Day 8 WIP "Street Performers"

Day 6&7 WIP "Street Performers"

Day 5 WIP "Street Performers"

Feeling very inspired today as I spent many hours this weekend looking at Vintage Art Nouveau Posters on Pinterest. Pinterest is such an incredible way to keep track of all the things that inspire me. I am so drawn to the style, color, detail and overall beauty of Art Nouveau images. I think for my next piece I'd like to try and replicate one in Mosaic form.

Today I spent a good 7 hours in my studio working on my Mosaic. I finished the girls arm and the Banjo she's holding. Then decided to give her some red hair. I'm really happy with the way it's turning out.

I also made these cool wooden storage platforms to hold my paper tiles. They worked so well today! 

Day 4 WIP "Street Performers"

It's amazing how much time I spend on each section. Today I worked for 7 hours on the woman's face and hands. 

Day 3 WIP "Street Performers"

I made some progress today. I decided to add color to his shirt and Tuba strap. I really want this piece to pop!

Day 2 working on my mosaic "Street Performers"

I love using these metallic papers for this brass instrument. There are so many areas I can highlight to give it a shiny effect.

Day 1 for "Street Performers"

Photo for sketch

Music

For the past week while I finished up my "Boho Woman" mosaic I was brainstorming like crazy about a new subject. I've always done faces but I feel it's time to try something new. I've decided to focus on musicians playing instruments. This is my rough sketch and the start of my next piece.

"Boho Woman" finished!

I'm excited! I finally finished her(:

Almost finished(:

Finally inspired again!

Finally inspired again after so long!

 I'll start by saying that 2014 was probably one of the most stressful years of my life. It was life changing. In June we moved back to Wisconsin after spending the past few years in California. We couldn't find a house right away so we decided to rent an apartment for three months while we searched for the "it" house. We call it the "it" house because I seriously never want to move again. We knew we wanted a good size lot and one thing I really wanted was a studio either in a renovated barn or on the top floor of the house with skylights. While looking for this perfect house to fit our family we spent the summer traveling back and forth to Georgia. My Mum was losing her battle with Cancer after fighting for so many years. On August 9th, my Mum passed away. I can honestly say I never knew what it meant to be sad until the sadness I felt when my Mum died. She was my very best friend. Exactly a week before she died I had shown her a photo of the house we had our eyes on and she told me to go for it and that it was perfect. It has the studio on the top floor with skylights and sits on a 2 acre lot. I found comfort in knowing she had at least seen photos as I knew she would never visit. In October we moved in! I cannot tell you how happy I am and how good it feels to be home. The first few months were spent unpacking and painting rooms vibrant colors. We also had family visit from Georgia for the holiday's which was really incredible. On New Years Eve we warmed our home by having a huge party with all our friends. I couldn't have asked for a better way to start the New Year.

Here we are now in February 2015, things have quieted down a bit and I've had time to think. I knew something creative was brewing inside my head but I wasn't sure what it would be. Something struck and gave me the desire to try a paper Mosaic painting. It's incredible, I feel like I'm painting with paper. I can't believe I've never tried this before. I'm onto my second painting now. They are very time consuming but the end result is so satisfying which makes it totally worth it. I have been spending a minimum of 7 hours in my studio each day for the past few weeks. It feels amazing!

Making progress

WIP

My Mosaic Process

Mosaic Portrait of Emma