Fruit and Wine

One of the cool things about art is trying new and different things and getting outside of your comfort zone.  I'm now working with a client who is doing a remodel of her dining room.  She wants a new paint color and a custom mosaic as the centerpiece. That is where I come in. I'm the mosaic guy.

I asked my client what she had in mind for the mosaic.  She said that since the dining room is an eating place, she wants to have something with fruit and wine. To prepare for our first meeting, I printed out some reference drawings off of the internet of fruit and wine.  I then visited her home to get a feel for the space and to take some measurements.  With the permission of my client, I used some painters tape to outline my work area.  It is a pretty big area.  The mosaic will be 65 inches by 36 inches.  That is 2340 square inches for anyone trying to do the math.

Next I showed the client the reference drawings, just to get any idea of what she liked.  Out of the 20 paintings, she pointed at one called The Wine Cellar by Janet Kruskamp and said, "That is the one." I was ready to start sketching ideas and asked what elements she liked in the painting.  She said, "the whole thing."  Now I was perplexed.  I've never just mosaic'd someone else's art before.  But the customer is always right as they say.

After cutting the lumber, I then copied the drawing onto the frame.

And then I painted the frame to match the trim color that my client is using in her dining room.

Next I started selecting the tile colors to use.

And then I started cutting and gluing.  This is going to take a while, but they say that the longest journey begins with a single step.

Lot's of tile ready to be cut and glued.

Update March 24, 2015 - I just returned from a trip to Disney World with the family.  While there I was inspired by the many cool mosaics that I saw.  Now it is time to get back to my mosaic art.

The Artist Cutting and Gluing

Half Way Done

Update 10 Apr 2015 - I'm now 60% complete on the cutting and gluing.  I've completed approximately 10 square feet on cutting and gluing in 1 month including the week I took off for vacation. So that's about 3 square feet per week.  Not bad.  I have about six square feet remaining, so if I keep up the same pace, I should be done in about 2 weeks.

More Progress (10 Apr 2015)

Update 26 Apr 2015 - The project is complete and installed.

Final installation with Artist

Wine Cellar Final

Who

Happy New Year Ya'll.  I decided that the best way to start the new year is with a new mosaic design. This one is call "Who".  And I apologize to any Dr.Who fans to Googled "Who" and showed up here under false pretenses.  The website you were probably looking for is here, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0.

As always, I started with a sketch.

Who Sketch

Then I added a little color with colored pencils.

Who Sketch with Color

Next I transferred the drawing to my already prepared frame and I began selecting tile colors.  I would like to say that there is a science to this process, but I usually just throw a bunch of colors on the frame to get something that works together.

For this piece, I decide to use the following colors:

Eyes - Night Black (C39) and Saffron (D43)
Outer Eyes - Fossil (A14)
Owl Body - Oak (A13)
Feet - Fossil (A14)
Moon - China White (A20)
Tree - Night Black (C39)
Sky - Pansy (PAN1)

Selecting Tile Colors

Next I began cutting and gluing.  I usually try to start with the hardest part first.  In the case of this piece, the owls eyes were definitely the hardest.

Gluing the Eyes

Next, I try to finish the remainder of my main subject matter.

Gluing the Owl

Then it is just a matter of finishing the background.

Gluing the background

And if one owl is good, then two owls must be better.

Who, Who

After all of the cutting and gluing is completed, it is then time to apply the grout.  For this piece, I am using a gray grout.

Grouting the Who

And at last, the piece is finished.  Please allow me to present "Who".

Who

Fun Owl Facts (Source: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/animals/owl.html)

• There are around 200 different owl species.
• Owls are active at night (nocturnal).
• A group of owls is called a parliament.
• Most owls hunt insects, small mammals and other birds.
• Some owl species hunt fish.
• Owls have powerful talons (claws) which help them catch and kill prey.
• Owls have large eyes and a flat face.
• Owls can turn their heads as much as 270 degrees.
• Owls are farsighted, meaning they can’t see things close to their eyes clearly.
• Owls are very quiet in flight compared to other birds of prey.
• The color of owl’s feathers helps them blend into their environment (camouflage).
• Barn owls can be recognized by their heart shaped face.

Wrapping Up 2014

2014 is almost over.  I think these will be the last three mosaics that I finish this year unless I get really ambitious.  Thanks to everyone who supported my art this year.

I had a lot of fun making mosaics this year.

I started the year with a fish.

Then I did an Iguana.

Then I did two frogs and two beaches.

Then I did two butterflies.

Then I did two moon trees.

Then I did an artsy thing called Mary's Baubles.

Then I did a sail boat.

In October I donated a few pieces for a Church fundraiser.

Then I did a sign for myself.

And finally, I finished off the year with another sailboat, another moon tree and a rose.

By my count, that makes 16 mosaics this year.  Or 1.3 mosaics per month.

My goal for 2015 is to increase my production to about 2 mosaics per month.  Just enough to keep me busy without making me too crazy.  :)

If I don't see you in the next few days, have a happy New Year!

Guerrilla Artist Fills Chicago Potholes With Flower Mosaics

So usually, I use this website to tell you about the mosaic projects that I am working on.  I saw this project though and had to share.

It seems that the artistic community has reached a consensus – potholes suck. By creating colorful tiled mosaics in the potholes riddling the streets of Chicago, Jim Bachor has become the latest artist to offer his take on this public nuisance.

Thanks to his efforts, some of Chicago’s potholes are now filled with pretty flowers or sardonic labels. On his website, Bachor keeps a list of addresses and photos of his guerrilla “street” art pieces, so if you’re in Chicago, you can try to find some of them! There’s no guaranteeing they’re still there, however.

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

Red Sky At Night

Red sky at night, sailor's delight.

Red sky in the morning, sailor's warning

As it so often happens, I get inspired by some little thing and have to get it out of my head and onto a mosaic piece where it belongs.  In this case,  Mary and I recently made a trip to the Gulf of Mexico and saw a number of sailing ships and sunsets.  I started to sketch some of these and came up with this drawing.

Red Sky At Night Sketch

Weather systems typically move from west to east, and red clouds result when the sun shines on their undersides at either sunrise or sunset. At these two times of day, the sun's light is passing at a very low angle through a great thickness of atmosphere commonly known as The Belt of Venus. The result of which is the scattering out of most of the shorter wavelengths — the greens, blues, and violets — of the visible spectrum, and so sunlight is heavy at the red end of the spectrum. If the morning skies are red, it is because clear skies to the east permit the sun to light the undersides of moisture-bearing clouds coming in from the west. Conversely, in order to see red clouds in the evening, sunlight must have a clear path from the west in order to illuminate moisture-bearing clouds moving off to the east. There are many variations on this piece of lore, but they all carry the same message.

After the sketch, I transferred the drawing to an already prepared frame and began cutting and gluing the glass tiles.

Red Sky At Night Transferred to Frame

From Shakespeare's poem "Venus and Adonis"

Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken'd
Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field,
Sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds,
Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.

Half Way Home

And here is what the piece looks like after the cutting and gluing is complete.

The Colors I used are as follows:

Boat
- China White (A20) Hakatai
- Teak (B32) Hakatai

Sky
- Tomato, Mosaic Mercantile
- Poppy, Mosaic Mercantile
- Canary, Mosaic Mercantile
- Pumpkin, Mosaic Mercantile

Water
- Lilac (C12) Hakatai
- Deep Blue (C81) Deep Blue

Cutting and Gluing Complete

Next we do a little grouting using black grout.

Grouting

And here is the final product of "Red Sky at Night".

Red Sky At Night Final