I'd like to share today the story of the gift I made for one of my longest, bestest friends for her birthday.
Meet Cactus Joe.
Joe is my friend's father, who passed away a few years ago and who made birdhouses as a hobby after retirement.
A few months ago, I came
across a box filled with cards given to me through the years along
with many photos from my sweet friend. These photos were of her life 3,000 miles
away. In those days, between 2000-2006, we didn't have a digital
footprint and instant photos came from an instant camera that used
film. We still had to take it to the drug store to get copies made.
The quality of these photos were usually hit or miss. Mostly miss,
but they conveyed what we wanted them to, which made them good enough
to share.
As I was looking through all
the photos ranging from a tiny grandchild to a daughter's wedding, I found a photo of her Dad. In this photo he was under a lean to portion of a porch next to a birdhouse he made. He was
standing tall and proud as he posed, showing his creativity after he
installed it into a post under the lean to. This was a birdhouse my friend's mother-in-law
won in a raffle through his jazz club.
I put the pictures away and
put the box once more under my bed. But ... this photo never left my
thoughts. It was dark and sort of out-of-focus, but I felt I had to
make a mosaic using it as inspiration. Her birthday was coming up
and I thought it would make an awesome gift.
I stalled out a bit with it;
I needed a frame, I needed the board to work on. I needed to figure
out what to use to create the mosaic: dishes or stained glass? While I played
with ideas and design thoughts, she had her birthday. I hadn't even
begun! Yikes!!
Shortly after that, I
ordered a frame and put the photo in front of me and took a few
photos of the photo, printed out an enlargement, glued it onto the board and set to work. I
prefer to do a free-flowing design when I make mosaics. I seem to
start off with good intentions of keeping it all within the lines but
almost always the abstract portion of my brain says use color, put a
swirl here, use what you have as a starting point and just go! And
that's what I did.
Joe was the first thing I
did on this mosaic and it was very labor intensive. I pulled tiles
off, put them back, pulled them off, tried different ones until I
found myself not liking anything I did. I wanted him to look exactly
like the Joe in the photo which isn't how I make mosaics. Once I
remembered what the muse was telling me: "flow freely", I
added his shirt and it started to coming together in my head as a
fairly nice looking gentleman, but perhaps not exactly like Joe.
I made the birdhouse next
and had to add lots of colors and a fun star toward the top. Next
came the tree which quickly turned into a cactus when I decided to
paint the background to help me decide on colors to use. I could see
no matter what I wanted to do to keep it "exactly" like the
photo, it wasn't meant to be. I gave into the muse and went with it.
The bright colors in this
mosaic reminded me of the Arizona desert, New Mexico, California. I kept
thinking as I was putting down dish tiles, that it was reminiscent of
a colorful blanket.
Malachi (my 10 year old grandson), thought the cactus
would look cool if it had some "prickers" on it. He picked
up small pieces of glass I had laying next to the mosaic, and placed
them here and there on the cactus with ease. I thought it looked
great but would need to be added after the mosaic was grouted. He's
very proud of his contribution and I'm proud that he has an artistic
flair.
After grouting, Joe came to
life. I called him "Cactus Joe" because it seemed to fit.
The cactus that is supposed to be a cypress tree, seemed to fit in
with Joe and his birdhouse. Scrabble letters were added to make sure
everyone knew who he was. I'm fairly sure if she had looked at it without
an explanation, she'd have had no idea what I was trying to create for her!
I included the original
photo for her to keep as a reminder and because I felt she should
have it. I've kept it safe for 12 years, now she'd have a mosaic
inspired by this photo and the original photo as well.
I hope she enjoys this mosaic for many years to come.
Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!
Stay Peaceful and Let The Sun Shine In.
