Another Great Week to Look Back On

Last week my grandson graduated high school. I watched from home through YouTube and do not regret it. I didn't miss sitting on hard bleachers in the heat. This is a snapshot taken from the video (a bit washed out, sorry).

 

And of course there was art made! The most exciting piece is coming from the Purple Palace. I started a mosaic vase!

I haven't gotten it completely organized in the Purple Palace yet but there's enough room to work on a mosaic at the table. Yay!

It's been a while since I've done a mosaic and I really missed it. I'm taking my time with this piece, maybe only working on it once a week for a few reasons. One, I enjoy the process and want to honor that feeling. Two, I'm out of grout and it'll take at least a month or two before I can get some! And three, in between I can still organize a little bit and continue to find the organizational skills needed (not my strong suit - I'm more prone to making a mess than cleaning it up) to get this area utilized at it's peak.

At the art table, there was a flurry of activity and yes, messes were made!

My homemade paint sprays: on the left, acrylic paint and water in a spray bottle and shimmer sprays using liquid watercolor and mica powders on the right.

The test papers came out perfectly! They shimmer and shine!!

I used some of the sprayed papers on these pages above. Since this is usually a layer I cover with either paint or some collage papers, I'm going to study it for a bit but I'm thinking I'll collage around the shapes. The colors here are just so awesome. I'm not sure I want to cover them completely.

I have 18 working art journals at the moment. Some are handmade, some are spiral bound, some are old books repurposed. All are used!

The grid work page for this week was using collage and paint plus some favorite word stickers.

Sticker book. The idea was to find all 4 letter words and glue them on a page. 

A new 100 day collage journal has a few pages in it. This time I'm mark-making and embellishing each square. There are marks I love to make and some I'm not sure of. This is a great place to find out which I prefer to use.

The collage journal was pulled out last week. I used stencils I like of a dove for the collage, inks (both spray and pads) and a funky pattern behind it. The orange is from the shimmer spray. And of course there's words and a little doodle.

 

Saturday night around 3AM I finished this up. I was awake and figured, why not? It takes a few days to do these because I put a layer down then paint, then another layer, then mark-making.

So those are the highlights for last week. If you want to see almost daily photos, join me on Instagram

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

 

Purple Palace Redo Is Getting There

I'm very happy to say it's very close to being finished completely and ready for mosaic work and storage for collage supplies. 

I have more to figure out, sort through and gather but the big piece of furniture I bought and put together is in place now and slowly getting filled up.

I had to take a photo of this clean and empty space because it's a rare sight!

This mess was on the floor of the Purple Palace. Ugh.

The die cut cart and some grout supplies waiting to get put away.

Stained glass containers in blue, green and purple.

Tadah!

What a sense of accomplishment I felt after taking this photo. I had no idea the drawers would not work for my paper ephemera exactly as planned but I can and probably will get a good supply of containers and get them organized that way plus another hanging file folder or two might be in my future. Love the one I recently purchased! It holds a LOT of paper!

 

I'd like to get a few more of these. They are made for over the door but work well on this bar. 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

The Journey So Far

I've been having a lot of thoughts these days about my mosaic journey and how it has evolved into more paper mixed media although my mosaics over the years are considered mixed media for the most part. And where do I want to go now with mosaic? Part of the reason for this is because I'm working on organizing the Purple Palace where I used to just work on mosaics and now hope to utilize space to store the mixed media supplies I've accumulated over the years. That has already begun and I'm liking what I've done so far. I felt I hadn't utilized the space properly for a long time and now ... I'm getting there!

Along with paper products needed I have room now for ribbons, cut out alphabet letters and beads, clay, assorted glue, packing tape and sawtooth hangers as well as D-rings for hanging wall art.

It feels good to get everything on the pre-built shelves and of course the area behind them has space for artwork and so it's still a gallery of sorts.

This is a hanging file folder for the door but works on the poles in the Purple Palace as well. Next to it is a journal hanging to dry after putting some paint embellishments on it. The curtain hooks with clips are awesome to hold it in place to dry. Behind the hanging folders is a plethera of mosaic supplies like mirror pieces and small tiles that I really have to get containers for and get them organized. I love the thoughts I'm having of still wanting to create mosaics, I just don't want them to be all I do.

 Next month I hope to start considering where my mosaic future will go and also, where all the supplies will go as well. I'd like to purchase a small bookshelf, maybe two. I have a lot of dish shards and tiles, stained glass and tempered glass to play with. I'm low on grout and substrates but can and should replenish those in time and continue the mosaic journey as well as the collage adventure.

In any case, I came across a few photos of mosaics I've made over the years and thought I'd share them here as I sort through piles of paper and get it filed or placed in folders. 

Candle holders circa 2014: 

 

Meditation Shrine circa 2016(?):
 

Various mosaics from pendants to wall art over the years have become favorites. There's more ... many years worth of favorites ... but these are a few I'm particularly fond of.

Mosaic Pendants with Buddha head and peace sign charms

Can lids turned into mosaic magnets and wall art - the night sky is the favorite here

Breaking Bad's Walter White for my grandson - using Smalti*, black stained glass and Mottled stained glass

*Smalti is a specialized, opaque, hand-cut glass mosaic material, traditionally used since the Byzantine era for its brilliant color and durability. It is made by mixing molten glass with metallic oxides and pouring it into flat slabs, which are then cut into small, irregular pieces known as tesserae.

Mom's Home - lots of fun things from earrings to mirror - look closely and you'll see little eyes peeping through the window of the house which is how it got it's name

Of course there's peace signs, suns and moons galore many surrounding me and keeping me smiling each day I have a particular struggle in life. I'm proud of my mosaic journey and hope to continue.

Please feel free to leave comments about the mosaics you've seen here in my blog or on social media somewhere over the years. I am thinking some of you may mention a mosaic or two I've gifted or sold you as well. I'd love to hear from you too!

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey 

 

Odds and Ends

Lots of odds and ends this time to share here. The new art journal which will focus mostly on using photo pieces of magazines I've cut out, along with the colorful flowers I've been making on cardboard and cutting them out as well.

So far I've added layers in paint and paper and I have so much fun. It's the most freeing to do art in this way. No plan, no design decided, just going with the flow.

The reorganization has begun in the Purple Palace but it is a slow, slow process for many reasons, none important enough to mention but I will say it's going to take a few more months before I'm comfortable with it.

I found a nice carrying case with drawers that I already know I could use 5-6 more. It's amazing and hold quite a bit. I found this on Temu but I'm sure it's available on Amazon as well. All the things I show here re: storage should most likely come from Temu but I'm not sure of course because I've only just begun.

Here's the case:

It holds so much and is still easy to carry from spot to spot. I love it.

Next, I got a rolling card for a mini die cut machine I have coming some time today! This is placed in a corner around lots of messy grouting supplies, which will at some point get it's organization time as well. There's a great feeling of accomplishment when I build these things. 🤣 

It's holding paper both loose and spiral bound and the Gelli plate so far, as well as my handmade journals ready to be used. 

Lastly I put together shelves that are a soft plastic which means they'll need baskets to hold items. I don't know if I like the shower curtain thing but it's easy to take off if it bothers me.

 

These small changes have already made me feel good about being able to do things a little easier in the Purple Palace. The plan is to use this space for both mosaics and storage of all crafty things. I'm seeing it coming together already which makes me very happy. I'll share it all when it's finished in a few months. I hope. 🤞

And I'm still doing the daily 100 day project, making this the 2nd year I've made a collage a day, giving myself about 20 minutes in the morning usually to create one. I am using mostly my painted papers but once in a while I use a book or magazine strip or two or something like wrapping paper scraps and mulberry paper.

I also am still making art boxes. Oh how I love these! 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey