Tag: contemporary mosaic
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Having “Wrong” Colors Available for Mosaic Art
What Impressionist painting teaches us is that using the exact colors of the model is much more important than exact rendering. We can draw sloppily, but if we get the colors right, the mind of the viewer can do most of the work and perceive an image easily. That critical need for exact colors seems…
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Aspen Glen Mosaic as Semi-Abstract Art
Artist Michael Hayes recently completed a mosaic based on a photo he took of an aspen glen in Colorado several years ago. I wanted to share this mosaic for several reasons and not merely because it is a strong work by someone just starting out with mosaic.
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Finishing Touches and Revising Mosaics
I had previously written about Lisa Sunshine’s Eyes Mosaic in my blog article The Importance of Context in Figurative Mosaic Art. In the article, I addressed the problem of the mosaic not being instantly recognizable as eyes, and I recommended extending the bridge of the nose slightly to provide context. Lisa took me up on…
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Azerbaijan Mosaic Artist
Samir İmamverdiyev is the son of the accomplished Azerbaijan mosaicist Musa İmamverdiyev, and he is currently in Iceland and looking for opportunities. I get the impression that Samir would consider opportunities anywhere in North America or the E.U., particularly in Iceland. Samir’s mosaics are impressive architectural murals. His subjects are portraits of medieval poets of…
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Building a Mosaic Portfolio
Artist Jacqueline Spohnholtz is building a mosaic portfolio to solicit commissioned work, and she is doing it in an intelligent way in my opinion. Of course the portfolio needs to be uploaded to an online platform such as the artist’s website or Instagram, and it needs to be built from catalogue-quality photographs (full spectrum white…
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White Grout Case Study
Artist Mark Eibes‘ hummingbird mosaic is figurative art made from (mostly) whole tile, and it makes a great case study for deciding if you should use white grout for your mosaic artwork. Mark wasn’t satisfied with the white grout, and so I explained how the grout of dry indoor mosaics can be stained by with…
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Mosaic Garden Art: Fun Group Projects
Artist Donna Stern recently completed a series of abstract mosaics that are exactly what I think of when someone emails asking for fun project ideas for a group day in the studio. Series of Smalls The first thing is that it is a series. More importantly, each element in the series is the same size…
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Nested Found-Object Mosaic Art
I sometimes make found-object sculptures and surfaces with many different types of objects but without conventional tile or with conventional tile used only for a particular element. All of these found objects are made from durable materials such as glass, porcelain, and hard varieties of stones If the mosaic is indoors, I will also make…
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Harmonious Hues and Abstract Mosaic Art
Artist Zane Pahl’s recently completed mosaic patio table is a solid example of using harmonious hues in an abstract design. I have not written enough about this type of mosaic, especially considering its popularity and its accessibility. Zane’s mosaic is an interesting teaching example because the color scheme is about harmonious hues instead of contrasting…
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Getting Mosaic Artwork Right
Many artists are plagued with self-doubt, including some of the great ones, but there are several ways to overcome these fears and make better art: The first of these are quick, small studies and sketches which can be made before a particular detail in the main work is executed. In mosaic, a “sketch” can be…
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The Amazing Stylistic Range of Figurative Mosaic Art
Artist Jennifer Kuhn has an impressive body of work that demonstrates the stylistic range of figurative mosaic artwork. Normally when I need to describe the range of styles of mosaic artwork, I emphasize how found objects can be used as improvised tiles and how that multiplies the number of styles of abstract art that are…
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The Importance of Context in Figurative Mosaic Art
Artist Lisa Sunshine emailed us asking about improving one of her recent mosaics, and Natalija and I both agreed that the problems Lisa perceived in her work largely disappeared when the mosaic was viewed at the appropriate distance. The situation reminded me of a line from the award-winning 1995 movie Clueless, which is the story…