The First Mosaic Fiesta was held last March 24, 25 and 26 in Decatur, GA.
The event co-hosted by Joe Moorman and Frederic Lecut, from Mosaic Art Supply and MosaicBlues was attended by confirmed mosaicists from all over the USA.
We all met Friday night in a local restaurant.
And got started Saturday at 10:00 AM.
The goal of the event was to introduce my Opus Pixellatum technique to a group of confirmed mosaicists.
Each participant had send me a picture of their eyes or face 2 weeks ahead of the event and I had prepared a model of their eyes. They would realize an actual mosaic of those eyes during the week end.
I had also brought with me all supplies and tools necessary for the work : Grout, Glues, Tweezers, Mounted Backing boards...
The tiles were available from Mosaic Art Supply.
I had previously organized many workshops, community projects and classes so people would discover mosaics. It is a much different feeling to be working with people who have for some of them many years of experience in the trade. They are interested in the matters, and their questions are always pertinent !
Everyone had an idea about the principle of Opus Pixellatum. My goal was to get them to practice, and get a first taste of the many wonderful variations allowed by this dramatic technique.
Everyone got to work
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| Daniel Baxley and Sandra Atherton at the beginning. |
By laying every other tile... Which allows for a much easier, more accurate laying.
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| Amy Galbavy has laid about 25 % of her tiles. |
And later allows the mosaicist to unleash her creativity in many directions...
Once laid half the tiles in grayscale, you realize you already can see the portrait you have been building. So you now can fill up the remaining holes with any color you'd like to use. No matter what you do, the original pattern is already there.
As we were building eyes portraits, I suggested to use irridescent tiles to highlight the irises of the eyes...
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| A happy Daniel Baxley and his mosaic ready to mount |
By the middle of the afternoon, we were ready to glue our mosaics on their supports.
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| Daniel Adams, cleaning up the glue. |
Everyone went back to their hotels around 6:30 pm, having spent about 7 hours on their mosaics.
Sunday morning, we grouted our pieces.
While the grout was setting I explained how to create an Opus Pixellatum model from a picture. I answered many questions, and finally proposed to build models for those of them who would like me to do so. The offer was appreciated.
I am a French mosaic artist established in Alabama.
In 2015 I created a new mosaic technique. I named it Opus Pixellatum. When I realized this technique allowed for much more than I was expecting I decided to share it with confirmed mosaicists.
If you'd like to learn more about Opus Pixellatum, or would like me to create a model of a custom mosaic pattern from one of your picture, please contact me by email at frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com
Wish I could be there. This is so cool.
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