The Horned Owl

I haven’t been working in stained glass much lately since I have been concentrating on adding more mosaics to my garden wall.  I had started this piece during the winter while my son was visiting. But for some reason the small tesserae tiles kept calling to me.  I have just completed the owl (finally) and it is now hanging in the window of my breakfast nook.

Actually, I needed to finish the piece because I will be using the bench to layout a commission just received – the mosaic will be 8 feet wide by 4-1/2 feet tall on completion.  It is a desert sunset quite unique to the view from my client’s home.  All the 3/8” tiles have been ordered – the shipment should arrive within the next week or so.  I still have to purchase the 1” glass tiles I use for bordering as well as the thin set and grout but that can wait for now.  The main focus of my attention for the foreseeable future will be on building the mosaic mural.

Stay tuned for updates on the progress of this new project.

The Desert Sunset

This morning I finished grouting my latest panel.  I am quite pleased with this creation, having this time used a different type of  mosaic tile.  This piece is 4 feet wide and 3 feet tall consisting of approximately 10,000 3/8 inch Crystal Murrini tiles.  I chose these tiles  for the multiplicity of color they provided and have been rewarded with the extra sparkle of light reflected.

My main purpose in creating this mural was to use it as an advertisement of my work.  I would like very much to be creating “art” for other’s yard walls and it seems to me that most desert dwellers gravitate to Southwestern Art.  I’m thinking the reason might be because so many Arizonan’s are transplants from other states, just like me.

So now, my next task is to contact a photographer to have him capture some images to create an advertisement for several local magazines.  I have several flowers, some replicas of famous paintings and now some Southwestern themes.  And then…….. Hope the commissions start rolling in.

The Kokopelli

I’m not much for kitschy Southwestern art, but most people living in the Desert Southwest are into this type of artwork.  I caved and created a kokopelli mosaic for garden wall.

My intentions are to have a local photographer create a magazine layout for the advertisement of my work.  If you follow my  blog, you know most of my work both in glass and mosaic, is nature inspired.  In glass, I particularly like creating wild animals; in mosaic, I mostly create flowers or replications of French posters.  But hopefully to attain outside work, I am adding to the gallery on my garden wall some of the more common Southwestern themes that so many desert dwellers seem to admire.

This winter brought three nights of 12 degree temperatures to my part of the desert.  Many plants were frozen and just did not return this spring.  I had to have the gardeners remove about 50 feet of vine that covered a good portion of the North wall in my garden.  I guess this was fortuitous because now I am left with significantly more “canvas” for my mosaic work.  The kokopelli is complete and installed on that wall and I am now working on a desert sunset for another section of the same wall.