Happy New Year's Eve

Biscotti and I wish you all a very safe New Year's Eve and a wonderful year in 2012. Neither of us combed our hair for this shot. Why does Biscotti look so much better???

Patches is ready for grouting

Patches is ready for grouting! And Contemporary Mosaic Art (CMA) is sponsoring a Martin Cheek competition for feline mosaics, so I will enter her into the competition. I think I will use a gray grout.



And to the left we have the darling Biscotti waiting for me to put some catnip on his tree.

More on Patches

It's funny that you can get a better view of a mosaic in progress by either squinting or taking a picture.
Somehow that brings everything into focus. I've made more progress on Patches, and I hope to finish gluing today. Then the usual dilemma...what color grout???

I've decided to resolve for the new year that grout color will not be an issue anymore. I will make a good grout board with all the colors I have and then use it to pick the right grout. Delaine Hackney from the Institute of Mosaic Art did this when I took her pet portrait class and her choice was perfect. I could see it too when we held up different color bars of grout. Below is one of the first sample boards I made, and I find it is very helpful when trying to choose a color.

Grout sample board

Merry Christmas 2011

Biscotti and the keyboard

Merry Christmas to everyone! It's going to be 70° here in Santa Barbara today. That must be Santa's gift to us. 

I have a new computer with wireless mouse and keyboard. I found that Biscotti doesn't mind if I set the keyboard on him while we're working. He just looked up at me occasionally and then went back to sleep! 

House number ungrouted

And trying to add some mosaic news to this blog about mosaics, here is the house number I made for my dear friends. I couldn't post it until today because I didn't want them to see it in advance. Above shows it ungrouted. Below it is grouted in charcoal and I added some bling to the grout while it was still wet because my friends love sparkly things.

House number grouted

Patches

Today I've been working on a portrait of my kitty Patches, who is no longer with me. She was a calico manx with a personality as big as the sky. Later in her life she had a hematoma in her ear, and so it was permanently folded down. That just gave her extra character.  The picture on the bottom right was taken after the hematoma, but with all her colors, it was hard to see that anything was wrong. It's the beige-colored ear. It didn't slow her down a bit.

And today is Christmas Eve. So I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, no matter which holiday you observe. This is a good time to remember how lucky we are to have good friends and family and pets that make our lives richer.

Patches

Patches with hematoma in right ear

More from Mother Nature

Liquidambar styraciflua

Here is the stunning Liquidambar styraciflua in my next door neighbor's yard. I took this picture early in the morning when the sun was just starting to shine on the leaves. Aren't they gorgeous? I have a Liquidambar also but the leaves never turn this beautiful shade of red.

And below is a watering can for another client. I took the picture with the soup can so she could see the size. She already has two of my mosaic watering cans and decided she needed another. If only I could find more cans!

A Bit of Everything

Here is how the moon looked this morning around 6 a.m. The sun was just coming up, and the sky was this gorgeous shade of blue.

Below on the left is a wooden tray filled with glass beads. I found two large bags of beads at a thrift store and thought it would be fun to make a mosaic using only beads. The cat in the middle has a red sign that says "Love is a Cat." Next time I'll do the writing with a bold pen.

And here we have a simple stained glass frame with a mirror that I started over a year ago. I finally got around to finishing it.  I like the big, colorful flowers.

And finally on the right is a frame I made for a friend using treasured china that broke. On the left is the picture that went into the frame. It is a picture of my friend's mother who is 94 now, and the picture was taken when she was 17. She's standing with her grandmother. Such wonderful memories!

Trash to Treasures

Ceramic Birdhouse

Well, I shouldn't call it trash but I made this darling little mushroom and the bird on top came from this bird feeder. Months ago I found that the squirrel (no doubt) knocked the bird that sat at the top of this bird feeder onto the ground. I picked it up wondering what to do with it. And voila! I repurposed it to sit on this cute little mushroom.


And here we have the new wet saw! I bought a "beginners" model while I figure how I can use it without sanding my fingers. Right now it's sitting on the bench behind the studio but I need to figure a better place for it so I don't have to step over the hose whenever I go in the back door.

Wet Saw