Category: Improving Your Art
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Best Grout Gap For Mosaic Artwork
The best grout gap for mosaic artwork depends on whether or not the mosaic will be outdoors or in a potentially wet location such as a backsplash. When Do You Need A Grout Gap? If the mosaic might get wet or exposed to humid air, you can’t have the tiles touch each other. You need…
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Your New Best Friend Mr. Pinchapotamus
Mr. Pinchapotamus is your new best friend. He holds small glass tile while you cut them with a Mosaic Glass Cutter so that your fingertips aren’t near the blades. He can also hold the tile more firmly in place than your fingertips, and so Mr. Pinchapotamus also improves the precision of your cuts.
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Abstract Mosaics As “Quilt” Elements
Artist Barbara Stutts recently emailed me some photos of her abstract mosaic stepping stones and mosaic-covered river stones, and they resonated with me for several reasons. Barbara says she is relatively new to mosaic, but her abstract mosaics are worth sharing because they are well executed and serve as good teaching examples. In this case,…
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Importance and Limitations of Small Mosaics
Making a series of smaller works instead of one large work is the best way to improve your art. The reason is obvious: instead of investing all your time in executing the larger image, which might already be flawed or compromised long before it is completed, you get several opportunities to get it right. In…
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Out of Site, Out of Mind
I have always transferred my glass tile from the plastic factory bags used for shipment and into glass jars or plastic tubs. I do that for several reasons: Rigid containers like recycled jars and plastic yogurt containers make it easier to rinse out the glass dust and slivers formed by cutting. Torn plastic bags drip…
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Mosaic vs Mixed-Media Artwork
The Four Seasons mosaic by Marc Chagall in Chicago was originally installed outdoors in the 1970s but has since had a glass canopy installed over the top to protect it from the elements. Part of the reason for the canopy is Chicago’s harsh freezing weather, which is hard on all mosaics, but another reason for…
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Using Class Mosaics For Public Art Project
I recommend that schools wanting to make a mosaic mural for their school consider “crazy quilt” displays that are assembled from individual mosaic projects all on the same size backer, say anywhere from 6×6 inches or 12×12 inches. This allows each student a real art experience (making their own design) instead of just being a…
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Cleaved-Tile As Smalti Alternative
If you like the cut-face look of smalti but don’t like the price, remember that you can cut recycled glass tiles in half and mount them on edge to get the same look and feel as smalti. Since your “halves” of tile won’t be perfect halves, they will all be slightly different heights when turned…
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Frida Kahlo Mosaic
Artist Denise Cook’s mosaic portrait of Frida Kahlo is a great teaching example. It illustrates several important tips for making better mosaic artwork. The background and skin tones are made more visually interesting via variegation of shade and hue respectively. There is also a satisfying andamento in the background, and the use of found objects…
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Design Priorities
I’ve explained about the importance of artwork being balanced and harmonious with itself. I’ve also written about how mixed-media mosaic allows you to incorporate found objects as elements of images otherwise rendered conventionally in mosaic tile. When do these two modes clash with each other? Usually when there is just one of two elements that…
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Mosaic Lazy Susan Teaching Example
Artist Kim Wilkowich emailed me a picture of the mosaic lazy susan she recently completed, and I think any artist would be justifiably proud to have made it merely because it is so well-balanced and harmonious in multiple ways. It is a great teaching example for several fundamentals of art and composition. Looking for instructions…
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Art Therapy Projects
Art Therapist Ellis Eisner sent me some photos of her client’s mosaics and her own work, and I wanted to share them with you and use them to illustrate several points. Mosaic the Gateway Medium Mosaic holds a special place in art education and art therapy in my opinion. Often all that is required to…