Mosaic Monday / On Starting New Projects

Self Portrait
Work In Progress

Countless times over the years I have seen students sit in front of a new project and move at a snail's pace to really start. They take their time getting their mind around where to begin to even begin because they can not see where they are going and they know that due to the nature of mosaic there will be twists and turns and detours within the journey.  They are fearful to even start because they can not see it finished and totally designed in their mind.  I felt all of that when I started this project. I glued nothing down yesterday; zero, nada, zilch! I played with glass rod, smalti, big thick clear glass with spray paint on top, and I fretted a lot. I worried that this might be a big waste of materials and time. Then I slowed down and started thinking about what I knew was true about this project. I came up with a list and it will be my starting guide post.

• I want to use glass rod and round pieces to echo the half-tone dot pattern in the digital print.

• I want glass circles to be used, circles that make me think about cells, healthy happy cells.

• I want to use thick clear glass and spray paint a dot pattern on top to tamp down the shininess of the glass. I can brush off some of it with a scrubby sponge so that it has a nice grunge effect.

• I do not want to have this be just another painterly portrait like the one I recently finished of my husband.  I love that mosaic, but I want to try something new. I want to experiment with having some of the paper showing, and having paint on the surface of the glass, as well as below.

• I want paper and spray paint to move to the top of the project and mix in with the final layering of materials.

• I will not grout and so I plan to work tight and allow myself to layer upwards with my materials, placing glass on top of glass.

• I want this to have the feeling of a glass collage with paint on top.

So my advice when you are not sure where to begin is to make a list of what excites you about the project, and what things are for sure the things you plan to use or incorporate into the piece. Write it down an then dive in ... go to the deep end of the pool and dive in. That first jolt of cold water is a shocker, but then it starts to feel really nice after awhile.


 

Mosaic Monday / Luna Mosaic Interview/ Community

Today I want to send a thanks and a shout out to both Sally May Kinsey  and Cherie Bosela  for the terrific interview and feature they gave me on Luna Mosaics' new website. 
Luna Mosaic Arts is Cherie's new shopping site and brick and mortar mosaic shop located in Orlando Florida. Each month they will be featuring a new artist.  Last month they talked with Flair Robinson  and showcased her wonderful brightly colored creations. This month I was featured, you can read the full article on-line here.

Luna Mosaic Arts ... Go buy some candy!

Featured Artist ... me!

 When Sally sent me the interview questions one that I had to really think about was "Tell us about your single greatest mosaic moment."  I could have talked about going to Italy to study with a very special group of mosaic pals that I met at the Creative arts Center of Dallas, or the trading card parties we use to have, or any number of shows, or my first Sama conference and meeting cyber pals for the first time, or teaching my first class. The one moment in time that really stood out was the "Tres Milagros" show I was invited to participate in back in 2011. It was the brain child of my teacher and mentor Katrina Doran and she invited both Apryl Begay and me to be part of it. We all three worked for months on pieces for the show.  We often took over my dining room table and worked together all day on Sundays bringing in food from a local Mediterranean restaurant. Everyone had serious life challenges and losses along the way that year and yet the mosaic work happened and a close bond formed.

 In looking back over the years all of the mosaic events and special moments that I cherish have less to do with the work itself and more to do with the people and the communities that I am part of. I have a feeling that Cherie is going to do great with this new business venture because bringing Sally on board to write these artist interviews is all about community. When you know your community and you are committed to them you are bound to be successful.

Mosaic Monday " Petri Dish"

Been away from the blog for too long. Today I am posting my most recent finished mosaic project. It is a donation for the Creative Arts Center of Dallas's Blue Plate Fundraiser.  
The instructors and art students at the center have glazed plates and platters for the event that will be auctioned off on April 30th. I decided to mosaic mine since that is what I am best at. I felt a little weird straying from the glazing but I heard rumor that a few other artists have also backed away from the glazes, choosing other methods to embellish their platters..

" Petri Dish"
© rebecca collins

The project started out with an original cell drawing that I created while receiving chemo at Baylor hospital. I cut the drawing out and did a layer of spray paint on top of it and then added clear gems that magnify the little cells and hairs. I have always loved anatomical drawings and biology charts and diagrams. Being so focused on my health this last year has me thinking about healthy cells and fantasy biological worlds. The little hairs started appearing on my doodles at about the same time my hair started coming back in. The work is abstract but it has a very personal narrative.

Mosaic Monday / Abstract Self Portraits

Self Portrait at The Cellular Level
5x7 Mixed Media Mosaic
© rebecca collins rebeccacollins.com

Self Portrait at The Cellular Level #1
5x7 Mixed Media Mosaic
© rebecca collins rebeccacollins.com

Last week I completed two little 5 x7 abstract self portraits using vintage medical illustrations of cells, glass, beads, millefiori, and old glass syringes. The one on the bottom is the first one I did and it is crazy busy and chaotic, much like I imagine the cancer cells to be inside my body when this disease started. The 2nd one on top is calmer and the design work is a little less intuitive and I feel it is pretty representative of where I am at with an illness that has changed my life. Powerful medicine along with some major life style changes have things under control.

I have breast cancer and yet the cancer itself is not about my breasts, it is not about any of the organs that the disease has spread to ... at the end of the day it is about cells, cells that go bad.  I am not at war with my body. I am fighting a battle yes, and I am on a journey yes, but there is more to the story. How much more I do not even know yet.  As an artist that has always been fascinated by medical illustrations and anatomy I wanted to create a work of art that depicted my cells as beautiful, even the chaotic cancer cells that do not behave.  I am sure if I looked at them under a microscope I would find them interesting and fascinating. It is not helpful for me to imagine them as evil invaders.  They are outnumbered by the healthy cells and I know they will eventually cease to exist, for now they are part of me.

Mosaic Monday / Switch Plates!

Hey guys, my new website is up and running. You can still find out what I am doing with mosaics here with my Mosaic Monday posts, however if you want the full scoop please do check out 52mosaics.com

Last weekend I played with some favorite pals and created mosaic switch plates!  These were fast and fun and I want to make more now.

Mosaic Monday/ 52 Mosaics!

"Robot #1811
2.5 x 3.5
© rebecca collins
available for purchase

-----  New year and new Mosaic goals  ----
Inspired by both mosaic artist Margo Anton  and the painting a day artists I have decided to try and do one small scale mosaic per week this year. Margo tackled one per day for an entire year, and while I would love to try and devote time every single day to mosaic making, I know I can not make that happen, but one small mosaic per week seems very doable.

How I will play .....
I will be creating mosaics that range in size from 2.5 x 3.5 inches on up to 6 x 6 inches. I will be experimenting with both abstract and figurative subjects. I will be starting a blog just for this experiment and will go into detail on that blog about the work and what it opens up for me. I will also be making these works available for sale in my Snobby Robot Big Cartel Shop and over on Etsy.  Next week I will share a link to the new blog once I launch it.

Doing the Math ....
I always tell young and emerging artists that think they want to make a living doing art full time that the 1st step is to just do the math.  I did that with Art Paw when I decided I wanted to make a real income with pet portraiture. I looked at what my husband was bringing in each month and decided I wanted to match it and so I figured out just how many pet portraits that would take. That was way back in 1998. Five years later in 2003 I was starting to realize my financial goals.  What does it mean for me to now "do the math with fine art mosaics"? Well I have no fantasy or desire to make a full time living with my part time passion .... not just yet anyway. I do however want to continue to share my mosaic work by placing it in collector homes and I do want to make a decent part time income with it.  So I have a financial goal and I am writing it on a scrap of paper and placing it in a red envelope and sticking it on my bulletin board.  I will let you guys know next year at this time if I make it. Wish me Luck!

Mosaic Monday: Tempered Glass Worskhop

"Blast Off"
© rebecca collins 2009

"Blast Off" ( detail)
© rebecca collins 2009

Today I have been prepping to teach a workshop that will take place next Sunday on Tempered Glass Mosaics. I have taken the workshop myself twice and it is always a lot of fun.  Tempered glass is the type of glass we have in our cars.

 Definition:
Tempered glass is a type of safety glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass. Tempering puts the outer surfaces into compression and the inner surfaces into tension. Such stresses cause the glass, when broken, to crumble into small granular chunks instead of splintering into jagged shards as plate glass (aka: annealed glass) create. The granular chunks are less likely to cause injury.

The first step in creating a tempered glass project is to create a fun layered collage and I will be bringing some lovely papers left over from my old greeting card days. Other fun paper elements might include personal photos, stamps, maps, any sort of ephemera that will spark inspiration in the design process.

  I will be structuring the class in such a way that my students will be able to finish an 11 x 14 mosaic in one day ( grouting at home later ). I feel I am particularly well suited to teach this class because of my love of layering and mixed media collage work. Sometimes mosaic purists feel that tempered glass is way too easy because you do not do any precise cutting and instead rely on the fun random crackling of the glass itself to create patterns.  I happen to think that just because a technical process may seem easy at first, it does not mean that it is not worthy of pursuit.  A true artist can create amazing work with a box of crayons and does not necessarily have to spend a million dollars on oil paints. Tempered glass is like that box of crayons, it is affordable, accessible and the only limits are your own imagination.  Check out my Pinterest Board on Tempered glass to see some fun works by a wide variety of mosaic artists: http://www.pinterest.com/artpaw/tempered-glass-mosaic/. 
One of my favorite mosaics using tempered glass is a dragon fly by my pal Cherie Bosela. She combined the glass with other traditional mosaic materials to create a stunning work.

::::::::::::
Tempered Glass Mosaic
Instructor: REBECCA COLLINS
Tempered glass, a type of safety glass, is used to create jewel-like surfaces. In this workshop students explore the various ways tempered glass can be used on both 2-D and 3-D forms. With tempered glass you can create a window of enchantment, displaying a collage of colors, pictures and words. This is a great method for adding an interesting new element to your designs; one that invited the viewer to take a closer look into what you have created. This workshop is for beginners and seasoned mosaicists alike. All materials are provided. Please bring a lunch.

Date & Time:		Sep 21   Register (just a few spots left open) SUNDAY 10:00am - 4:00pm (1 day)
Location:		Building A - Mosaic Room
Cost:		$95.00 ($125.00 Non-Members)$25.00 Materials Fee

Mosaic Monday/ Butterflies and other news

Above is another Artificial Pollinator that I created for my pal Eve Lynch's Butterfly Mosaic project. You can see a few butterflies from her last project by clicking here.  I missed out on that first call out as I thought I was too busy ... you have to make time for the things that matter and this is such a fun group community project. I just had to take part this time. Eve will be installing the flutter of submissions at an elementary school in Florida.

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Check it out!  I made my local neighborhood magazine the Lakewood Advocate! This is their special pet issue that they do each year. Bottom right corner is my artwork of Prada the Pug.  Hoping that  this ink will make us fortunate enough to find a few new local clients or even just hear from some old ones.

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Higgins never backs down in play!

Higgins ... my sweet new cuddle bunny.

Ok and last but of course not least ... I have to introduce the newest member of our pack ... Higgins is a rescue and our very first random bred baby. I have always wanted a good old fashion mixed breed pup and yet time and time again we have rescued Scotties because they are my husband's breed of choice. I have no complaints, all of our Scotties and of course Whitman the Fox terrier have been amazing companions. I just wanted to mix it up a tiny bit this time and this very wee little guy is just the ticket!

Mosaic Monday/ An Artist Lives Here

I took my students on a fun field trip to Barb Dybala's studio in Rockwall Texas this last weekend. I was trying very hard to create a video using i-movie that would combine my shots from my earlier 2011 trip with some voice-over and the editing task became way too daunting today so  I went with a quick little slideshow from just the Saturday trip. I will try to write more soon about the day trip and include a longer movie with voice-over.
Visit Barbara Dybala at her website : http://barbaradybala.com/

Mosaic Monday: Working In A Series Class

My next mosaic class starts next Weds. night the 23rd of July. We will be working in a series in this class. I will also help my students write an artist statement towards the end of the class. I will supply three 6 x 6 inch cradle boards and I will ask my students to work on all 3 projects at the same time. We may not finish each mosaic in this short 6 week class however we will get started on a consistent theme and work towards creating a cohesive body of work. Below is an intro video to the class with samples of various thematic works I have created over the years.

Mosaic Monday: Sama Conference

Sama Conference Recap Part 1:

Wow, way too much to pack into one blog post so look for more next Monday. I just returned from Sama 2014 in Houston. Every year the Society of American Mosaic Artists puts on a huge conference that is jammed packed with classes and speakers.  This year I went with a couple of my favorite mosaic buddies and we all had a blast. Today I will post just a few pictures of some of the people and the hotel. Next week I will try and post a more thoughtful summary of what I learned at the conference along with some videos I am working on that will include some actual mosaics.

Connie Marks, Rebecca Collins, Rebecca Morgan
Elevator Selfie

The best part of the conference was of course the people that all share the same passion for mosaic. I was fortunate to get to connect with a few cyber pals that live in other states, some I was meeting for the very first time in person.

Christine Brallier and Barbara Keith were there selling their lovely books! I was meeting Barbara for the first time. I got a great big hug from her.  It is always fun when you tell someone that you have been following their work for years and then they say the same thing right back to you... that happened a lot last week.

I really enjoyed getting to meet Cherie Bosela.  We have been web buddies for years. Cherie joined the Sama Board of directors and will be serving this next year.  She is fun and just a little bit goofy ( in a very good way), I wish I could spend an entire week with her. She has a light and healthy sense of humor that makes you feel good. 

The hotel was large and lovely, so was the downtown area. I played around a bit with an ap on my phone called paper artist. As a professional photoshop artist I generally roll my eyes at easy-cheesy phone aps, but you know what ... I have decided that they are fun and have their place.

Hyatt Entrance
The hotel was very nice

The hotel had a zillion floors, we were on 26 ... we were lower at first but had to move up due to a non functioning air conditioner.  I liked being up high.

Elevators

Downtown Houston ... getting out of the hotel was much needed.

Phone sketch of stranger in the bar.

Ok and the last share today ... everywhere I travel I shoot patterns and textures to bring home to create colorful background templates for Art Paw. The pattern below was created using the wacom tablet and the smudge tool. There were some huge metal doors at the hotel that I shot and played with this morning to create a background I have already used on a dog portrait of Bingo. 

Abstract Background art 

Metal doors

Mosaic Monday / Working in A Series

Well it is official ... I have started a new series with my Robot butterfly mosaics. I have not finished my first one and I have started 2 more. As an artist I have always enjoyed working in a series, and as a result people typically will recognize my style and my work when they see it.

Later this summer I will be teaching a class at the Creative Arts Center in Dallas for mosaic artists on the very subject of working in a series. I often see mosaic artists labor for months and months on one project, say a bird or a landscape and then when they are finished they are so ready to move on and do something completely different. While this is very understandable it does not allow them to build a cohesive body of work that tells their audience what they are about as an artist and what is important to them.

Top 3 benefits to working in a series as an artist:

• Playful experimentation ... when you are working on a series of projects within the same theme you can approach each one as an experiment instead of a masterpiece. You can relax just a tiny little bit and treat them as studies. While still doing your best work you can give yourself permission to not have all the answers on the project in front of you ... after all this is not your last one in the series. Some better solutions and ideas will arise on your 2nd or 3rd project within a series.

• Understanding Yourself and Your Art ...  When you work in a way where you create a portrait one day, a landscape the next month and then an abstract painting the next month, you are not traveling down a straight path and you are not digging very deeply into what motivates you and what makes you tick.  It is perfectly fine to have many favorite subjects, I certainly do, however I find that by spending extensive time focusing on one subject at a time in my personal works I am able to get closer and closer to some core truths about my art and my self and what is important to me.

• Be taken seriously ... I have been in museums countless times and seen work by artists that I do not particularly like however walking away from the show I always state that I am so glad I saw the show and while I may not like a particular artist's work I can still respect what they are doing and respect them. With that said Cindy Sherman comes to mind for me, she recently had a show here at the Dallas Museum of art and while I am not a huge fan, I thoroughly enjoyed that show and I loved seeing her many different periods of work. As an artist if you do enough of something the world can not ignore you.  By working in a series you are telling the world that you are damn serious about the subject you are tackling. Give it a try ... be "Damn Serious" and work in a series.

For further reading:

http://www.artbusiness.com/advantages-for-artists-to-making-art-in-series.html
http://artdogblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/mosaic-monday-obsessions-studies.html

Mosaic Monday / Xerces Blue Beta An Artificial Pollinator

Xerces Blue Beta / An Artificial Pollinator
Work In Progress
© rebecca collins

Well I am working on my Salon piece for the Sama convention in late April. For over a year I have wanted to do a mechanical looking Robot Butterfly and I have finally started on one. I did a few hours of research on-line before starting this project and my surfing really drove a lot of choices on this piece. I knew before I started that I wanted to create more than just a pretty mosaic butterfly since there are so many wonderful ones out there already. I wanted something edgier and when I discovered that scientists are creating artificial pollinators I knew that I had not only a title for my piece but possibly the beginning of an entire series. I want to create beautiful objects that draw the viewer closer and then surprise them with my materials and the layered ideas and messages.

You can see more of this project and hear my thoughts on it by watching the video below.

Mosaic Monday / Flower Workshop

On Saturday I took a terrific workshop at the Dallas Creative Arts Center from Katrina Doran called Petite Fleurs: Bejeweled Mosaic Flowers.
I had so much fun and it was just the jump start I needed to get my hands busy with mosaic again.  I added screws and washers to my flower making it a wee bit mechanical looking. I hope to eventually place it in the hand of a large 3-d mosaic Robot that I am working on.

We worked with a 2 part epoxy clay that dries rock hard and so there was no wet thinset, no grout ... and no stress.  We worked largely with beads and jewels so there was very little cutting involved.  If you think you might be interested in taking Katrina's next Petite Fleur workshop it is offered in May at the Dallas Arboretum.  Katrina can also be hired to work with your own private group in your residential or commercial setting, you can contact her through her website Doranstudiomosaics.com.

We made our flower forms from scratch.

Flower Mosaic
Rebecca Collins

Flower Backside
Rebecca Collins

Flower Mosaic
work in progress
Rebecca Collins

Flower Substrate
work in progress
Rebecca Morgan

Flower Mosaic
work in progress
Rebecca Morgan

Flower Mosaic
work in progress
Peggy Breedlove

Flower Mosaic
work in progress
Peggy Breedlove

Back in 2010 Katrina worked with several of her students creating very large flower mosaics for the Texas State Fair and this workshop is her brain child that sprung out of that experience. She creates petite, medium and large flower sculptures and she is working on a book that will outline the process so she can share her knowledge with more mosaic artists.  Each of the 3 different sized flowers are created with different armature techniques that she engineered herself and each has a different level of difficulty. I would love to do a medium sized flower next. I never thought I would want to tackle a huge flower but after doing a small one who knows, maybe my confidence on the 3-D work will bloom some day.

Mosaic Monday / U.F.O. s

WIP Chip The Robot

Well it is January and time to drag out all of those old U.F.O.'s or Unfinished Objects that we have laying around. I like to start the New Year finishing up older projects and I think this week I will do just that.  Poor Chip the robot has been unfinished for way too long.

Mosaic Monday/ Mosaics, Paper and Steel!

Last weekend was an art filled adventure. On Friday and Saturday I took part in a sale at Pigment School Of The arts and on Sunday I went on the White Rock Lake Studio Tour. Sunday was misty and cloudy and my pal Katrina and I went around to a handful of studios visiting some of our artist friends and checking out their latest art. I have lots to share today!  I indulged my art hoarding habit  a little this weekend and I will start with those pics and then take you to a couple of studios we visited.

Painting by Brad Ford Smith
( recent acquisition)

I really enjoyed visiting the studio of Brad Ford Smith. I had met this talented artist before in passing through friends of friends however I had never seen his work until this weekend. His art is very playful and it seems to have both a graphic design sensibility to me and also a very retro feel. I purchased the painting on paper above and cant wait to get it framed.  You have to visit Brad's  " World of Nomadic Fungi".  He has taken little vintage match box cars and wire & fiber to create the coolest little sculptures on the planet. WorldOfNomadicFungi.com is rich with humorous writing so go check it out.

Quick Sketch by Tori Pendergrass
( recent acquisition)

Tori is the owner of Pigment School of The Arts and a talented artist. I bought the little sketch above at her Fall Arts Fest Sale on Friday night. I  love her work and I am happy to now have a few pieces of hers.

The first stop on our tour was the studio of Mosaic Artist Juli Hulcy. My few pictures here do not do justice to the terrific space she has created. I fell in love with the distressed wooden cabinet shown below that came from her husband's family.

Juli Hulcy's Studio

Wall of Mosaic Art by Juli Hulcy

Work In Progress by Juli Hulcy

Below is a metal sculpture by Cynthia Daniel. Her work is playful and very large. Cynthia's yard and her studio are just amazing. Cynthia uses recycled metal to create her playful garden sculptures. I love women artists that can work large and have their way with a material as tough as steel.

Venus Fly Trap by Cynthia Daniel ( Sold)

Sculpture by Cynthia Daniel

Rusty Metal waiting to be turned into art.

We visited several other studios and yet these are all the pics I took. The tour had over 50 artists this year and so we knew better than to try and do it all. Some day after Dan and I renovate our home and I have a proper mosaic studio I may try and be on the tour. People are always asking me if I am on it, and I have to explain to them that my dining room table is not that exciting to see. Visiting all of these terrific creative spaces was really inspiring.