What have you done for me lately?

A few folks have asked what I have been working on.  First, let me say thanks for asking. I really do enjoy that folks are interested in my art.

I donated a few pieces to a fund raiser at Messiah Lutheran Church in Madison, Alabama.  Messiah holds a fund raiser every year called the Handmade Market. This event is used to raise money for the Lunches for Learning Charity. Lunches for Learning provides a lunch every day for elementary school students in Honduras. Before the Lunches for Learning program, children would drop out of elementary school to look for/beg for food.  That sucks.  Lunches for Learning keeps the kids in school by providing a meal.  And kids in Honduras who graduate from the sixth grade are much less likely to live in poverty.  I like the idea of giving kids a meal and a better chance at a successful life at the same time.  $15 bucks feeds a kid for a month.  I figure that the pieces I donated will keep a few kids fed for the entire year.

Jack Mast Mosaics at Handmade Market

I have also been working on my frame stock.  This weekend I cut down 64 feet of lumber into frame pieces and began gluing them together.  Check out the full process to prepare a frame here.

Jack cutting Frame Sections

Mosaic Frame Sections

Frames being glued

I have also been working on a few duplicates of previous mosaics.  Never fear, I have a few new pieces planned in the near future.

Gluing some mosaics in the studio

Jack Mast Mosaics

After making a bunch of mosaics for other people, I decided to make one for my Gallery.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out.  I used a few elements that have used in other mosaics like the palm trees, sunset and water. The biggest new thing for me on this piece was the lettering.  I selected a cool funky font.  The lettering took a lot of time, but I like the way it looks.  Here are some time lapse photos of the cutting and gluing.

Starting the Cutting and Gluing

I ran out of white tiles during this project and had to order some more.  The place I buy them from is in Portland, OR.  It takes 8 days to receive the shipment so that set me back a little bit on this project.

Cutting and Gluing Complete

After completing the cutting and gluing, it was time to apply the grout.  For this project, I used black grout which really makes the sunset colors pop out.

Here is the sign hanging in my gallery.

Here is the final of "Jack Mast Mosaics".

Jack Mast Mosaics