Friday - Bits and Pieces

There's a lot of little things from the week I'd like to share. I'll start with the mosaic peace sign. I've been working on a section at a time up til this week. I had a spurt of energy that lasted as long as the album Rumours by Fleetwood Mac and a few songs by the Doobie Brothers. Which equaled about 45 minutes, I am guessing. I finished three sections, leaving three sections left to do before grouting. Not bad!

 I did a collage on a small bottle (sweet and sour sauce maybe?) and added wonky looking twine and an awesome earring.

 I covered a piece of cardboard from a cereal box and cut out shapes for journaling. That was a lot of fun and easy!

 I also did a card, a windowed envelope, some ink stamping, and an awesome shaped piece that came from a box (I put the red flower on it).

 Over the weekend (Labor Day weekend many have a four day weekend - enjoy your play time if you get it!) I'd like to use a few of the collage papers (shown under the red flower - pile on the left ←) I made into a large sheet then cut down into nice pieces for my journals or I can cut them down more and glue them to cards. Maybe I'll do both. And maybe I'll make another big sheet! I really loved doing that with my scraps.

And I'm working on my website ... taking the collage art prints available on Fine Art America and adding them to the website under their own heading. I have 9 collage pieces on FAA at the moment. I'm taking screenshots of a few choices offered (canvas prints, framed prints and throw pillows), putting them together using the Pic Collage app on my computer, then getting it on the website with general info and a link to take you to my page to see sizes, prices, other items offered and to purchase. Each thing offers a great turnaround time but due to upcoming winter weather, the holidays (yes, they ARE coming whether we're ready or not!) I think giving extra time, between 7-10 days, is reasonable.

Doing the computer stuff ... I used to do it for a living but I'm retired now and I find it's a lot of work for my brain, but I can do a few each morning before it goes fuzzy. Right now, at this writing, I have 2 finished. Wow. I might have to kick it up a notch. LOL

The photo above shows the editing I'm doing on the computer. It is harder now, especially when I want to be getting messy with paint or grout.

Meanwhile, I purchased a new Lamb Chop for our dog this week. I thought I was getting the small version that she always gets (I think she's shredded 4 so far) but it turns out I got the BIG version. She loves it! You can see video of her playing with it right after we gave it to her through Instagram. Check it out.
 

Happy Hinata. 💓

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

If you'd like to support the artist go to BuyMeACoffee and buy me a cuppa. It's always greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. 👄💝 

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

 

Wednesday - What's on the art agenda this week?

This month I'm not taking a break like I have been doing. I'm still following the moon and its phases and using the intentions I feel are important. At this time, I feel it's more important to stay connected with those who follow along with me and walk the artistic path as I go. Welcome to my art journey discoveries. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Honestly, I hadn't started out making painted papers yesterday but as always, it's what I end up doing.

I've been trying to prep cards for collage fun. In the past, I painted all of them white. Clean slate kinda thought. But it turned out I am more productive and see a more pleasing starting point if things are black. Very odd. I like to doodle on white paper but I want to collage on black substrates. I do not understand it, but I definitely go with it.

After I painted quite a few in the black acrylic, I had leftover paint. No surprise, I always do. I grabbed my Gelli plate and decided to look for some kind of something to use for a design. I have a lot of somethings, but I just wasn't feeling the desire to use the ones I've used before.

Imagine my delight when I found some egg cartons I'd kept to sort glass and beads. I saw someone do this, it wasn't my idea and if I knew where I saw it and who did it first, I'd give them credit. I'm so happy with the result.

 I made more painted papers until my bed was filled up once more. When I get to the point where my pillows are, I try to stop because I don't have the room anywhere else (the floor, yes, but animals live here, so nooo).

 One of the fun things I do is spray some water on the Gelli plate just enough to get the paint activated again. I grab some watercolor paper and do some swirls quickly on the plate with the paper, not pushing, just moving it from side to side.

 ACK! I freakin' love these! They look like storm clouds or a weather map of a storm. Maybe both.

I don't know when I'll use these papers but I'm so happy to have tried this technique. I'll definitely keep doing it with different colors. Maybe the neon colors should be next! 😁

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

If you'd like to support the artist go to BuyMeACoffee and buy me a cuppa. It's always greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. 👄💝 

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

Mosaic Monday

 

Bohemian Sun Celestial Design Mosaic Wall Art

Stained Glass and Mirror

8 inches

$53.50 (purchase directly through PayPal here)

 

As the song says: Open up your heart and let the sun shine in!

One of the best parts about this beauty is the focal point. That brilliant bright green chartreuse! My favorite color in green. Fabulous!!

 

This is 8 inches and filled with small hand cut stained glass triangles and mirror diamond shapes all lovingly placed. Naturally I feel an energy that comes from making mosaics and I've sent that vibration in and on this sun. Something deserving for a celestial design such as this. The best thing about this mosaic are the good vibes it can exude.

The stained glass used are colors ranging in orange, amber and tan almost caramel around the center with the pre-cut diamond mirror.

 

A peace sign charm often used as my signature on my mosaics has been added.

Indoor use only.

Screenshot of my website page

 

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

If you'd like to support the artist go to BuyMeACoffee and buy me a cuppa. It's always greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. 👄💝 

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

 

Friday - My Grandson's Birthday Gift

It's that time again, when I wanted to make something for my Grandson's birthday. Each year, to date, it's been a mosaic. I'm fairly sure I want to try one for him for Christmas but for his birthday, I used collage papers and acrylics.

From a printout of a photo his Mom took, I traced with carbon paper and used acrylics.

It probably could have just gone like this onto the board and been acceptable, but I wanted more interest and I definitely had a lot of painted papers, so I glued down a few layers.

The original background of Malachi in orange made the motorcycle disappear, so I decided to cut it out and I used the pieces in a journal page. The papers I glued, once dry, needed a little love note to him. He won't be able to read it now. I know it's there.

Here's the final piece, ready to gift and hang. I love it and really hope he will too. 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

If you'd like to support the artist go to BuyMeACoffee and buy me a cuppa. It's always greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. 👄💝 

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

Wednesday - Well! This was fun!

Happy Wednesday. It's the middle of August already! Next week my grandson starts his senior year in high school. Hard to believe he'll be 18 soon. Be sure to check out Friday's blog post where I share his birthday present. I did NOT do a mosaic for him this time. That even surprised me. Hopefully he'll like it just as much. 🤞

Last week, I came across a YouTube channel by Shawn Petite. I feel like I'm always guided by the muse to find new things to try with painted papers and Ms. Petite did that.

She put quite a few painted papers she had made together to make a large sheet. She used a gel medium, which I think I'll just have to get soon. I didn't think I'd use it and so I never purchased any, but I now see, after trying her technique with a glue stick, the benefits of a gel for keeping the papers altogether would make this technique a little easier but honestly the glue stick worked just fine for my purposes.

This is what I did using painted papers on watercolor paper. It's thicker than copy paper or newsprint, two papers I use a lot when I am playing with the Gelli Plate and it's hard to work with in collage because of it's thickness but captures colors so well, I really like to use it once in a while.

In my enthusiasm to see it completed, I neglected to measure. I measured the pieces and found it was about 18-1/2 x 13 inches before cutting. 

 

 

 

The process from here is to draw, doodle, mark up the sheet in any way you want, with whatever you want. I picked some paint pens, Stabilo Woody's and some sketching crayons that feel like chalk (love those!).

 

At this point you cut the sheet up to a nice size to use either as pieces for future collage art, or even as a background for something. I managed to cut eight pieces.

 

 

Aren't these cool looking? I think a few could be framed just as they are. Some are going to go into art journals I'm sure but now I've just begun to play with this technique I may make a book from these pieces or use them as covers, or cut them up to use on my cards. So many possibilities!!!!! My brain is exploding with ideas.

 

The second one, I used the thinner papers I've painted. I ripped instead of cut out the pieces before gluing and didn't like the way it looked quite as much. But they'll be used I know in journals and collage art I've yet to make and the next one I do won't be ripped. This sheet measured 17-1/2 x 15 inches. These also were cut up into 8 pieces.

 

Adding the doodles is also a fun part for me. Just going wild with whatever I grabbed was a great way to loosen up and just GO!
 

I also think I like the watercolor paper one better so I'll make a few more of those.

 

All-in-all, I love this technique and will add it to my bag of tricks for ways to use painted papers. Thank you, Shawn for your inspiration! 

 

Best part: this was fun! 

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

If you'd like to support the artist go to BuyMeACoffee and buy me a cuppa. It's always greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. 👄💝 

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

Mosaic Monday

 Gorgeous Mosaic Bowl – One-of-a-Kind Upcycled Art

 Originally a vintage sponge-painted bowl, this piece caught my eye in a secondhand store. Pretty as it was, I saw its true potential as a unique mosaic artwork. After its creative facelift, it now weighs a substantial 3 lbs 5 oz and is ready to shine as a decorative centerpiece.

Mosaic Bowl

Stained Glass and Smalti

7 x 4 inches

$150 USD 

The mosaic design inside the bowl features a mix of beautiful stained glass in shades of blue, beige and blue-green glass tiles, medium tan and blue glass gems, and blue Smalti — richly colored, traditional mosaic tesserae once used in Byzantine art. The metal oxides in Smalti create stunning depth and variation in color, making each piece truly unique.

This bowl is decorative and functional: it looks striking in both sunlight and lamplight. Whether as a thoughtful gift or a special touch for your own space, it’s sure to be appreciated for the craftsmanship and care that went into its creation.

Please Note:

Not suitable for food or liquids

For indoor use only

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

 

Friday - Painted Paper Fun

I watch a lot of crafters doing their thing on YouTube. I mean a whole LOT! They all inspire me to try new things and not be afraid to experiment and learn. I have the best teachers! I'm one lucky gal!!

Here are the names of some of my favorites people on YouTube (in no particular order):

Jackie Bernardi @PaintedPaperStudio, Catherine Rains (the one who taught me all about painted papers in January 2025 and opened up a whole new world) @catrains.artist, and Laurie Richardson Haley @BlackbearyForest.

 

I'm fairly sure they probably won't see this but I want to thank you, ladies, for teaching me such inspirational artful things with painted papers and collage. You are all rock stars in my life! 🌟 😘

In case you hadn't noticed, my focus right now is painted papers. I like to see how others approach the blank page with acrylics i.e.: art journals. Many use that blank page as the "first" layer, slowly adding paint, designs, drawings, stickers, pencils, doodles, etc. onto the paint once it's dry. Sometimes on paper, sometimes in journals. This is an exciting thing to learn because it really is limited only by the imagination.

I've learned the more I practice, the more I want to practice. The more pages I paint, the more I want to paint. And I LOVE the layered look. Putting at least 3 layers of painted papers over each other might seem like a waste but it really isn't. It's all part of a technique I've gotten quite fond of and use often. The photo below is a good example of a finished piece done on 4 inch wood (coaster size). I discovered this technique through Jackie Bernardi.

Embrace the glorious mess that you are.

I've only been making collage fodder since January of this year. It hasn't slowed down, I haven't lost interest and I haven't been distracted by much other than the normal distractions of other art that I do and it's now August. Pretty sure it's something I'm going to continue to do.

Here's some examples of studio life these days: 

Sorting painted papers during the beginning of the year while taking Catherine Rains' online class. How cool are they?!

Gluing pieces down in an art journal. Scraps never go to waste!

And here it is, the photo above, finished. I might add something else at some point.

Cutting out circles and gluing them together for an art journal or collage. I've been making shapes, mostly circles since I started making painted papers.

SO much to do here ... a full day of fun! Dot painting the black things on the top right, gel pen fun in the center right, cutting out shapes at the lower right, the envelopes on the left hold all the shapes I cut out for journals and collage pieces of art.

A page in my collage practice book using purchased printed papers found online. Kinda love the flower theme on this page.

When I have too much paint on the roller, I use a piece of paper, old magazine pages or book pages. At this point, adding designs, doodles and more paint from brushes and my fingers are added slowly (a few days usually) until it becomes an awesome piece of collage fodder. This is what I learned from Laurie Richardson Haley. Pretty cool, huh.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For some reason the photos I've placed here want to stay on the left side of the page. If I read HTML I'm sure I could figure it out ... but I do not ... so my thought was at least you can see them. And that's that!

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

Wednesday - Buy Me A Coffee

I don't know if any of you know about this site, but I thought I'd let you know I am now using it and what it's all about.

Here's an overview about BMAC (according to their website):

"The concept behind Buy Me a Coffee is to provide a simple and direct way for creators to receive support from their audience, essentially acting as an online tip jar. Instead of complex subscription models or advertising, it offers fans a way to donate a small amount, often framed as "buying a coffee," to show appreciation for the creator's work. This platform allows creators to earn income, build community, and offer exclusive content or perks to their supporters." 

My hope is that my followers on Instagram and the FB Page will "buy me a coffee" if/when they are able. As supporters eventually grow, I'll add a monthly membership option. There's a very good chance I will be able to offer a physical product such as a collage card and a small mosaic tin as a thank you for joining when I offer it. Something to look forward to!

Right now, you can support me with $1 for one coffee. This helps me continue to create. As you might have figured, there is always paint, brushes, paper, etc. to have handy when the spirit moves me to use such things and sometimes it's harder to get these than I'd like. The support from my tribe (you!) gives me the opportunity to continue to be creative and keep the muse(s) happy.

Here's the link:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/artbyearthh

 

Here's what my home page looks like. :)

 At the moment, there's a Post (found at the top of the page, next to Gallery - check that out too!) called "What would you like to see me create?". It is a small poll with 5 options. I'd love it if you all would take a few minutes and offer your opinion. Kind words only, of course.

FYI: I'll be sharing this poll today on social media. Please don't be pressured to do it more than once if you see it.

Sending much love, blessings and gratitude toward those who take the time to look, answer, and support on buymeacoffee.com. Thank you!

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

 

Mosaic Monday - Peace Sign Progress

 I'm currently working on a 12 inch peace sign using bright and beautiful stained glass and mirror.

I have discovered if I don't overdo it, I can get at least a 1/2 hour of cutting and gluing it all down completed before I have to stop. It's slow and steady but that's fine with me.

Not all the glass shown here is going on this peace sign but I'm grateful for the choices!

I love the orange bit at the bottom so much. It's one of my favorite colors to use in mosaics.

 

I've put it aside for now and am going back to collage and art journaling for the rest of the week.

I'll share it as I go!

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com