2004

This cabinet is just to show a little variety of what I have done. It isn't significant, nor complicated, but I put it in to be truthful to 2004, showing what I did. This cabinet just shows some antiquing I did on a peice that my husband and father made for our first child, Emma.

This next piece, the horse, was done for a family member. It is based off of a Japanese water color I believe (if my memory serves me correctly). Below it is a closer look at the detail. It is one of my earlier pieces, so not my very best work. Still, I kind of like it =).

Above is a Picasso I did for my mother-in-law. I was pretty proud of this one, especially considering that I was still new to doing mosaics and later found (after more experience) that if I had purchased newer clippers I could have had an easier time creating the shapes. As it was, this was a lot of work. But fun to do.

The Tree should be first. It is really my first attempt at doing mosaic art and you can see my progression from that to this next one of the Nauvou Temple. The tree, by the way, represents planting our roots deep in the gospel, or could be looked at as the 'Tree of Life' or the Tree of knowledge of good and evil. Coincidentally, I have another one I did shortly after that has three trees, representing the God Head, but I'm not sure I took a picture of that. Maybe I will add it later.

This Temple Mosaic was quite a venture for me at the time. Later you will see that it wasn't the only one I did, nor the most detailed. (As I said before, this was a learning process). This was I did for my parents and still hangs in their house today along with other Nauvou photos, etc. Above it shows the details of the tower.

My process for making these mosaics is simply to find a frame (usually one without a back, and I generally re-use old frames and paint them, finding them in DI's or Good Will). I then take 1/4 inch plywood, cut it to size, glue it to the frame and then proceed to draw out what I want the picture to look like using pencil. After I draw it out, I then cut and glue down my tile pieces with tile adhesive or mastic. After the picture is complete, I grout it. This secures the tile to the frame as well as to the plywood backing, making it a strong, solid piece of art. There have been times as well (including this temple picture) where I have gone back with watered down acrylic and painted in shadowing or tints in areas of the grout that I want to stand out more, or add dimension.

These two paintings, the first of the Nauvou house (I believe, correct me if I am wrong, laura) and the second of the Salt Lake City Temple I completed in just an hour or two altogether. I sometimes wonder what I could have come up with had I spent more time (but, you know, babies running around don't create the best atmosphere for lengthy painting sessions =). These were both given to siblings and were painted using oil paints.I was going through my Impressionistic phase. Something like Monet was going through  my head at the time. I love the idea of making something look real with just an 'impression' of shape, color, light, etc. I'm still hoping to go back and improve in this arena as well.

I must apologize for the photography. That is another craft I would like to learn/perfect.