01 November 2010
Mosaic House Number Finished
Finished this mosaic tonight. Most of the work was finished last night. Tonight I just added the hanging hardware and cleaned up some of the overflow of thinset and grout.
Death of a long-ago friend
I just learned that a friend from years back died from a heart attack this past Friday. He wasn't even 50. It's very sad.
And even sadder, while I remember him - having been reminded of him through his death - I do not remember his face. And I know that, when I lived in the commune, I talked to this man nearly every day, at least for a few years. I probably cooked his breakfast on numerous occasions...
It's sad when we forget people who have been part of our lives, only to remember them - and then only in bits and pieces - when they die.
I've found that death affects me much more profoundly now - especially after my dad's death. Even the death of kittens can make me weepy. But I also feel the celebration/joy of someone's life so much more profoundly now too... It's a double-edged sword, and all-in-all I'm glad for it.
And even sadder, while I remember him - having been reminded of him through his death - I do not remember his face. And I know that, when I lived in the commune, I talked to this man nearly every day, at least for a few years. I probably cooked his breakfast on numerous occasions...
It's sad when we forget people who have been part of our lives, only to remember them - and then only in bits and pieces - when they die.
I've found that death affects me much more profoundly now - especially after my dad's death. Even the death of kittens can make me weepy. But I also feel the celebration/joy of someone's life so much more profoundly now too... It's a double-edged sword, and all-in-all I'm glad for it.
31 October 2010
The ACLU and You
I received the following by email this morning...
Do I like and support every cause that the ACLU takes up? Absolutely not. Do I think that we need the ACLU? Absolutely.
Without an organization guarding our constitutional rights we would soon become more powerless than we already are.
Some of the battles they fight for us:
I also feel the need to point out that decorating evergreen trees and bringing greenery into the home at or around the winter solstice did not originate with Christians and Christmas. It's a tradition much more ancient than that. In fact, the early Christian church prohibited the decoration of trees and bringing evergreen bough into the home.
And, my dear emailer, I AM one of the "atheists and others" that the ACLU represents, and so are YOU.
"Christmas card ideaActually, for those who are uninformed - the ACLU is concerned with protecting the rights of the Individual from the encroachment of the State.
What a clever idea!
Yes, Christmas cards. This is coming early so that you can get ready to include an important address to your list..
Want to have some fun this CHRISTMAS? Send the ACLU a CHRISTMAS CARD this year.
As they are working so very hard to get rid of the CHRISTMAS part of this holiday, we should all send them a nice, CHRISTIAN card to brighten up their dark, sad, little world..
Make sure it says "Merry Christmas" on it.
Here's the address, just don't be rude or crude. (It's not the Christian way, you know.)
ACLU
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York , NY 10004
Two tons of Christmas cards would freeze their operations because they wouldn't know if any were regular mail containing contributions. So spend 44 cents and tell the ACLU to leave Christmas alone. Also tell them that there is no such thing as a " Holiday Tree". . . It's always been called a CHRISTMAS TREE!
And pass this on to your email lists. We really want to communicate with the ACLU! They really DESERVE us!!
For those of you who aren't aware of them, the ACLU, (the American Civil Liberties Union) is the one suing the U.S. Government to take God, Christmas or anything Christian away from us. They represent the atheists and others in this war. Help put Christ back in Christmas!"
Do I like and support every cause that the ACLU takes up? Absolutely not. Do I think that we need the ACLU? Absolutely.
Without an organization guarding our constitutional rights we would soon become more powerless than we already are.
Some of the battles they fight for us:
Illegal wiretapping and spying on U.S. citizens - what if the government decided you were a suspect? Would you want to be spied upon, have cameras and microphones all over your house (your bathroom, your bedroom)?
Torture - do you think it's alright to torture people? If you do I think you've lost your soul.
Illegal internments - do you approve of locking people up without any proof they should be? without a fair trial? Think about it. What if your neighbors told the government you were a terrorist? What if you had to prove you weren't, instead of the government proving you were? How do you prove a negative? They could simply say, "well we haven't found the evidence yet, but we're keeping you locked up until we do."
Preventing government from having a say in religious worship - and you who claim Christian should realize that they also fight for you, they keep the government out of your churches, and only stipulate that your church needs to stay out of government. Would you want the government telling your priests and pastors what they could talk about?
I also feel the need to point out that decorating evergreen trees and bringing greenery into the home at or around the winter solstice did not originate with Christians and Christmas. It's a tradition much more ancient than that. In fact, the early Christian church prohibited the decoration of trees and bringing evergreen bough into the home.
And, my dear emailer, I AM one of the "atheists and others" that the ACLU represents, and so are YOU.
28 October 2010
Mosaic House Number
I'm going to wait until I get back from Sherri Warner Hunter's 5-day Sculptural Forms workshop at the Chicago Mosaic School to continue on Mme Dusa. Sherri's workshop is about making concrete forms for mosaics and I think I want to give Mme Dusa shoulders and cleavage. Doing that will also stabilize her.
In the meanwhile I've been working on a commissioned house number (sorry about the image quality - I just took a quick snapshot of the mosaic):
It measures 30" across the bottom and is 15" tall. I've got a bit more work to do filling in around the numbers and then I can grout it and seal the grout. At this rate I should be able to finish it and get it delivered before I go to Chicago.
In the meanwhile I've been working on a commissioned house number (sorry about the image quality - I just took a quick snapshot of the mosaic):
It measures 30" across the bottom and is 15" tall. I've got a bit more work to do filling in around the numbers and then I can grout it and seal the grout. At this rate I should be able to finish it and get it delivered before I go to Chicago.
22 October 2010
Are You Curious? Part Two
Here's the partially assembled sculpture of m'dusa.
I need to make about 8 more tendrils - she's a bit bald in back. Once I have the tendrils in the exact places they should go I'll fill in the gaps between each tendril and her scalp.
I also need to put a counter-weight in the base to make her more stand up more securely.
I bought several small sheets of pastel (peach, pink, orange, purple, green, blue-gray) stained glass for her flesh. I'm using the breakage from Sugar Tree Glass (local glassblowers) for the tendrils.
And Emerald's paintings are actually hanging quite straight on the wall behind m'dusa...
I need to make about 8 more tendrils - she's a bit bald in back. Once I have the tendrils in the exact places they should go I'll fill in the gaps between each tendril and her scalp.
I also need to put a counter-weight in the base to make her more stand up more securely.
I bought several small sheets of pastel (peach, pink, orange, purple, green, blue-gray) stained glass for her flesh. I'm using the breakage from Sugar Tree Glass (local glassblowers) for the tendrils.
And Emerald's paintings are actually hanging quite straight on the wall behind m'dusa...
10 October 2010
Thinking again about appropriation
I feel sort of guilty that I haven't been posting lately - I haven't been doing much writing at all other than for work or some of the websites I've been working on. This is a practice run at doing some writing that is more thoughtful than most of what I've been writing lately - the thoughtful part is at the end, the rest is setting the scene...
The latest website to be finished (if a website is EVER finished) is Beelandia.com, Abelisto's website. There's at least three more websites in the works, mostly waiting on people to decide if they like them or not... only one of them is a paying job though.
I hennaed my hair last week (or actually, Abelisto did) using body-art quality henna. I mixed it up using lemon juice instead of water, per the instructions that came with it. It was much, much easier to wash out than the other henna. It did stain my forehead and ears a bit, but that faded in a couple days. Next time I'll have to be more careful about cleaning it off my skin.
The henna turned my hair a bit carroty-orange at first. The instructions said not to panic, but instead to give it a few days and see how it darkened. Wow. Now it is a really rich auburn. The gray hairs, which usually are quite coppery with henna I've previously used, are very mellow and not at all what I expected after I first washed out this henna. All-in-all a vast improvement.
I'm thinking about doing henna tattoos. I've had them done on my hands before - at arts & crafts festivals. I like the way they look, and the graceful way they fade out (I love my permanent tattoo too - just so you know).
Here's the thing... I love the look of the traditional henna tattoos, but I don't want to do traditional ones on people. Or I should say, I don't want to do the traditional ones unless it is part of the person's heritage/culture.
I cannot help but think of it as an appropriation, the exoticization of a culture that has always made me a bit uneasy. Okay, here's the issue, when I think about the idea of inspiration and the artist’s practice it seems to me that there can be sort of a reverse colonization that often happens – a backdraft of appropriation of styles and artforms, which often ends up getting rolled up into the outsider's identity – a disrespectful fascination with a culture that leads to exoticizing the “other,” trivializing and reducing individuals within those cultures to caricatures (google "Native American Princess art images" and you'll see what I mean... how many of those paintings, sculptures, drawings were done by white housewife artists? Harsh, I know, but I cannot help it).
We assume we are welcome within groups just because we like them, because we want to be like them, wear clothes like them, talk like them or eat their food...
How often is respect for the material or nonmaterial objects of a culture – often manifested as a lust to own them – mistaken by those lusting for the object as a respect for the creators of the objects? Our engineered identities are made up from so many influences, so many “I love that!” feelings, that for the most part, it seems to me that authenticity may be a chimera.
It's not exactly rational, I know. It's not like henna tattoos are part of my own culture. However, there is some historical evidence that some sort of tattooing was part of a great many ancient and not-so-ancient cultures - including most if not all of the European mishmash that I descend from. And I do think that the desire to embellish our bodies in some way is a part of every culture.
So what it comes down to is that I'd love to do the henna tattoos with designs of my own making.
The latest website to be finished (if a website is EVER finished) is Beelandia.com, Abelisto's website. There's at least three more websites in the works, mostly waiting on people to decide if they like them or not... only one of them is a paying job though.
I hennaed my hair last week (or actually, Abelisto did) using body-art quality henna. I mixed it up using lemon juice instead of water, per the instructions that came with it. It was much, much easier to wash out than the other henna. It did stain my forehead and ears a bit, but that faded in a couple days. Next time I'll have to be more careful about cleaning it off my skin.
The henna turned my hair a bit carroty-orange at first. The instructions said not to panic, but instead to give it a few days and see how it darkened. Wow. Now it is a really rich auburn. The gray hairs, which usually are quite coppery with henna I've previously used, are very mellow and not at all what I expected after I first washed out this henna. All-in-all a vast improvement.
I'm thinking about doing henna tattoos. I've had them done on my hands before - at arts & crafts festivals. I like the way they look, and the graceful way they fade out (I love my permanent tattoo too - just so you know).
Here's the thing... I love the look of the traditional henna tattoos, but I don't want to do traditional ones on people. Or I should say, I don't want to do the traditional ones unless it is part of the person's heritage/culture.
I cannot help but think of it as an appropriation, the exoticization of a culture that has always made me a bit uneasy. Okay, here's the issue, when I think about the idea of inspiration and the artist’s practice it seems to me that there can be sort of a reverse colonization that often happens – a backdraft of appropriation of styles and artforms, which often ends up getting rolled up into the outsider's identity – a disrespectful fascination with a culture that leads to exoticizing the “other,” trivializing and reducing individuals within those cultures to caricatures (google "Native American Princess art images" and you'll see what I mean... how many of those paintings, sculptures, drawings were done by white housewife artists? Harsh, I know, but I cannot help it).
We assume we are welcome within groups just because we like them, because we want to be like them, wear clothes like them, talk like them or eat their food...
How often is respect for the material or nonmaterial objects of a culture – often manifested as a lust to own them – mistaken by those lusting for the object as a respect for the creators of the objects? Our engineered identities are made up from so many influences, so many “I love that!” feelings, that for the most part, it seems to me that authenticity may be a chimera.
It's not exactly rational, I know. It's not like henna tattoos are part of my own culture. However, there is some historical evidence that some sort of tattooing was part of a great many ancient and not-so-ancient cultures - including most if not all of the European mishmash that I descend from. And I do think that the desire to embellish our bodies in some way is a part of every culture.
So what it comes down to is that I'd love to do the henna tattoos with designs of my own making.
21 September 2010
Thoughts on the Death of a Friend
It seems to me, after these past 10 days, that the death of a dear one makes us feel like we are ourselves lost.
Tragic, unexpected, untimely death is much harder to deal with. It is a surreal experience - in some ways - both physically and mentally intense, wretchedly transcendent in regard to the anguish we feel…
For days we have walked around with a kicked-in-the-stomach feeling, breathing deep was difficult, looking in each other’s eyes was nearly impossible. The patterns of our daily life have a new gap in them and our connections with the world are fewer and more tenuous.
I have felt both terribly empty and terribly full, and both are made of pain.
Tragic, unexpected, untimely death is much harder to deal with. It is a surreal experience - in some ways - both physically and mentally intense, wretchedly transcendent in regard to the anguish we feel…
For days we have walked around with a kicked-in-the-stomach feeling, breathing deep was difficult, looking in each other’s eyes was nearly impossible. The patterns of our daily life have a new gap in them and our connections with the world are fewer and more tenuous.
I have felt both terribly empty and terribly full, and both are made of pain.
14 September 2010
Chad
A great friend is gone and today, or tomorrow they are turning off the machines that are keeping his body alive. A new experience for me and one I would greatly have preferred not to experience.
Let me tell you about Chad.
Chad was a great artist. Not your typical artist working with brushes on canvas or sculpting something beautiful... at least not in the way you normally think of painting and sculpting. Chad's artistry was done with ink and needles, his canvas was skin, his sculptures were our human bodies. Chad was a tattoo artist. A brilliant one.
Sometimes gifted people can be blinded by their own magnificence. Not Chad. He nurtured people he saw as destined to shine brighter than himself with a true enthusiasm and a pure passion to see them succeed. He collaborated where others in his position might have chosen to compete. He demanded excellence of himself, and his collaborators - and celebrated those rare moments of artistic transcendence with boundless joy.
Chad believed in people. He weighed them with a generous heart, and found few lacking. Those who were fortunate enough to be counted as a friend knew unstinting love and bountiful support.
We are all walking wounded today,
Hollow, achy, empty inside,
Wandering the land of disbelief and despair,
Our friend is gone, he has died.
His friends are grieving
See Chad's work
Let me tell you about Chad.
Chad was a great artist. Not your typical artist working with brushes on canvas or sculpting something beautiful... at least not in the way you normally think of painting and sculpting. Chad's artistry was done with ink and needles, his canvas was skin, his sculptures were our human bodies. Chad was a tattoo artist. A brilliant one.
Sometimes gifted people can be blinded by their own magnificence. Not Chad. He nurtured people he saw as destined to shine brighter than himself with a true enthusiasm and a pure passion to see them succeed. He collaborated where others in his position might have chosen to compete. He demanded excellence of himself, and his collaborators - and celebrated those rare moments of artistic transcendence with boundless joy.
Chad believed in people. He weighed them with a generous heart, and found few lacking. Those who were fortunate enough to be counted as a friend knew unstinting love and bountiful support.
Hollow, achy, empty inside,
Wandering the land of disbelief and despair,
Our friend is gone, he has died.
His friends are grieving
See Chad's work
10 August 2010
Wayne's Sushi & Karaoke Bar
My Las Vegas vacation is just about over. We've been here about a week. We've done some fun things and spent some great family time.
Tonight's wonderful surprise was Wayne's Sushi and Karaoke Bar. I cannot tell you how great it was. Total Food Orgasm. Period.
What we ate:
Appetizers:
Jellyfish, Bean sprout salad, Edamame, spicy Cucumber salad.
Wayne's Special Sushi Rolls:
Lost Wages - California roll wrapped with smoked salmon, topped withSum Young Gai sauce, baked and topped with tobiko and bonito flakes and eel sauce.
Mikey Mikey - Soft shelled crab, shrimp tempura and spicy tuna roll topped with spicy crab.
What Brah, Beef? - Shrimp tempura and asparagus, topped with beef tenderloin and ginger pepper sauce.
Snap Crackle Pop - Shrimp tempura and asparagus topped with baked tilapia and ginger pepper sauce.
Itsy Bitsy Spider - Soft shelled crab, crab mix, gobo, cucumber, sprouts, and massago. Served with ponzu and Sum Young Gai sauce.
Dragon Ass - California roll topped with eel and massago and eel sauce.
Brian & Marsha, Marsha, Marsha - Shrimp tempura, spicy crab, cream cheese and cucumber topped withspice crab, tuna, avocado and eel sauce.
And my very most favorite:
Mango A Go Go Hand Roll - Spicy crab with mango, served in soy paper.
The food was absolutely amazing. Fresh. Made right in front of us.
It's a tiny, small place - very intimate - owned/operated by Wayne and Heidi. We were sitting at the sushi bar and the food was prepared less than two feet from us. They have a few tables too, but if you go, be sure to sit at the bar. Wayne and Heidi have fantastic stories - tales to amaze and entertain, brash and silly, teasing and enticing. It's better than any dinner theater I've ever been to. The constantly running banter between Wayne, Heidi and all of us was such great fun. They make you feel like a welcome guest in their home, a long-time friend, not a customer.
If you're ever in Vegas, you've got to go to Wayne's.
Wayne and Heidi, we'll see you in December! We want to hear you sing next time.
Tonight's wonderful surprise was Wayne's Sushi and Karaoke Bar. I cannot tell you how great it was. Total Food Orgasm. Period.
What we ate:
Appetizers:
Jellyfish, Bean sprout salad, Edamame, spicy Cucumber salad.
Wayne's Special Sushi Rolls:
Lost Wages - California roll wrapped with smoked salmon, topped withSum Young Gai sauce, baked and topped with tobiko and bonito flakes and eel sauce.
Mikey Mikey - Soft shelled crab, shrimp tempura and spicy tuna roll topped with spicy crab.
What Brah, Beef? - Shrimp tempura and asparagus, topped with beef tenderloin and ginger pepper sauce.
Snap Crackle Pop - Shrimp tempura and asparagus topped with baked tilapia and ginger pepper sauce.
Itsy Bitsy Spider - Soft shelled crab, crab mix, gobo, cucumber, sprouts, and massago. Served with ponzu and Sum Young Gai sauce.
Dragon Ass - California roll topped with eel and massago and eel sauce.
Brian & Marsha, Marsha, Marsha - Shrimp tempura, spicy crab, cream cheese and cucumber topped withspice crab, tuna, avocado and eel sauce.
And my very most favorite:
Mango A Go Go Hand Roll - Spicy crab with mango, served in soy paper.
The food was absolutely amazing. Fresh. Made right in front of us.
It's a tiny, small place - very intimate - owned/operated by Wayne and Heidi. We were sitting at the sushi bar and the food was prepared less than two feet from us. They have a few tables too, but if you go, be sure to sit at the bar. Wayne and Heidi have fantastic stories - tales to amaze and entertain, brash and silly, teasing and enticing. It's better than any dinner theater I've ever been to. The constantly running banter between Wayne, Heidi and all of us was such great fun. They make you feel like a welcome guest in their home, a long-time friend, not a customer.
If you're ever in Vegas, you've got to go to Wayne's.
Wayne and Heidi, we'll see you in December! We want to hear you sing next time.
07 August 2010
06 July 2010
Radio Interview
My interview on KQAL played today. The editor did a good job taking nearly 2 hours of material and coming up with a good 25 minutes or so.
Produced by Terese Tenseth for KQAL fm Winona MN, made possible by the MN Arts and Cultural
Produced by Terese Tenseth for KQAL fm Winona MN, made possible by the MN Arts and Cultural
Heritage Fund.
29 June 2010
Sheba Mosaic
I have finished the Sheba mosaic. I decided not to trim the edge tesserae, but instead to let them hang out over the frame.
Next I have a house number mosaic to do. Once that's done I'm starting the large three dimensional piece.
Next I have a house number mosaic to do. Once that's done I'm starting the large three dimensional piece.
28 June 2010
Swarm Captured
Click the photo and take a look at this slideshow of Abelisto & me capturing a swarm (with the help of Joyce and Paul).
What a rush!
23 June 2010
It's time to get back to the mosaics
I've not been doing much work on the mosaic this month. I needed to redesign my website montagaelmay.com and apply the design elements to this blog. It still surprises me some when I come back to the blog and see the new design - I sort of forget that I did the update already.
I also just now - like 10 minutes ago - uploaded the newly redesigned Winona Arts Center website - winonaarts.org. Hopefully I've found all the issues with it. I'm using JotForms for the forms as an experiment. I've beefed up the member-artist pages and added a gallery feature. Hopefully more member who are artists will take advantage of this benefit.
Now I get to do the proofreading and the fretting... I know there's got to be some overlooked placeholder text in there somewhere... or some links on some child page.
I also just now - like 10 minutes ago - uploaded the newly redesigned Winona Arts Center website - winonaarts.org. Hopefully I've found all the issues with it. I'm using JotForms for the forms as an experiment. I've beefed up the member-artist pages and added a gallery feature. Hopefully more member who are artists will take advantage of this benefit.
Now I get to do the proofreading and the fretting... I know there's got to be some overlooked placeholder text in there somewhere... or some links on some child page.
02 June 2010
Sheba Mosaic Progress
I haven't posted about the mosaic in a while. Earlier this week I finished the face and the hair, trimmed off the excess mesh and glued the work onto a Wedi board.
I've been testing colors for the clothing and the background.
When I test colors I lay out the tesserae in a roughed-in manner. I try out combinations and andamento (flow of the tesserae) in a very loose way which helps me visualize how it might look. This was my final test for the garment colors for the Sheba mosaic:
You can see a roughed-in arrangement of color and andamento. Once I find an arrangement that seems to work for me I let it sit for a few days - checking it now and then to see if it still appeals to me. If it does, I start working with the colors and layout and then see what I think (I have been known to pull out large sections of a mosaic if I'm not perfectly satisfied with it...)
Tonight I started on the garment section of the mosaic. Didn't get too far - tonight was Skype night with the Las Vegas contingent of the family. Promised Aluna that I'd post a photo of tonight's progress on the mosaic after we disconnected, so here it is:
Only the blue/green tesserae along the right shoulder (left side of the mosaic as you are looking at it) are glued down so far. Hopefully I'll get more done tomorrow night. I don't think I have any mosaic students coming to the open studio so I'll be able to work on this instead of teaching.
I've been testing colors for the clothing and the background.
When I test colors I lay out the tesserae in a roughed-in manner. I try out combinations and andamento (flow of the tesserae) in a very loose way which helps me visualize how it might look. This was my final test for the garment colors for the Sheba mosaic:
You can see a roughed-in arrangement of color and andamento. Once I find an arrangement that seems to work for me I let it sit for a few days - checking it now and then to see if it still appeals to me. If it does, I start working with the colors and layout and then see what I think (I have been known to pull out large sections of a mosaic if I'm not perfectly satisfied with it...)
Tonight I started on the garment section of the mosaic. Didn't get too far - tonight was Skype night with the Las Vegas contingent of the family. Promised Aluna that I'd post a photo of tonight's progress on the mosaic after we disconnected, so here it is:
Only the blue/green tesserae along the right shoulder (left side of the mosaic as you are looking at it) are glued down so far. Hopefully I'll get more done tomorrow night. I don't think I have any mosaic students coming to the open studio so I'll be able to work on this instead of teaching.
17 May 2010
Portrait Mosaic
This mosaic's name hereafter will be Sheba. I think it looks enough like Sheba to be titled with her name... I have taken some liberties - the real Sheba's hair rarely gets this long before she does something interesting to it, and if it does get this long it is a mass of curls. The eyes are green enough, but they could have used an outer edge of brown that you simply cannot do in mosaic unless you're creating a larger piece of work or working with smaller slivers of glass - and the pieces for the iris are already less than 3/16th of an inch square. Sheba also has piercings and a beautiful tattoo on her neck.
But otherwise, this is recognizable as Sheba...
There's a bit of reflection in the lower part of the mosaic. I took this photo before coming to work and I did not have time to set up the lights as I would have liked.
But otherwise, this is recognizable as Sheba...
There's a bit of reflection in the lower part of the mosaic. I took this photo before coming to work and I did not have time to set up the lights as I would have liked.
10 May 2010
Portrait Mosaic Progress - Decisions Made
Over the weekend while working on the mosaic I decided that I would have the hair on the portrait's right side (left as you're looking at the mosaic) go behind the shoulder and the hair on the other side come in front of the shoulder. The slant of the head, and the fact that I wanted to cover the ears with the hair made this an obvious choice once I got down to the shoulders. I started with making the hair on both sides fall behind the shoulders and ended up taking off some tesserae on the portrait's left side.
I think this will end up looking much better.
I am also trying to decide what color to make the clothing and the background. I'm thinking about using colors 442 and 446 or 545, 456 and 546d.
I'm not certain about the background yet. Maybe a mixture of the colors 321, 323, 325 and 325b...
In any case it will mean another order from smalti.com - where these images of smalti colors came from.
I think this will end up looking much better.
I am also trying to decide what color to make the clothing and the background. I'm thinking about using colors 442 and 446 or 545, 456 and 546d.
 |  |
I'm not certain about the background yet. Maybe a mixture of the colors 321, 323, 325 and 325b...
In any case it will mean another order from smalti.com - where these images of smalti colors came from.
04 May 2010
Quick Progress Report on Portrait Mosaic
Spent the time I normally would have used to create this post before work discussing memorial arrangements for the wife of a friend. Very sad.
So this is just going to be a photo of last night's progress because I am at work and need to get busy with that:
So this is just going to be a photo of last night's progress because I am at work and need to get busy with that:
03 May 2010
Portrait Mosaic Progress - XXVIII
Okay, a bit of an exaggeration. I've only been working on this mosaic since April 1st, but I did have hopes of getting farther along on it over the weekend than I actually did... but you know - laundry, dishes, and the odd artist's workshop tend to eat up studio time. And it REALLY was my turn to do some of the housework. Abelisto often ends up doing far more than I in the care of the house.
Other than the amount of progress I am feeling pretty good about this mosaic. I like the way it's turning out (hint for looking at close-up photos of mosaics - squint your eyes up to the point where the lines between the tesserae are less obvious...)
I've started working on the hair. Since the hair is supposed to be nearly black I am using really dark blues, a dark mahogany brown, some random dark grays for the main flow of the hair, with slightly lighter versions of those colors as highlights.
You can see some lines that I've drawn in the process of thinking about the hair. After several tries at creating the outline for the hair I still was not satisfied with it. So instead of following some predetermined line - in which case I would have set the outer edge of the hair and worked inward toward the face - I've decided that when I work on the part where the hair is hanging downward, I would start right alongside the face and work my way down the mosaic in "locks" of hair. When it looks and feels right I'll stop. You can see the beginning of this on the right side of the face (left side as you are looking at the photo).
I haven't decided if I am going to show the ears or not. If I do I'll have to pull off a couple of the hair tesserae that I added last night.
Other than the amount of progress I am feeling pretty good about this mosaic. I like the way it's turning out (hint for looking at close-up photos of mosaics - squint your eyes up to the point where the lines between the tesserae are less obvious...)
I've started working on the hair. Since the hair is supposed to be nearly black I am using really dark blues, a dark mahogany brown, some random dark grays for the main flow of the hair, with slightly lighter versions of those colors as highlights.
You can see some lines that I've drawn in the process of thinking about the hair. After several tries at creating the outline for the hair I still was not satisfied with it. So instead of following some predetermined line - in which case I would have set the outer edge of the hair and worked inward toward the face - I've decided that when I work on the part where the hair is hanging downward, I would start right alongside the face and work my way down the mosaic in "locks" of hair. When it looks and feels right I'll stop. You can see the beginning of this on the right side of the face (left side as you are looking at the photo).
I haven't decided if I am going to show the ears or not. If I do I'll have to pull off a couple of the hair tesserae that I added last night.
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