Exciting Happenings

Here is the back room at Max's Cucina where Marie Arnold (collage), Jacqueline Vanderlaan (oil) and I have our show this month and next. The show started last week and we had a very lovely reception on Monday evening. The picture on the left has two of my mosaics on either side of the big mirror and one of Marie's collages on the breakfront.

Below is another mosaic of mine at the show. It's made of Italian smalti and ball chain.

So far three of my pieces have sold.

On the right is a hen I'm working on as a thank-you for friends of mine who put on a fabulous party last weekend. They have a very upscale chicken coop with several handsome chickens. The mosaic on the right is being modeled after a photo my friend Gary took of one of the hens.










And finally we have a picture of Prancer Dancer Valentine Vanderwilt looking rakish with an eye patch. Unfortunately he never backs away from a fight, and yesterday I noticed that his left eye wasn't opening completely. I could see he had swelling over his eye so I took him to the vet and she operated this morning. Not only was there the bite over his eye but you can just see the red string on his side where there was another abscess. The vet found bite wounds from all four teeth there! So his roaming is curtailed for a few days until I pull out the drains.

Paradise in Eugene, Oregon

I just returned from Eugene, Oregon where I took a three-day mosaic class from Chris Emmert of chrisemmert.com. I had the best time and learned soooo much from her. First we stopped at the rock store and looked at all the kinds of rock that would make good mosaic pieces. Then I learned about gluing techniques, supplies to use, how to use epoxy grout and so many other techniques that will help me with my mosaic adventures. She is an excellent teacher, a lot of fun and very, very creative and prolific at making all sorts of mosaics.

And...Chris made us sangria with gin. My kind of teacher! Above I am showing off all the pieces I made; a cat face, two hearts, a red flower on a tiny rock and a three dimensional piece with electronic parts or gizmos as she calls them. Below is the cat face grouted.

Here is Chris Emmert working on a rock during our workshop. On the right is a beautiful stone with her house numbers. It will go out in the front of the house after she finishes some other mosaic work on her porch. I highly recommend her classes to anyone who wants to learn about mosaics.

Chris' House Number

Chris Emmert

Grandma's Crazy Quilt Mosaic

I have a beautiful crazy quilt made my either my grandma or an aunt back in the early 1900s. A crazy quilt used up a lot of old fabric pieces left over from other sewing projects. The edges of the pieces were stitched with lovely designs, maybe a picture or two went inside the quilt somewhere, and the overall all look was warm and homey. 

So I thought, why not make one as a mosaic! Here I'm working on it, trying to get the perfect pieces and colors for the stitching and the "fabric" pieces. It was really fun to work on since I could mix and match colors of glass, Van Gogh glass, ball chain, Swarovski crystal beads, silver jewelry and leftover pieces of English Transferware china. 

Sometimes I would take it out in the sun and work in it too. Here it is almost finished. Below it is all filled in and ready for grout. I mosaiced the edges also using vitreous glass in the colors of the piece. And, of course, there is a little kitty in the middle. 

Grandma's Crazy Quilt

So next I have to figure out a grout color to use, maybe black, and finish it up. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

New Work

I've been working on many new things getting ready for our show at a local restaurant. Here is a pretty in pink heart. I found the base at a thrift store and I added some china pieces. I cut the center out of one of the plates for the center of the piece. This one has two holes near the top so I'm going to try putting a pretty ribbon for hanging.



The next piece below doesn't look very good in the picture but in person I'm finding it quite interesting. I have a crazy quilt stitched by one of my aunts way back in the 20s or 30s. I decided to try to make a mosaic that looked like a crazy quilt.

And finally here is another piece I found at a thrift store. A key! My dad was a locksmith and the large round key on the right was one he made for me to open the door of my house. So I decided to find some interesting keys and populate this wooden piece. I also painted it turquoise and threw on some gold glitter. Then I glued tempered glass on top. It isn't grouted yet because, as usual, I'm not sure what color grout to use. I'm thinking of something in the gold family also. Maybe I'll use a couple colors of grout to add some interest. 

So I just thought I'd let you know that I haven't reneged on my goal of making a new mosaic a week. I'm still at it and loving every minute of it!

Busy Mosaic Month

Begonia luxurians

My mosaic of Begonia luxurians did very well at the annual American Begonia Society convention in San Diego last month. All three of the mosaics I entered won ribbons, and this mosaic also won Best in Division and Best in Arts. Quite an honor for me.

This is a picture of all three of my entries. They all won a ribbon of some sort. The watercolor pictures at the front of the table were the prizes for winning Best in Something (the large blue flower ribbons). They are gorgeous paintings from a Begonia grower. She made at least 50 of these paintings for the prizes.

The convention was held at the Town and Country Hotel in San Diego on Hotel Circle. It is a very large, very beautiful hotel with lots of gardens and plants. Many of my friends and I were in the area of small cottages with beautiful landscaping and areas to sit outside. Here I am with the Champagne Ladies of Los Angeles. This lovely gazebo was outside our rooms so we took advantage of the afternoon sunshine to have some snacks and wine.