Mosaic Monday / New Robot Mosaic Started

© rebecca collins / work in progress

This is the start of a new mosaic. I am still painting on the board right now. It will be my very first mixed media mosaic that will combine some of my ceramic elements. I think of it as a "spare part robot totem". A totem seems like a natural transition from some of the Mounted Bot Trophies that I have been painting and working with earlier in the year.  Totem poles and taxidermy make me think about reverence and sometimes the irreverence that man has shown for nature and wildlife over the centuries. Treating technology and robot related stuff with the same exalted status that we reserve for animals is a little silly and quirky. I could get philosophical and talk about "the machine versus nature", and tons of other smarty pants art talk, but the reality is it just makes me giggle and that is why I am doing it. Maybe there is a lot of deeper stuff going on that I am not even aware of, but it makes me smile and that is reason enough to do it.

About This Art Project:
The background artwork will be covered in translucent glass. The center strip of black has a white circuit board pattern and it will be raised up on a thin board that will be bolted to the main board, the bolts will of course show. The background portion of the board will get grouted however the main totem part will not be grouted and it will have lots of chunky tessera to go with the chunky ceramic parts. I have a rusted spark plug and rusted piece of metal that I found on one of my dog walks and I will be using lots of that sort of stuff on the top totem portion. I think the found metal objects will mesh perfectly with my ceramic bits.

The Mosaic Challenge:
My mixed media mosaic work has always been layered, however the layering has been underneath the surface with the top of the mosaic work being relatively smooth due to the nature of my stained glass material. My goal with this project is to start getting chunkier and allow my layers to start coming forward by creating a very rich surface texture with chunky tile and mixed media elements.

My other big challenge is a constant design issue that I face and that is the problem I always create for myself by having so much going on. I am not into big bold simple compositions, I tend to throw everything possible that I can find into a piece including the kitchen sink. The result can be that sometimes my main subject gets lost a bit. For example the totem portion of this piece might stand out and be more powerful if I were to just do more of a solid bold color on the background board where you see all of the painted work, but of course I like it busy.... and so I will work hard to make it work. Wish me luck!