Happy New Year!

Though it isn't officially the Year of the Pig, Elmer is here to ring in the new year with a smile! I grouted this yesterday, with the cleaning help of hubby Pete, and today Elmer the pig sat for his official portrait. I'd like to wish everyone reading this a happy, healthy, creative, and productive 2010!

Terrazzo samples

Here are some of the terrazzo samples for the arena project. These three are my proposals for the water areas. They have some bits of mother of pearl and mirror to give it a reflective sparkly surface evocative of water. I've had to ask for some redos of some of the other colors because I wasn't happy with the aggregate mix I had selected. As you can imagine, it really affects the overall color. The redos look great, however!

I've been out of town in Florida visiting family, but I'm back and just an hour ago laid the final piece in the pig (see below). He's a happy guy, and I think I'll name him Elmer. Apologies to my Uncle Elmer, who at one time was, in fact, a pig farmer...

Hope you all had a merry Christmas!

Mosaics again!

My little vacation from mosaics was wonderful! I love painting and linocuts, and so many other things. I need to make other art forms part of my regular routine. It helps me grow and stretch as an artist, and it made me even more excited to come back to mosaics!

I actually completed a large mosaic just before my "vacation" that I can't post because it is a gift. After the holidays I'll share it with you. But right now I'm working on a very large pig! This one is 48"h x 36"w. I really need to mount a mirror above my table because it is hard to stand back from this and see it well since it's so big. Taking pics helps - seeing the image on the camera screen or the computer screen helps the mistakes jump right out. In this pic, lots of the pieces are just laying there, not glued down. Usually I glue as I go, but with so many colors, I need to see how they are working together, and then change things around to get the right mix. So it's taking me longer than normal to put this one together. But I'm loving it! Feels good to be back!