Eyes, Eyes, Eyes - October 2012.

It has been a while since I published anything. I had decided to experiment with steel frames. I believe this is probably the way to go for heavy pieces, such as the series of eyes I am working on presently.

Because these pieces are long and can be fragile (I broke one or two of them, and the repair work is something I would rather not have to do again) I now reinforce the backing board with wood before I transfer the mosaic onto it. I also thought the steel frame would also considerably reinforce the whole piece.

 
As I am not equipped to weld, I had to find welders to help me, this took a little while, tests, and errors (on my part)... 

Anyway, I am about to publish 3 more pieces, I need to get some good pictures of them, but  - for your eyes only - here are details of two of them,..

 "Los Ojos de Maribel"

and 

"Les Yeux d'Eva"...

Both pieces are approximately 53 x 14 inches (133 x 35 cm), and made of ceramics, glasses and granites.

Stay tuned, I will soon publish full pictures of these pieces. 

Send me a picture of the eyes of a person dear to you, I will create a beautiful mosaic of them.

Reversed method

Most of my mosaics are made according to the reverse - or inverted method. I build them upside down, glue them on their support then flip them.

There are several reasons to do that :

When you work with materials of different thickness, and you want a flat , smooth result, this practically is the only solution.

It is also, in my opinion, results in a smoother  mosaic than the direct method.

The drawbacks are that you do not see exactly what you are doing, the colors of materials may be very different. Mirrors, for example, are usually grey or blue in the back. Stones are usually not polished on both sides, and the unpolished side is generally of a very different color ...

Here is an example of a piece right before and right after its flipping in August 2012. Remember than one is the mirror image of the other. You can see how the black granite looks very different in both pictures  Usually, non polished stones have much duller colors - but at times, the colors may be totally different from one side to the other... This is the case for some porcelains  and of most mirrors.

Eva's Eyes is mostly made of granite and ceramics. I will publish it in a few weeks when I have completed it. Once a piece is flipped, there are still quite a few hours to clean it up, grout it and frame it.

Mathilde

The Mathilde Mosaic was completed a few month ago, but, it was a birthday present for a young lady dear to me who just turned 27 last Sunday. So, until now, I had not been able to publish it...

Until today, I had refered to her as the Mysterious Woman... Now you can see and know her by her real name.

Mathilde is made of glass and iridescent glass tiles, and she measures 18 x 30 Inches (46 x 76 cm).

The Original Mathilde Picture

I take commissions - if you desire a portrait of a loved one, - or are intereseted in any other mosaic work -  please contact me and let us discuss your project.

Looking for a Name

So this is my last creation - and she has no name yet. In my archives, she is "3D Torso" - I posted pictures of her on Facebook, asking for names. I have had quite a few so far, inspired from various traditions, including pure redneck (Tits Mc Gee...)

 

This lady is made of glass tiles, her background is of black granite and black beach pebbles 

The piece is 36 x 22 " (90 x 55 cm) without the frame. 

NAMES : 

Here are the  names I received so far : 

Pachamama

Mère Nature

Gaïa

Tuatha Dé Danan

Brigit

Vénus

Arduinna
Diana Arduinna

Nagge

Salome

Naarah

Rebekah

Hannah

Man's Desire

Bettina (She has a fine patina)

La femme tronc

Tits McGee!

Venus Emerging
Gwenn

Please tell me which name you like the best !

THE SOURCES

The Green tattoos are shaped like young ferns leaves

in remembrance of the war paints of the Picts, the hard fighting Scottish warriors of the Roman period - Do you remember Gwenyffar in the last King Arthur's movie ? 

Apparently, green and blue war paints were a staple common to numerous celtic populations. But the Picts may have used them more than other tribes - as their latin name "Picti" - from "pingere" - to paint - actually means "painted or tattooed people."


Her bikinis seem more modern ?  Actually, they really are not...

Have a look at these athletes :

These ladies date from around 400 AD. This mosaic is part of the decoration of the Villa Romana Casale in Sicily.

And you thought Bikinis had been invented by a Frenchman in 1946 ?

The Saxophone Players awarded

The Saxophone Players won a Merit Award at the 12th Annual Regional Juried Art Exhibition of the Dale County Council of Arts and Humanities, at the Ann Rudd Museum of Arts in Ozark, AL, on Saturday, August 18.

The Sax Players Mosaic is  18 x 18 inches ( 46 x 46 cm). It is made of ceramics, granite, marbles and gilded mirror.

 The Show is open to the public until September 28, 2012

Also displayed at the show were the Christ Icon 

and the Tree of Life 

July 2012 Work in Process

Exclusive preview : The Eyes of Maribel

The Original - do you recognize her ? Maribel is Spanish...

The Maribel Mosaic being laid in my Headland workshop. I am using the Indirect method, which I like so much better. Even if it is a little more demanding, it allows such a better finish.

When completed, Maribel will be around 42 x 14" She is made of 2 different black granites, glasses and about 8 different nuances of ceramics, with a very few mirror tesserae also....

Stay tuned, if everything goes well, I should complete the laying by the end of next week and flip her next week...

ps : Also on its way this month : the Amazing Amazon Torso... Featuring Zoya the High energy Cat...

Quetzal at the 2012 Biennial of the WMA

Quetzal has been selected to be displayed during the 2012 Biennial event organized in July 2012 by the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Alabama.

Quetzal was inspired by a Art Deco leather book cover. The original piece was a "Marquetterie" - where leather strips of various colors were inlaid in the main red piece. Quetzal measures 18 x 25" (45 x 63 cm). Quetzal's materials are stained terracotta, irridized glasses and gilded mirrors.

The Replendent Questzal is the national bird of Guatemala. It's name comes from the Nahuatl "quetzalli" and means "Large Brilliant Tail Feather"...

The Afghan Girl

You know her. Her name is Sharbhat Gula - she is a Pashtun and she lives in Afghanistan.

In 1985, she made the cover of National Geographic. Her picture was taken in a Pakistani refugee camp where she was in 1984. Her parents had been killed by the Russian bombs.

Her face became a world icon...

The Afghan Girl's eyes is 14 x 28".  It is made of glasses, granite, mirror and ceramics.

I am presently working on a series of eyes. Eyes do not lie, they are the first thing we look at when we meet a person for the first time. I have already published "Green Eyes".

After the Afghan Girl will come Maribel, Eva and the Tuareg Lady...

Stay with me !

The Kids Mosaic

I delivered last week my last piece : a portrait of 2 happy children. It was a commission - a present for Mother's Day. It was simply the best portrait I have made so far. I had been able to find more nuances of greys for this one, than I had used in the previous ones, and just one nuance makes a difference.

Now in this post I would like to show you how I work from an original picture to the design that I will actually use to lay the tiles :

Above is the original picture I received from the father of these children.

This is the same picture, cropped to only keep the faces, and edited to a limited number of nuances of greys.

On this version, not too different from the previous one, I added the back ground to show my client what the final result would look like.

 

Basically, from the time I receive a picture, and the time I can start laying the tiles, there are between 5 to 7 hours of computer manipulation, manual drawing and printing.

And this is a shot of the piece being made. You can see that I work on the mirror image of the previous picture. This is the technique of the Indirecte Pose, which is a little mode delicate to use than the direct pose, but gives - in my opinion - so much better results that it is well worth the effort.

And here is the final result... 

The frame, which does not appear on this picture, is a simple 1 x 1/2" board, of a dark cherry color, which contrast beautifully with green and blue irridized background.

The Kids Mosaic measures 24 x 24" (60 x 60 cm).

I only employed glass material for it - which makes the Kids Mosaic light enough to be displayed on a sheetrock wall - by using an expandable anchor of good quality available in most hardware store.

Avis aux Amateurs... Please contact me if you would like a portrait made of a loved one - It is a unique gift for a birthday, anniversary or any other occasion to celebrate that person, and it is one that will last a long time...

I also will work with you on a payment plan over several month.

April Mosaics

I have been working mostly on 2 pieces in April - one is a commission , a portrait of 2 gorgeous children. Because it is also a surprise, you will understand I cannot display it until it has been actually offered to their Mom, on Mother's day  - May 12. 


You will have to wait until that date to be able to see the whole piece.

I can however, show you a piece of the little girls face... 

I do believe it is the best portrait I have produced so far.

The second April piece are the eyes of the Young Afghan Girl. You have seen her face on the cover of National Geographic years ago, she was in a refugee camp in Pakistan when the Russians had invaded Afghanistan, and a photograph took her picture in 1984, which became famous. There is a great intensity in this little girl's eyes.  Years later, the reporter went back and was able to find the grown woman.



Her name is Sharbat Gula, and she is Pashtun.  Her life has been difficult, but she had survived. She now has children of her own.


Here is the last picture of the piece before I flipped her on Sunday, April 29, And am now working  on cleaning it up before I can grout her. The cleaning is a very long and tedious process, as I have to remove any remnants of the glue used to set the tiles on the model. (I am using the reverse method - Indirect pose - on this piece)

The eyes of Shrabat Gula should be ready by mid May...

MosaicBlues Show at Troy University in Dothan

These are the times and days to visit the MosaicBlues Show at Troy University in Dothan, Alabama. 22 pieces are displayed in the Library : 

Monday-Thursday: 8-9; Friday: 8-12; Saturday: 10-5; Sunday 1-5.

One eye of the Mystery Lady

The Mystery lady - you'll be able to see her at the show, but she cannot be seen on line...

Green eyes - one of your favourites, is also on display at Troy.

New Pictures - Feb 2012

My friend Joe Byers was here for 2 days to shoot a video for the promotion of MosaicBlues - I had no clue of the amount of labor involved in such an endeavour!
Joe is really gifted with Lighting - as he was shooting the video per se, I shot a few still pictures  - Enjoy...

 Emma...

Yin Yang behind Buddha

Lio...

Christos...