Here is my beautiful ATC from Carla Lewis for our August exchange. The theme was "Artist's Favorite Color." Isn't it beautiful? She also sent me one of her exquisite pendants! I love everything about this piece and the cutting is so good.
I love our group. I hope I get Nathan for our next exchange, because the theme is "Where We're From," and I'm from Salem, so I know I can make something that suits him just fine. He's so dark! Actually, I think I'll ask our coordinator. I'm sure she'll want to do whatever she can to make the group as much fun as possible.
I'm working on a yoga scene right now, in eggshells. I'm kind of stuck on the window frame, though. I've painted some eggshells with a mother-of-pearl paint, but I'm not sure if I should cut the shells in a certain pattern or just have them be random.
I'm thinking I might send it off to Linda Biggers and see what she thinks. She really has a knack. Maybe I'll do that today.
I have two more yoga scenes planned in the same color scheme, Dancer and Lotus. There's something about these poses that makes me feel calm and safe. It's possible that, because I practice them myself, that's the way I feel while in those poses. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the way this is coming out. I'll need to create some shadows to make it a little richer and add a touch of nature.
"Fancy," is her name, and she was created at an Eggshell Mosaic Workshop with Linda Biggers, a.k.a., the Eggshell Lady, in Philadelphia, in March.
Linda is a wonderful instructor and gave each of us as much personal attention as we needed. I met Jessica Cherry and April Stiebel Press and they couldn't have been nicer. Annie and I had a wonderful time. It was a beautiful day and we had no problem finding our way around. The only thing we didn't count on was not being able to find a place to pick up a lunch for ourselves, so we ate from the vending machine. Yuck! So, we learned a lot and had a great time.
Here is a wall from The Magic Gardens in Philly. It is absolutely breathtaking! The side of a building, completely mosaiced, just jumped out at us when we arrived. Bonus; we got a parking spot right outside the front door!
Once inside, it was hard to decide where to look first! It was a feast for the eyes! I need to go back because I didn't get to see everything. It was pretty cold that day and we weren't up to walking outside to find all the other mosaics.
Annie banani taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.
The mirror stood out the most, in the sunshine. I can't describe how beautiful it was. These pictures don't do it justice, at all.
I could have stayed, but for some reason, I was physically uncomfortable. I can't put my finger on why, exactly, but I didn't really want to hang around. Maybe, if I could have sat down somewhere. I don't know. Anyway, I would go again. I had a great time.
Here's my girl! I had such a great time creating her. She went to Carla Lewis, who really liked her. I was at a loss as to what to do with a circus theme. I love dancers, so when I saw this pose I knew I could recreate it with a little clay, some red mirror tiles and rhinestones.
She arrived with a broken leg, but Carla doctored her up nicely. When she posted her picture on our Mosaic Madness site on Facebook, I couldn't even tell she'd been through surgery. Carla, you're a master!
~ Onward
This is just one of those round, cardboard boxes that you can get from any craft store. I wanted to do something colorful and different, so I began with the red and yellow Smalti. I really love it. Those colors just pop!
This box contains a lot of odds and ends that can be used in other ATCs (artist trading cards) that I make for trade: Found objects, bits of jewelry, odd rhinestones, buttons and bows. Next!
~ Onward
In October of 2009 my daughter and I went on vacation to San Francisco. I've always wanted to go. Always. Now I know why. Mosaic Art was waiting for me there.
We drove to Half Moon Bay (doesn't that sound sort of dream-like)? When we got out of the car we saw this beautiful bench enclosure. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. We continued to walk down the main drag and mosaic mural covering almost the entire side of a brick building took my breath away. But wait! We hadn't even crossed the street yet. We walked in through a chain-link fence and found the most beautiful bird houses I'd ever seen. I looked at them, turned them around in my hands and wracked my brain, but I couldn't figure out how they got to look like that. We were walking on inches thick of broken ceramic tile and glass and you could even buy it by the pound! I was awestruck. I had a lot to learn.
When I got home I bought a book, a few tiles, a tool, a birdhouse and got to work. My son-in-law would be the first recipient of my new passion. As time went on and I learned more and more, I could no longer work at the dining room table and converted a second floor bedroom to my studio. (Pictures to follow) It's actually getting ridiculous. I could use a bigger room.
