Category: Inspiration
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Abstract Figurative Mosaic Murals
Artist Tracy Pennington makes large mosaic murals in an Abstract Figurative style, and her Springs Park mural in LaGrange, Kentucky is a good example. Tracy’s specific style of Abstract Figurative art is based patterns and textures, which are the mosaic medium’s intrinsic strength. After all, it’s difficult to arrange tiles without the mind seeing different…
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Impressionist Landscape Mosaic Mural
Artist David Hilbertson recently completed his first mosaic and photo-documented the process of making it, which was somewhat of a tour-de-force in terms of using improvisation and working around problems. Even the image itself is more improvised than not, and yet the results are akin to an Impressionist painting or a pixelated photograph.
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Still Life Mosaic Series
Louise Roberts recently emailed me to say that she has been teaching herself mosaic using our blog and that she followed my recommendation to make a series of small mosaics of the same size. She also attached some photos of her mosaics, and they are impressive. To me, her mosaics are yet more proof that…
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How to Make an Aluminum Mosaic Frame
The aluminum mosaic frame featured in this article was made by artist Natalija Moss from flat bar stock instead of angle stock. Natalija wrote highly-detailed instructions for making a mosaic frame from aluminum angle-stock that should be consulted for step-by-step details and fastener specifications. I wanted to feature her new mosaic in an article because…
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Small Mosaiced Objects: Decorative and Utilitarian
Artist Donna Stern has made some small mosaic sculptures that demonstrate the range of possibilities the medium has beyond murals and coverings for larger surfaces. Some of Donna’s recent mosaics are utilitarian (switch covers) while others are strictly decorative (mixed-media fish sculptures), but they are all small and very well done.
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Mosaic Obelisk Garden Sculpture
Lyn Richards has been making a series of mosaic obelisks for installation as garden sculptures, each with a completely different design. Like her Irises mosaic birdbath, Lyn’s garden obelisks are tightly executed.
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Van Gogh’s Cat Mixed-Media Mosaic Sculpture
Artist Peter Vogelaar has been at it again, and this time he has managed to surprise me. His recent mixed-media mosaic sculpture Van Gogh’s Cat has a plinth that steals the show in my opinion. The plinth on which the cat is standing is a mosaic-covered cylinder that seamlessly combines Van Gogh’s Starry Night and…
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Fundamentals of Mosaic Composition
I recently completed a mosaic titled Woodpecker Forest, which shows a pileated woodpecker on the side of a pine tree in a forest carpeted with capensis flowers. I think this composition is a good teaching example because it demonstrates several fundamentals of visual art. There is strong value contrast (light-dark) contrast in both the figure…
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Pileated Woodpecker Mosaic
My Pileated Woodpecker mosaic was made by improvising over a pattern. I created the pattern from a photo collage that I made in Photoshop.
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Stained Glass Improvised Mosaic
I made a mosaic of a pileated woodpecker by improvising over a pattern. Below is a video of the process of laying up the mosaic on a temporary surface of sticky contact paper.
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Classic Tattoo Design Mosaics
Artist Sheldon Stehman‘s tattoo-inspired work demonstrates the vitality of the mosaic medium and how surprisingly well it accommodates contemporary pop-culture designs and themes. Sheldon uses classic tattoo designs as models for his mosaic interpretations. I think that was an inspired decision.
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Grout Line as Design and Figurative Element
Natalija Moss’s latest Honda Insight mosaic is a great example of stained-glass mosaic where the grout line is used as a figurative element and as an element visual framing. Natalija is a self-taught artist and mosaicist just like me, and she also rebuilds Honda Insights by restoring interiors and rebuilding the battery system with newer…