Society for American Mosaic Artists (SAMA)

I'm back from a whirlwind visit to San Diego where I attended the SAMA conference. The two workshops I took were "Ready (thin)set- go! where we learned all about thinset and grout- and the other was a fundamentals class taught by the Chicago Mosaic school. I participated for a little bit in the ongoing "mosaic marathon ". There was so much to see and learn- great speakers- and met some wonderful folks. I learned that "andemento" isn't  something you put in salads! and "tesserae" is pronounced "terresah". Thinset can be a sculptural medium as well as an adhesive was another lighbulb moment.
There was  amazing mosaic art and the Hyatt at Mission Bay was great. Here are a few pictures.

This shows how tessarae can be layed out. Andamenti!

Here are demos by Canadian artist  Erin Pankratz. She created substrate with mesh and thinset and uses cement tints for the colors. 

Add caption

This is one of her pieces. She uses the thinset to create lots of layered dots

to then hold the tesserae. Talk about cake decorating! Yummy!

                                 Here is some work by Kelley Knickerbocker. She mostly uses black and                              white thinset and also creates her own substrates.

The white thinset under there translucent green bowl shards create a glow with the black thinset  all around it.

I think this one is sideways...the black thinset created a soft velvety background.

Here is the design for the mosaic marathon- all conference participants were welcome to sit down and work on this for 4 days of the conference. St. Madeleine Sophie's Center is a center for adults with disabilities. They created fused glass tiles that were incorporated into the mosaic. 

The letters were cut from blue tile with a jet spray laser type cutter. There was a lot of different types of tessera- plates, tiles, Mexican smalti glass, glass and even fun ceramic salt and pepper shakers. Because this is going to be outside a building in Southern California they don't have to worry about some of the pieces freezing and cracking.

The tesserae was attached with thinset that we piped through baggies with the corner cut off. We attached on to WEDI board- a foam cement board thats perfect for mosaics- very light and weatherproof.

here is a part of the panel grouted with black grout- they are cleaning off the haze.

some parts were done on mesh...

Then we saw the Mosaics International Exhibit at the Women's Museum of California in San Diego- Wowza!

                                                     This one won best in show, Micro stained glass tesserae.

detail-

                                                           Here are some of my faves....

This one was ridiculously detailed! Incredible!

These are faces on rocks!

mixed media...

                                                       this one looks like it was knitted...

                                                                  detail...

                                                                      found objects...

                                                                      sea creatures!

It was definitely worth every penny!

More about the rest of the trip coming soon- we saw a lot more mosaics and art! 

Winnie.... 6"x8" watercolor on paper

This is Winnie looking up at a treat!

Our monthly Girls Just Wanna Paint  challenge was " looking up".

second session

I managed to finish this up yesterday - even though I am fighting an intestinal flu type thing...It was gratifying to get to finally shade and use white chalk. I used a 300 lb arches cold press watercolor paper toned with an india ink wash and loved the surface. I'm so enjoying the slow process of this. Next week we have another two part pose, but I'll be gone the following week so hopefully the teacher will be okay with me finishing it in the one session.
It's interesting that the teacher is only 34 years old- all of us are in our 50s and 60s taking the class!

Slow the heck Down

I am taking a class with Leo Mancini-Hresko at the North River Arts this spring-classical figure drawing. I have always done everything fast- and sort of pride myself on that- but this class is making me see how important it is to slow down and take my time. I spent 3 hours (with breaks) drawing this classic pose. Next week- three more hours will be spent finishing. I see the value in slowing down and concentrating on proportions and angles, holding back on details and shading. I may not aspire to paint this way, but who knows. I am so enjoying being in a class again, with my friends- all of them accomplished artists.
Leo showed us how to prepare the paper- this is 300lb Watercolor paper with india ink wash- then charcoal on top.

Foxy Mosaic- Done and Dusted!

I sent this image off to the Mosaic Society today for the upcoming salon-glad to get this done!

Mosaic in progress

I am excited to be attending the Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA) conference in San Diego next month. There are workshops, exhibits, lectures and a mosaic mural marathon all week. I am working on this mixed media ceramic and glass fox piece ( it's about 8"x10" ) for the salon show. I am sure my eyes will be bugging out seeing all the amazing art! 

Mosaic is a fun medium, there's a lot for me to learn, as I am working on a few outdoor mosaic projects lately. When I can't seem to get my paintings happening it's wonderful and meditative to work on these. 

"Pallete" challenge 6"x8" acrylic

This is my painting  for the girls just wanna paint group challenge

The theme for February was "palette".

Interesting to paint in black and white and fun to add the little blobs of color.