Boo!

I LOVE Halloween! When I was a kid, it was my favorite holiday. Forget Christmas….I got socks, dolls, stuff I generally wasn’t all that interested in. But HALLOWEEN? Yeah, baby. Can you say sugar coma? I went trick-or-treating with a pillowcase! No tiny plastic pumpkins for me! And an elderly neighbor lady used to make fresh caramel popcorn balls for us. She would only pass them out after we came inside and admired her collection of dolls in glass cases. Well, hey, the best treat and the best scare all in one stop – beat that!

But aside from the candy haul, I always loved the macabre. I can’t explain it, but things that are intended to frighten have always drawn me in. I think it was in part because some of the images were ridiculous to the rational mind, and so I never understood their power to frighten. I loved the old scary movies – anything with Vincent Price or Frank Langella. Vampires, swamp things, giant ants, walking mummies and skeletons – they were fascinating because they were impossible. As an adult, I began to understand the symbolic and archetypal aspects of the macabre, and appreciate it all on a whole new level.

So in honor of all that Halloween is…… a little video compilation:

Poppies and Willow

I’ll give you a peek at what’s coming next, if you promise not to make fun of the smeary pencil marks that won’t come off the primed MDF. I drew a loose pencil sketch of what I wanted on the board, then went over it in permanent marker and adjusted some things as I went. Of course I wanted to take a picture of it, so I tried to erase the pencil marks off the areas that were adjusted. Ummmm, for future reference, they won’t come off primed MDF. You can certainly smear them to the point where you don’t know quite where they were originally, but – that graphite ain’t goin’ nowhere!

The design is adapted from a William Morris wallpaper design from 1873.

Oh, one thing I should mention: if you are drawing out a design for a mosaic and are planning to use a white or light colored grout (and of course you always plan all that stuff out, right?) don’t use permanent marker. It will very likely show through the grout in places after you’re done. This will be grouted in charcoal, so I’m not worried about show through.

And the marble piece, Oak and Acanthus, is coming along faster than it seems most of my projects do. Can’t explain it, but I’m grateful to be working a little faster. I get frustrated with being so slow, because I get some great ideas, and if I have to wait to long to start them, I’ll lose enthusiasm for them. Game over - they’ll never get made. In fact, I have one piece that I made a drawing for (just on paper, not on the substrate), and now I’m finding my interest waning. Uh oh. I’d look for a support group for my apparent ADHD but I can’t stay focused long enough.

Was I on vacation?

 

Jeez-O-Pete!  Where have I been?  You’d think I might have gone on vacation, but I’m pretty sure I never even left the house this week except to run errands.  Huh.  Missing time again, eh?  Seems to be a regular occurrence.  I think about once every 3 or 4 months I get internet overload and just wink out for a bit.  I feel better now, thanks.

And so what have we been up to this week, boys and girls?  Have you done any adventurous art?  Have you stretched yourself beyond what you are comfortable doing?  Is there something you have made this week that you have the nerve to dislike?  I can happily say Yes!  I have been working on an acrylic painting.  Acrylics are relatively new to me.  I am not comfortable with the paint itself.  It dries much too quickly to suit me (which is a little odd, since I come from a background of watercolor painting and have yet to try my hand at oils).   But with watercolors, they can be blended even after they are dry by adding more water.  Not so effective with acrylics.  I was planning to share with you the progress on it so far, but I’ve changed my mind.  I will wait until at least the next painting session to see whether it will turn out acceptable or whether it will be a learning experience that ends up in a closet. 

Meanwhile, I have started the marble on the Oak and Acanthus mosaic.   Not much to look at yet, but here you go, such as it is… 

 

 

 

 

And after a hike through the woods with my husband and camera, I have a couple of photos that I really think I’d like to do something with, although I’m not sure just what.  Take a peek:

Reflections of trees in the moving water of a brook	Leaves under water
Trees reflected in the still water behind a beaver dam	Hemlock and beech

The Dream of the Dragonfly

 

 

 

The Dream of the Dragonfly

16”h X 9”w
Italian smalti (including transparent, green gold and white gold)

This is the completed commission.  The client requested a dragonfly, and something fun.  I began looking up some reference works of dragonflies, and noticed that most of the ones the I would classify as “fun” were sort of dreamy – at least the background treatment seemed otherworldly.  I then began to wonder what dragonflies dream about.  My husband thought they probably dream about showing up at the pond in their underwear.  Even if that’s true, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what dragonfly underwear would look like. 

I prefer to think that they dream about flying very high, near the mountain tops, with the silver of a lake at dusk below. 

….And we have a winner!

Thank you to those who wished me a happy anniversary on here! The names were put in a bowl on top of a bit of catnip, and the first one Sophie pulled out was Stratoz! Congratulations! Please send me your email address at mosaicartbyla@gmail.com and I will email you the coupon. It is good for $100 off any available artwork on my website, and valid until January 18, 2010. It is fully transferrable also.

And in other news—the commission is done! Whee! Actually, no it’s not. I have to finish off the sides and back, and clean the little messy bits of thinset from the front. But I’m done with the smalti!!! I cannot possibly tell you how much joy it gives me to put away the smalti! On Monday is the big reveal – stay tuned kids! Isn’t this exciting?

Last Day to Enter!

Don’t forget! Today is the last day to enter for a chance to win $100 off any artwork! Wanna see what’s available? Take a look HERE.

Then go HERE and leave a comment to enter! See how easy that is? If you are on Twitter, send a tweet about the contest, and get a second entry! Just be sure you include my Twitter name @lapetropoulos in the tweet so you get credit for it!

And I will mention to you that the commission is almost done! I know you’ve been on pins and needles waiting to see it since I haven’t shared much of the process with you. But very soon…… (I was going to put a smiley face in here, but I found a vampire bat!!!! Ha ha ha – I LOVE Halloween!)

Daily (Shut up!) Sketch

I know I said I was committing to a daily sketch. Pfft. You didn’t really believe me, did you? More’s the pity. Anyway, once in awhile I’ll pick up a pencl. Last night I was drawing without a reference (always a dangerous proposition). When I do that, it usually ends up crumpled up in the trash. But I kinda like this one – a little jaunt into the fantastic:

A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep—while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

--Edgar Allan Poe

New Year, New Look

Yeah, I know most people don’t celebrate the new year in October. But I have always sort of looked at it as a new beginning. Since my birthday is in October, it makes some kind of sense. As a child, the new school year began in fall. Some ancient societies believed that the year ended with the harvest. And with the passing of my one year anniversary here on this blog, it felt like the right time to change the image up a bit. Besides, I get bored easily.

One of the changes I had been pondering for some time was to change the title. My mosaic art is central to my creative experience, but painting was the origin of it. I still enjoy painting, and lately it has been calling my name again.

So I hope you enjoy the new look. If not, wait around a little while. I’ll get bored again.

And don’t forget to leave a comment HERE for a chance to win $100 off any artwork!

And now for something completely different…

The Spectrum of a Project

idea.

enthusiasm.

struggle.

conflict.

patience.

endurance.

completion.

peace.

What color am I today? The indigo of the peace that follows completion feels so far away. And yet so does the crimson of enthusiasm. I’m mired in the turquoise waters of patience and endurance. And because this is a commission, the black hole of guilt for not working faster is just at the edge of my vision. Taunting me, making my job even more difficult.

There will be a day without teeth clenching, a night without frantic dreams soon. It really can’t come soon enough.

Happy Anniversary to me!

It was a year ago today that I started this little blog. (And no I will NOT call this a blogiversary!) Along the way I have learned quite a bit about blogging, and even more about myself. That was not really my goal when I started, but it’s been the best by-product of this process! I have found that writing this blog has made me consider and articulate things that I would have glossed over, hurried past, left unexplored. My art experience is much richer for having shared it with you.

And that calls for a celebration! So in honor of this hallowed occasion, I will hold a drawing for a coupon good for $100 off any artwork of your choice! (Mosaics and paintings included) This coupon will be transferrable, and good for 3 months. (That covers Christmas, folks!) The coupon can be redeemed by calling me or emailing me directly. My website is not capable of handling discounts at this time. So here’s how to enter – leave a comment here on the blog – could be as simple as “happy anniversary”. Or if you’re so inclined, I’d love it if you’d share your thoughts about this blog – what you have liked, what you’d like to see changed or added. I’ll leave the drawing open for one week. Then next Friday, I will put all the names in a hat and draw one. I’ll announce the winner here! Good luck!

Happy feet!

I mentioned last week that I would spend the weekend at the Art Walk in Nashua, NH this past weekend. The event was to run Saturday 12 – 6 and Sunday 12 – 4. As any of you dear readers who are local already know, Saturday was a wash out. There were very brief periods when the rain stopped, and less brief periods when we felt like we were standing under a waterfall. I was there with my mosaic art display in conjunction with ArtSpider, and we were set up in a gazebo. Since I had expected rain, I only took mosaics that were suitable for outdoors, but the damp chill was pervasive, and I ended up with a bad case of the cranks by the time the day ended. People occasionally wandered in to visit our little hole in the rain (which by the way, was a little bit more off the beaten path than was desirable), but it seemed they had a case of the cranks as well. But Sunday…….

Sunday was a picture perfect fall day! Fluffy white clouds skittered across clear skies, the air was cool but not chilly. The colors of the leaves were almost neon against the bright blue of the sky. And people managed to find our little out of the way corner with smiles on their faces. In fact, sometimes their joy was palpable….

Dr. Gilberto Garcia appeared at my mosaic display out of nowhere and instantly became the center of attention in the area. A colorful man in his South American style vest and tweed hat with ribbon, he started a conversation as if we were long lost friends. I learned that he was a retired M.D. who was currently writing 3 books: one in French, one in Russian, and one in Latin. Oh, but there were the 3 previous books he had written, two in Chinese (different dialects) and one in Greek. He was, he said, in command of 9 different languages. He told me that besides writing books, his mission in life as a retiree was to support artists, who after all, need to eat! He said he had purchased a painting from an artist at another venue for $1,000 (on a payment plan) and would next purchase a painting from the artist in the adjacent building (because he had already promised her that he would). And would I be interested in making a mosaic especially for him sometime in November or December? He would really love a mosaic of an iguana. Then he produced a drawing of an iguana from his jacket pocket done on black cardstock in colored pencil. The colored pencils, by the way, he carried with him. Dr. Garcia then told me why he was so interested in iguanas.

“When I was a boy growing up in Columbia, I taught myself to hunt the iguana. I would capture the iguana, and take a razor blade to cut them open and remove the eggs. Then I would stitch them back up and eat the eggs. They have no blood, did you know that? That was my first training to be a doctor!”

Yeah, I couldn’t make this up. And just when I was beginning to wonder if he had misplaced his marbles he told me that he was also a dancer, and then live music from Emerald Strings started up again. Well, you be the judge…..

Thanks to Larry Graykin of ArtSpider for providing the video!

Meet the Artist – Dotti Stone

Remnant
12” X 12”
Marble and Orsoni Smalti

It’s time again for our monthly featured artist! Our October artist is Dotti Stone from Southwestern Virginia. Dotti is a mosaic artist who has been practicing her art for 5 or 6 years, previously working in stained glass and as a portrait photographer. Along with her mosaic art, she teaches mosaic classes for adults, and workshops and art camps for youths.

Dotti chose this piece to be featured because it is a very different style from her representational works, which include landscapes and portraits. After taking a week-long workshop by Matteo Randi last year, she had been considering the use of marble and smalti and using more abstract design ideas.

Dotti says this piece pushed her outside her comfort zone. Although she had mosaiced other 3D forms such as a guitar, mannequin and spheres, this is the first piece for which she created the form from scratch. Not only was the form a part of her creative process, but when she began working on the form, she had no preconceived idea of what she wanted the end product to look like. Dotti says that her process began when a neighbor gave her some leftover fencing. Her intention was simply to create a somewhat abstract, organic looking form on which to apply the glass and marble. While shaping the wire form, she found that the fencing had some ideas of its own! The fencing wouldn’t hold tight folds, so the form began to take on the look of a piece of fabric.

As Dotti began shaping the wire, ideas for a title floated through her mind, mainly “tattered” and “remnant”. She came to the conclusion that tattered didn’t really fit, but remnant was perfect! Her artist statement for the piece explains what this piece has come to represent for her:

Remnant is like a scrap from the past – a little swatch of fabric from a special dress, coverlet or drapery from a bygone era – perhaps from a mother or grandmother. It’s that little connection with the past that is a storehouse of favorite stories and memories, and maybe a few mysteries. Though the materials are hard there is an overall softness about it with the folds and texture. Some discoloration, some silver threads…a keepsake from the past.

While Remnant stands out as a singular piece when compared to her other works, Dotti says she would love to do more projects in this vein in the future, particularly using smalti and marble. Perhaps even turning “Remnant” into a series!

Dotti feels that her work is moving in multiple directions. While she stretches her creativity with abstract, free form work, she still wants to produce representational works as well. Local scenery is often the subject of her mosaics, which she believes can strike a chord with viewers. Meanwhile, she has another mosaic portrait in progress and hopes to do more. Dotti says that for some time she had been nagged by the belief that she had not developed a “uniquely distinct” style. But she has come to realize that certain common threads run through all her work, for example the preciseness and detail inherent in all her pieces.

Please be sure to visit her website at Smith Mountain Lake Mosaics to see her complete portfolio. She can also be contacted at dotti@smlmosaics.com or dstone540@embarqmail.com.

Daily Sketches – October 2, 2009

Just a very quick and somewhat messy one for you today - my pitiful little Kodak camera. Now maybe you understand why my photography is subpar. Or at least one reason why…

Thank God it’s Friday…

Well, now I remember why I don’t like working with smalti. I love the look of a well done smalti piece, but I find it impossible to get the cuts as accurate as I want them. That also means I have more waste than I think is reasonable. Bah. I will have to see about a smalti workshop (perhaps Matteo Randi’s?) before I’ll be willing to do much more of it. Meanwhile, I’ll just muddle on the best I can with this one. Not much choice, really.

I also want to remind you that on Monday I will be posting the October featured artist profile. This month it is Dotti Stone, a mosaic artist from near Roanoke, VA. Be sure to tune in to see her fantastic new piece!

Today’s agenda includes preparing for the Nashua Art Walk this weekend. The forecast is for rain both days, possibly clearing up by Sunday afternoon. I’m only taking pieces that are suitable for outdoors anyway, so that’s not too big a problem, but it certainly won’t be comfortable to be out in the damp and chill all weekend (even under cover of the gazebo). Phoo.

But…next week I have two lunch dates with friends I haven’t seen in awhile, and a birthday :) and fall is here (my favorite time of year), so at least I have something to look forward to.