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Mosaic Patterns as Rough Maps
Most details in a mosaic are improvised and are not specified in the pattern. If so, then what is the purpose of a mosaic pattern? Like a rough sketch on a canvas to be painted, the purpose of a mosaic pattern is primarily to specify key lines and proportions, to be a rough map of…
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White Grout: The Floral Print Aesthetic
Artist Masha Leder‘s mixed pique-assiette architectural mosaics using white grout are so good I wanted to name this blog article “In Praise of White Grout.” I have been hoping more people would email me some photos of their white-grout mosaic artwork ever since I started posting about avoiding white grout in mosaic images, meaning figurative…
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Value Contrast in Mosaic
There’s a reason art instructors recommend working in monochrome or black and white before working in color. The reason is that contrast in value (light versus dark) is more important than contrast in hues, and it is easier to learn mastery of value contrast before you complicate the process with different hues. I am self-taught,…
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Pattern to Mosaic: Design Evolution
I thought I would share this particular studio photo because it shows the evolution of an improvised mosaic design, in this case a sailing ship. It also showed ad hoc changes to the pattern after it was already taped beneath clear contact paper. A mosaic is not a drawing, and we call rendering an existing…
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Mosaic Door Progress
This is an update on my Mosaic Door project built from a “series of smalls“, which is the most effective way to improve artistic confidence and ability. A “series of smalls” is more than a simplistic example of practice makes perfect. You can practice by painting works of all sizes and painting many different types…
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Santa Fe Rail Trail Mosaic
Artist Julie Deery is working on a mosaic mural for the wall of the Santa Fe Rail Trail. The location for the mosaic mural is 130 feet of cinderblock wall along the Rail Trail just north of Siringo Road in Santa Fe. The theme of the project is “Generations” with the goal of having community…
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Making Tiles from Stained Glass
We haven’t been able to keep our Smalti stocked very well over the past year because it has quadrupled in cost after the tariffs and freight gouging and the large factory price increase. I have been fretting about that a lot recently, and so Natalija reminded my how much cheaper and easier it is to…
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Making Mosaic Letters from Beads
Glass Seed Beads in the 3.7mm size can be strung on short pieces of wire to make letters, numerals, and symbols in mosaic artwork. Step #1. Find Wire Any variety of metal wire can be used, but copper taken from stranded electrical wire is the easiest to find and use:
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Subtle Color Variegation
I wanted to share more photos of Jill Gatwood’s Mosaic Butterfly commission because it is a good example of subtle use of color variegation when fairly uniform color fields are desired. I often recommend using color variegation (a mix of related hues or shades of a particular hue) as an alternative to monochromatic areas of…
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Underestimating Grout Gaps
Artist Harry Belkowitz’s millefiori mosaic Dove of Peace is a mixed-media piece of artwork with a black painted background surrounding the central mosaic figure. The rainbow silhouette of dove with olive branch might be a little aspirational right now, but I figured we all could use a little hope and beauty. The Dove of Peace…
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Amazing Commission
I have survived the stress of managing the supply business during the pandemic/supply crisis so far only by allowing myself periods when I get very slack in responding to non-crisis emails. I tell myself I will get back to them eventually, but sometimes eventually is a long time. Most emails that can be ignored for…
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Multiple Modes of Andamento
First-time mosaic artist John Schroeder’s Celestial Transom Mosaic is something of a tour-de-force in combining different styles of andamento into a seamless composition. Kids, Don’t Try This at Home Combining different styles of andamento in a mosaic is something I would never recommend to a first-timer. It’s easier to figure out one way of working…