Category: Improving Your Art

  • Impulse Art Projects: A Case Study In Sculptured Concrete

    Impulse Art Projects: A Case Study In Sculptured Concrete

    It’s EXTREMELY important to allow yourself to do creative projects on impulse without overthinking it. The reason is simple: research tends to kill the creative urge, at least for most people. Research can become an end in itself and go on to long and kill enthusiasm or the window of opportunity is lost. Research can…

  • Strong Color Contrast in Heazlewood Mosaics

    Strong Color Contrast in Heazlewood Mosaics

    Artist Megan Heazlewood makes strong use of contrasting colors in her iconic mosaics, and I think her work is inspiring for that reason. Egyptian Musicians Egyptian Musicians Contemporary Mosaic by Artist Megan Heazlewood There are several contrasting color pairs in Megan’s mosaic of ancient Egyptian musicians: the teal and pink of the lotus flowers, the blue and…

  • Kitchen Backsplash Mosaics Using Original Designs

    Kitchen Backsplash Mosaics Using Original Designs

    If you search Google Images for “kitchen backsplash mosaics,” you can see some good work, but you will also see way too many photos of beige and gray tile work that really doesn’t help too much in the way of inspiration, especially if you are wanting to make an original figurative mosaic or use colors…

  • Re-Imagining Classic Geometric Mosaic Designs

    Re-Imagining Classic Geometric Mosaic Designs

    One of the things I always notice in cities like New York or San Francisco are the older buildings that still have entrance ways and bathrooms with mosaics made from whole porcelain tile. These mosaics are very simple in design, sometimes merely a border around plain tile, or maybe a simple repeating geometric pattern. If…

  • The Power Of Black in Mosaic Design

    The Power Of Black in Mosaic Design

    I have written many times about black grout and why I recommend it for making tile colors look more intense, but I don’t think I have ever taken the time to talk about using black tile for the same reason. Artist Carol Jasin recently emailed me some photos of her work, and she makes great…

  • Mosaic Picture Frame

    Mosaic Picture Frame

    Angela made a mosaic picture frame using our irregular glazed ceramic tile and left the sides of the frame uncovered. She also nested the angular shapes to created an abstract pattern without cutting any of the tiles to make them fit. The unfinished side edges of Angela’s mosaic look particularly neat because the sides of the…

  • Using Ceramic Figurines In Mosaic Art

    Using Ceramic Figurines In Mosaic Art

    Why break up ceramic figurines to use the pieces in mosaic artwork when you can use the whole figurine? Artist Laurie Gilson emailed me some photos of her recent work, and they are great examples of how you can use ceramic figurines in your mosaics and still use standard elements such as tile arranged in rows.

  • Porch and Entranceway Mosaics

    Porch and Entranceway Mosaics

    Ana Bonnin emailed us some pictures of her recent entranceway mosaic, and I wanted to share these with our readers. Ana’s pictures also made me remember that I needed to summarize what I know about best practices for making porch mosaics last longer. Ana’s mosaic is the family emblem that she and her husband designed to…

  • Mosaic Lawn Sculptures

    Mosaic Lawn Sculptures

    Artist Marilyn Keating has some mosaic lawn sculptures of animals that are very much worth seeing, especially if you are considering making some yourself. Rather than trying to make her animals as naturalistic as possible, Marilyn wisely chose to make her animals stylized and whimsical, almost like three-dimensional cartoons come to life. I used the…

  • How To Efficiently Make Mosaic Christmas Ornaments

    How To Efficiently Make Mosaic Christmas Ornaments

    Artist Phyllis Kempter emailed me some photos of the ornaments she made using our kits for 3-inch spherical mosaic Christmas ornaments and our 12mm recycled glass tile (plus a few other sizes of tile), and her ornaments caught my eye for two reasons: First, she used green in the patterns for her ornaments, which is good to do…

  • Pet Memorial Mosaics

    Pet Memorial Mosaics

    Recently April Costigan sent us some pictures of pet memorial mosaics made on stepping stones and some portraits of pets still living, and they are great examples of what you could make for your loved one. April’s mosaics also show a natural progression in skill, and so they are worth showing to a wider audience.

  • Everything I Told You About Mosaic Art Is Wrong

    Everything I Told You About Mosaic Art Is Wrong

    Artist Apryl Howard sent me some pictures of her recent Arizona Sunset Mosaic, and it is the exception to several “rules” I have recommended over the years. It is also a great silhouette landscape that captures the color of light and is worth seeing merely for inspiration and ideas for your own artwork.