MosaicBlues: May 2012 .entry-content { font-size:25px !important; }

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

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.





Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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...