Absence makes the Heart Fond?

See me sigh. See me pine away for my Mosaics...

I'm moving to another home and my mosaics are packed up in boxes. Therefore, no mosaic for three months, and maybe longer, until I unpack it and recreate my studio.

I will keep you all informed.

I heard that Lincoln lost the Senate race 35 times

Well, not really 35 times, but several times. That is something to remember as we stretch out our wings and try to fly.

The Riverboat Days introduction of the artworks of Muddy River Mosaic was a bust. Not one sale. Lots of comments, positive all of them, but no sales. I guess there's a big difference between liking something and then actually paying cold hard cash for something you like.

Oh well, I have a little bit of inventory now, and I do have an art show planned for next year.

I'm back at the peacocks and it is progressing rather nicely, if I don't say so myself.

Take a gander at a few pics:


"Fire and Brimstone"


"Country Square"


"Blue Plaid"

Brief: I'm workin' on stools!

Riverboat days start in one week. I've been very busy trying to create a batch of stools to sell. I have 5 done, and 2 more to finish, and less than a week to complete them.

No time to type...but I'll post some pictures in a few days, after I'm done with the stools.

My poor peacock has had very little attention :(

Color: The Law of the Big Wheel

You remember the Color Wheel? That funky thing they showed you in high school art classes with blue and red and yellow and all other colors in between. Yes, that's the big wheel. On that wheel you can see which colors "go together" and which ones just don't. Complimentary colors come in pairs, quads, or triples and we humans pretty much have it figured out which ones work together and which ones don't.

Put the right colors together and your eyes send a signal to your brain that says, "Ooohhhh, I like that!" You get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside and everything suddenly feels right in the world. But, if you put colors together that violate the law of complimentary colors, the visual disturbance which results gives you a grating annoyed feeling inside. You want to shout at the artist and say, "You boob! Can't you even get the colors right!"

Call me Mr. Boob, because I broke the law of complimentary colors on my latest piece: "Peacocks." Actually, I only told you half the story...Sometimes artists break the law on purpose - those rascalians - just to leave you with a disturbed feeling about a piece. I wish I could say that I was so clever. No, I just happened to put purple and bright blue along with green and yellow together. It doesn't work to well. Give me a ticket. I broke the law.

The rest of the time I'm working on the table, I'm going to try and fix the problem. Just like most laws of nature, I'm certain that I'm doing a Don Quixote thingy.

You tell me, what do you think of that big purple triangle thing? Uh huh....Just what I thought.

Pause

A sigh, a moment of silence, perhaps a moment of thought. No real activity of late. There are reasons for that - time, money, and motivation. My financial advisor says that I shouldn't be spending as much money as I have been on Muddy River Mosaic. My professional life (the one that pays the bills) has been hectic. Lastly, I've been pondering other projects for the summer: A Canoe (see below) built with the help of my friend Jack or making some homemade cheese.

There's only so much time in a day and only so much time in a summer. And while my financial advisor swears I don't understand the word "budget", I do understand the concept of budgeting time.

Start with 24 hours, subtract 8 for sleeping, and that leaves 16 hours. Subtract 10 hours for working, and that leaves 6 hours. Subtract 3 hours for bathroom, teeth brushing, and eating (preparation and clean-up), that leaves 3 hours a day for the fun stuff. (That's kind of depressing, really)

Weekends leave you more time, but then again, most of us do have families which require soccer practice, baseball practice, family reunions and other such memorabilia. In the end, there's only so much time left, and you have to decide how you're going to spend it. For me the issue this summer is Canoes, Cheese, or Mosaic...I'm still in the middle of the pause.

Blue Cats Completed

It was a nice winter project. You all would have laughed at me. I spent some of my time this winter bundled up in my garage with a kerosene heater blowing on me to stay warm - nipping, cutting, and gluing. Below is a picture of the completed "Blue Cats" Bistro table. As always, I've learned a few more things that I will incorporate into the next project which is another table with a peackock theme. I will keep you posted.

Did you know...

That doing mosaics is just part of the fun. You do have to mount the mosaic onto something.

So, you just dont do mosaics. You might have to figure out how to make a table top, attach it to a table base, create a nice protective metal edge around your mosaic table top and secure it so that its level. You have to try to do all of it so that it will last and look good.

Or you have to figure out a way to frame your mosaic. For a non-woodworker, trying to make a nice frame with clean angles at the joints....it's enough to drive you bonkers. Not to mention the fact that the frame has to fit and look good too.

Now I really wish I had paid attention in those high school shop classes I had.

Let's see....this is a screwdriver and this is a hammer...

Pray for me, I need a little help.

Progress

The laying of the tiles is completed. I like the result, I hope you do too. Remember, what you see is the back side of the tiles. I have yet to put the piece on the table top and grout it.

Grout is always the issue, it seems - that is, what color do you use? This time I'm going to use grey. That is the same color of regular old cement. It should serve to fuse the lighter colors together and also will break up the dominating dark tones of the piece just a bit. At least that's what I anticipate will happen.

Sometimes you get a surprise after you do the grouting and the piece takes on a totally different look. One that you hadn't expected.

I don't like surprises like that, so I'm hoping it turns out ok.

Blue Cats

I thought you would like to see some pictures

Business trips, project update, and other

I took a trip this weekend to visit with my web designer. Previously, I didn't need to travel because I was the web designer, unless you count taking a trip in my own mind as traveling.

We viewed about 100 different websites, looking for ideas. Critiqued my current website, and picked out some promising examples. I'm hoping that the designer will come up with some great ideas. From there, we'll update the website.

You can visit my current website at: www.muddyrivermosaic.com

My workload has slowed my current project. I am redoing "Sly Cats." This time, more color, and some attempts at shading. So far, I'm happy with the results. The project is about 2/3 completed. I will try to post a picture to show what has been happening with the project. My concern, as always, is that my photography skills are lacking, and the product doesn't do the piece justice.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

Its been awhile.

A close observer of my blog (and I have a few) will have noticed that the frequency of posts has taken a decidedly diminished turn. Let me say, to all three of my fans, I apologize for not keeping you entertained.

The last post mentioned an exciting step out of my comfort zone. I had asked the director of the local Arts Association to come over and take a look. What a surprise that night was! First of all, I was as nervous as a teen-aged boy at his prom date's parents house. My palms were sweating and I was pacing the house restlessly until she came.

She was very gracious and encouraging. Perhaps sometime in the near future I might be fortunate enough to have a few of my works displayed in a show. That would be something to see.

If I do have chance to 'do a show', I'll send you all one of those fancy invitations with the ribbons.