saying organic sounds kind of California-y, avocados and sprouts doesn't it? What I mean is that each individual tile is placed as it comes.

In the photo to the right in the work "Rise of Day," you can see what I mean - the beach sand I applied in a diagonal straight line with a bit of rough surf where the sand meets the water. The ocean water in this piece has gentle waves with wave peaks at the far horizon line. As a dramatic difference, I made the rays of the rising sun ruler straight. Movement that is achieved with a brush by a painter is achieved with the direction that each individual tile is glued down by the mosaic artist.

One of the things about mosaic I like is that a mosaic piece is like the painting technique called pointilism - a technique where dots of color [points, dashes or other ways of putting down small bits of color at a time] are applied. Seen in extreme close-up you see only the points...as you back away from the artwork the colors begin to blend and you can see objects. My favorite is by Georges-Pierre Seurat and his painting "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."

The artistic creative process has been discussed by philosophers extensively. I found just now a site on the web for a conference held October 2010 at Barnard College, Columbia University called, "The Philosophy of Creativity." They asked:

What is creativity? How does it happen? How is it that creativity is manifest in discovery as well as invention, in science as well as art? In what ways might an audience participate in creating a work of art? What role does creativity play in the construction of the self?

Makes me think about creativity. I experience creativity...I know how it feels and I think it happens intuitively [my opinion only]; that it is part and parcel of the human psyche and that it differs slightly person-to-person. Each individual sees Art differently...everything we know [and don't know], everything we've experienced in our lives to that moment, how we feel emotionally at the time...all of this informs how we approach any work of art [including the music, writing and performance arts].

Everyone is creative. Wait, before you protest here's why I say that. Let's take a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as an example. It's pretty basic: bread, peanut butter and jelly - the peanut butter and the jelly are put between two pieces of bread. There. Nothing creative about that is there? Wait. Yes there is. Here comes the individualized creative decisions that go into your PB&J:

which bread did you choose to use? Wheat? Rye? Sourdough? Oat and nut? Bargain brand white or bread machine-made cranberry and hazelnut?
which peanut butter spread did you choose to use? A favorite brand because you are convinced it tastes better than any other? Creamy? Chunky? Honey added? "Natural?"
which jelly did you choose to use? A grape jelly? A strawberry jam? An apricot preserve? A marmalade? An apple butter? Homemade fig?
Did you spread the peanut butter on only one piece of the bread or both? Did you put jelly on just one piece of the bread or both? Did you mix the peanut butter and jelly together and then apply it to the bread? Did you add raisins to it?
Once made, did you cut the sandwich into two pieces? Four? Triangles? Did you retain the crust or cut it off?

See, it's the variations, the choices we make, that are the proof of the creative processes involved. When you make a PB&J you are indeed making creative decisions all the way through.

Creativity is not about picking up a pencil and drawing a realistic rendering of what's before you. Creativity is the way our minds view and then interpret what we see.

Part three of my exploration of "Rise of Day" and "End of Day" will take a look at some of the details in each and the hanging apparatus.

The 'End of Day' Mosaic project

2012-01-19T15:45:46-08:00

I'm often asked: what inspires your mosaic mandala designs? My quick and simplistic answer is "trees." However, there is a deeper, more intuitive answer.

In September of 2010 I wrote a post introducing my work in mosaic in which I use a round support and trees in the abstract as their central theme: "...I considered three things: one) the basic structure or support for a work; two) a new abstract study and three) painting materials. What evolved was a circular structure, a study of trees in abstract and tiny ceramic tiles as the painting medium...."

I love trees. For awhile I thought about publishing a 'coffee table' style book of photography of trees. There are so many varieties, in so many sizes, ages and conditions that I think you could fill several good sized volumes. Hmmm, I now live in an area that has a huge forest of trees so maybe I'll still do that book of photography. Anyway, back to mosaics.

My gallery page above has currently available mosaic mandalas of trees including Sunset Mandala Mosaic, Apples in the Sun and others. Trees are both majastic and beautiful. They give a sense of strength and permanence - of rootedness - in a world where we humans often feel like we're dry leaves at the mercy of a blowing wind.

Designs for these round pieces come to me without effort. Left on my own, faced with a 14" circular wood support, I see the finished work before I've even begun. Until this past Fall it wasn't a challenge to sketch out a design with which to complete in the tiny ceramic tiles I use. Then came a request for a commissioned work...actually two of them. And instead of being 12", 14" or 16" diameter, these were to be 30" diameter. Very large! There were also some themes to fit my designs into. I knew a tree would be central in the mosaics, but to fit with the client's overall theme I needed to add beach and ocean. Also, knowing the eventual placement of the finished pieces added to my design decisions. I decided to do beginning of the day and ending of the day abstract designs.

As I thought of the beginning of a day, I thought of the design:

...the design gives the hope of a new day dawning. Every day the sun rises on our planet and the promise of each new day is yet to be written...

And for the ending of a day:

...this design gives comfort. Whether the day has been long and difficult or short and sweet, the setting of the sun indicates that the gathering darkness will fall as a warm blanket giving comfort through the night until the sun rises again...

Kind of like thinking of encircling arms - being held safe and secure in the day as the sun lights our lives and being comforted and protected in the night as we sleep.

This post is part one of several about these mosaics. I want to share the creative process of design and work.

Let's begin with "End of Day." I decided to put the tree to the right [as you look at it] with its foliage as an overhanging canopy. Under this canopy is a setting sun dropping below the horizon of a darkening sea.

The very first consideration in doing these two designs was on what support to do them. Thirty inches diameter is rather large for a mosaic and I didn't want the weight of the support to be problematic. I'd heard of a material called wedi panels that just might do the trick. Wedi panels are very lightweight cement boards normally used by building contractors as a substrate for tile - like in bathrooms and kitchens. Mosaic artists have discovered it because it is lightweight, rigid, waterproof and weatherproof and frankly, mosaic tesserae stick to it fantastically! I ordered two 32" square sheets from MosaicSmalti.com and my son-in-law cut the 30" circles. Another thing about wedi panels, they cut quite easily with an exact-o knife or box cutter. Also, before beginning, I decided to smooth on a thin layer of thinset [a fine, high quality mortar or cement] which I sanded when it was dry. I wanted a smooth surface as the wedi comes with a waffle-like surface. Mosaic adhesive, Weldbond, works excellently on wedi as-is, but even more so on the dry thinset layer. The photo to the right shows the sun and horizon line for "End of Day" and you can see the thinset layer.

I began by sketching the design in pencil. I made a color map ahead of time, choosing which colors of tiles to use where. The way I work is to do the basic sketch but to allow the tile placement to be 'organic.' Okay, saying organic sounds kind of California-y, avocados and sprouts doesn't it? What I mean is that each individual tile is placed as it comes. For example, in the setting sun, I chose the three colors ahead: the pink, pastel orange and yellow. However I didn't pre-design the flow until I actually did it. I put in the yellow tile outline first. Then thought an inner layer of larger pastel orange was needed. From there I visualized inner curves within the sun. Cool how it all flows once you get started.

Next post: more about the creative process for "End of Day" and detail photos.

P.S. My previous post, "The Mosaic of Hannah's Quilt" indicated that we had a baby granddaughter due...well, Hannah made her debut in this world on Saturday evening, January 14. I'm one happy grandma!

The Mosaic of Hannah's Quilt

2012-01-09T21:45:19-08:00

I wonder what it is about the excitement of a new grandchild that fuels the engine of "making." Before our grandson was born I crocheted him a blanket. Every single, double and half-double crochet stitch was a complete joy over the weeks it took to complete. Somehow the hands-on do-it-myself-ness of the experience seemed to increase my love for this little fellow I had yet to meet face-to-face.

And now, it's Hannah's turn. My daughter and son-in-law discovered that a little girl was on the way and named her Hannah. It's been so sweet during this waiting time wondering what she will be like, what she'll look like. I'm so looking forward to holding her [she's due to arrive any day now!]. However, because that Life annoyance called arthritis has taken away my ability to crochet, I decided to make our new granddaughter a quilt. My daughter had chosen to decorate Hannah's room with a palette of black, white and pink in a sort of French floral motif. We worked together to make a ruffle for the crib mattress and bumpers - those soft pads that coccoon the edges of the crib. I got some of the same fabrics and added a couple more to design the quilt.

Now, I'm not a quilter. In fact, this was my first one and I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. So I decided to approach it like I do my mosaic work. I sketched out the basic size and spread out the various fabrics to get a feel for placement. Then I needed to brush up my skill with the sewing machine as I haven't done any sewing in quite a while and wanted to use some of the built-in specialty stitches.

This fabric was whimsical and very cute and girlie, so I decided to put it in the center. Because the other fabrics were patterned and black and white I used a strip of pale pink to both highlight the center and give it a space of its own. Along the main flower "stems" I did a bit of specialty stitching.

Even though the quilt is not big - it's 30" x 40" about - it took me four days to make. Lots of thread...LOTS of thread and dreams of this sweet little one on her way to join us in this world went into the finished blanket. I've seen some gorgeous quilts in my time, even some fine art quilts by a gifted artist in the San Francisco Bay Area; but my little quilt has something none of the others have...a home with Hannah.

3 Reasons Twitter is Awesome for Artists

2011-12-26T10:00:00-08:00

What? You were expecting the Twitter company's little bird icon? Naw...my George is just too irresistible to pass up as an icon [although it's very hard to get him to stand still long enough for a portrait].

Here it is, the day before Christmas 2o11 - Christmas Eve. I have a quiet afternoon and decided to get my year-end blog post wrap-up done while I can as next week is full through New Year's Day. I thought about what I could or should write about and decided on Social Media as it applies to my life as an artist.

I use Social Media and do I think other artists ought to utilize the internet and Social Media? Yes. I do. The world has opened up and there are so many interesting and fascinating people out there and the internet makes it possible to connect and Social Media outlets are the roadways that allow your vehicles [websites and blogs] to carry your messages. As with any other sort of human endeavor it's about making communities. We [people] like to bunch with those who are like ourselves. I'm an artist and I'm interested in art stuff in general and in finding other artists. I am curious about what other artists do and why they do it. [As proof of that pudding you'll find interviews with other artists here on Mosaic Mandalas...look at the categories list in the right hand column for "interviews with artists."]

I've been asked which Social Media platforms I use and right now I utilize Twitter, LinkedIn and BlogHer the most. I actually quit Facebook. I am going to begin with Google+ after the first of the New Year when I have a few days to study it and get it set-up. I think G+ will give me more bang for my efforts than Facebook and because I'm a working artist, my time is precious - I simply can't afford to give time to my computer unless it has clear benefits.

Came across an interesting 'predictions' type article on Social Media Today that I think is pretty good. The article is titled, "Social Networking in 2012" by Dave Higgins. He made great points and predictions about going mobile, various companies getting on the tablet bandwagon and how much Facebook is growing and going public. However, I like best what he said about Google+:

"...The fastest growing social network of all time will finally get some traction in 2012 as people defect from Facebook and Twitter. Not necessarily because Google + will have the superior platform, but because advertisers will be increasingly driving traffic to Google + to integrate with the analytics they already collect. The ability of Google to sell targeted advertising based on what they know about the consumer from searches and from their social network interactions will be too valuable to knowledgeable marketing organizations to pass up. By actively driving traffic to Google +, they’ll be making their own marketing efforts that much more effective....."

As a working artist [hence a business person] this makes sense to me; although, I don't see folks defecting from Twitter. Twitter is just too good at what it does - instant communication and connection. Here's what I have found via Twitter that I did not find via Facebook:

customers
connections - other artists either within my own genre or artists I have interviewed
friends - so cool to 'meet' someone who speaks your own language [artists do speak their own language]
suppliers
information - yes, you can get information...it's not so much found within the 140 characters as it is in following the website addresses given in the profiles of folks.

So why is Twitter valuable for artists? Here are 3 Reasons:

One: You can find other artists easily, quickly and efficiently. A real life example: I wanted to find other mosaic artists who had internet presence. I tried "Googling" [isn't it cute that Google is now a verb?] and the results were cumbersome at best. Then I used the search function of Twitter entering "mosaic artist" into the search field and voila! Mosaic artists. Lots of them. Here's a few:

Two: You can find the best link to those artists. To me this was important. I figured that because Twitter gives you only one link to share in your bio, most people will put the one most advantageous to their work and/or business and that is true. When you click on the person's Twitter handle it takes you to their profile and there is the link to their website, blog or whatever. For some artists it's their Facebook Page and others it's their Etsy store. So not only does Twitter give me a fast and easy way to find someone, through their profile is a quick way to go directly to their own chosen landing place.

Three: It lets others find you. Or your work. Or what you've written. Put up a profile then put the 'link to Twitter' button everywhere so that folks can find you on Twitter. Use good keywords in your profile so that you come up on searches and put your best internet location as your web address: do you want them to find your blog or your gallery page or your shop on Etsy as their first intro to you? Then when you post something to your blog, Tweet it; when you add something to your gallery page, Tweet it; when you have something new to sell in your Etsy or Zazzle shop, Tweet it.

I hope everyone enjoys a fantastic Holiday Season. May you have a fun [and safe] New Year's celebration. I'll be busy next week making a quilt for the new granddaughter due next month so I'll "see" you all again here at Mosaic Mandalas in January 2012!

Here are two new works I completed at the close of this year - commissioned mosaics:

"Rise of Day"

30" Diameter ceramic tile mosaic

"End of Day"

30" diameter ceramic tile mosaic