The Voter

My Mosaic Sun Temple is in the Voter this week on etsy! Wow! It's the first time I've been included. I was nominated by Dawn of LaTouchables. Thanks Dawn! The theme is the Autumn Equinox and there are lots of lovely entries. If you like my Sun Temple, please vote for it!

Summer Vacation

It's official! It's summer vacation, the weather is hot, the pools are open, people are heading to the ocean, school is out. For me it means being able to fly...to visit my family on the other side of the Atlantic. The bags are packed, hopefully weighing in at an eco-friendly less-than-twenty-three kilos each. A few gifts for the family, beachwear, a camera and we're all set!

Here's my latest mosaic, a gift for a wonderful aunt who requested a cross. I had never made one, but I wanted to make it for her since she's a fantastic aunt to have! I had a few doubts about tesserae, colors, images to use; I thought it wouldn't come out right.

But I decided to keep to my own style, broken plates, some Roman tile bits, a lace printed bird, some pewter word charms and I think it came out okay. She likes the photos; I only hope she likes the real thing!

Mini Mosaic Art

I've recently begun making tiny mosaics as a way to offer affordable original art work to everyone who'd like to have it. A lot of artists offer art that is accessible to those who can't spend enormous amounts on art (people like me!), either prints or reduced-in-size original works. These are the first of my line of tiny works of art, about 6 by 4.5 inches, with metallic charms and a special message in each one.

Luneville plates

I found these Luneville plates for 0.90€ at the second-hand shop last week. Luneville is best-known for lovely beadwork which was produced in this town in the 18th century. Pottery was also produced there and still is, apparently! I fell in love with the floral pattern which looks as though it was stenciled on. It's all around the edge and there were three plates, plus a dark blue one that was one of it's kind. Maybe the others in the set were broken, but I would have liked to find a whole stack of them, the deep blue is gorgeous!



And here's one of my birds, cut out from a terracotta slab, printed with lace, fired, colored and waxed, already glued to a board, soon to become part of my next mosaic.

In fact there are three birds on the board, and I was looking for the perfect printed plate tesserae to put under their little feet. I'll have to show you how it turns out!

Lady in Archway

I'm always amazed when one of my pieces is included in a treasury. This little lady in an archway was one of my first mosaic pieces and I loved making her tiny face and hair. That's my favorite part in fact, sculpting the faces of my ladies.

This treasury is full of beautiful collage art:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=37353

A Mosaic Workshop

I made this mosaic last year in a workshop at the Musée des Tissus/Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Lyon. I love participating in workshops there. There's this amazingly big work space, the artists are helpful, especially with technical details, and there's no phone ringing, or kids asking you to do things, at least for the duration of the workshop! Five hours of non-stop creation.

This mosaic workshop was two five-hour periods, two Saturdays in February. After ten hours, I had finished way less than half this mosaic! I worked another 20-odd hours at home, not including grouting or cleaning! And it's not even that big; it measures about 45 x 35 cm. I had it professionally photographed, and it is in my portfolio, but it's been sitting on my worktable, propped against the wall for almost a year.

So last week I decided to ask at the local fine art supply store if they'd let me hang it there. I had noticed that they had a lot of paintings up, but no mosaics. Well, the owner liked it, and said he was about to set up a display of mosaic supplies and my mosaic would be the perfect wall hanging in that area, right in the front of the store! He said he couldn't guarantee that it would be sold (who can ever be sure of sales?) but if it does, he doesn't take a commission. Thanks so much to Le Pinceau d'Or in Lyon, France!

So, I've found a home for my rather heavy mosaic, at least for now.

Bird Walk

I was finally able to photograph the finished piece! It's been winter grey skies for what seems like a very long time. Today the sun came out, even though the temperatures are frigid.

For some reason, I had to call it Bird Walk. Instead of "birds walking" or "walking birds" or even "the birds go for a walk". The title Bird Walk just seemed to be my only choice.

Blue and Golden Yellow

Ever-enamored of the blue and golden yellow color combination, I cut up the plates to give these birds a golden contrast.

I added some of the tiny flower patterned pieces along with touches of blue and black. I just need to cement it all together.

Ceramic Lace Bird

The idea is to use the same imagery in different materials. My blue cotton bird brooch was transformed into a ceramic lace bird (still blue!). He's been fired and colored with blue pigment.

Flying Girl

Sigmosaics included my flying girl in a treasury on etsy! This is my first appearance in a treasury; I'm so excited! Take a look:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=28827

My First Blog

Gosh, I never thought I'd be able to do this, but here I am. Just clicked on create a blog and voilà! Here is the picture I chose for my business cards, a detail from a mosaic that I love too much to sell. It took a long time to sculpt all those heads (there are seven in all, plus two that were discarded). There are birds in it too, but not in this photo. These little ladies are having a conversation, about art, or maybe just about the price of beans!