Thursday, August 25, 2011

What am I Doing?

It was brought to my attention tonight that maybe I wasn't clear about the project I was doing.  I showed a picture of the mannequin that I was going to start working on, but then I changed my mind and began work on a mosaic that I have been thinking about for a over a year.  I'll post a new pic this weekend of some of the work.   It's actually going quite a bit faster than I anticipated--always nice.  And...so far I am actually pleased with how it looks.  There is a small section where I will most likely scrape glass again--the glass I used for it really just doesn't work in that section.  But it is a small section and I know it will look much better with a different glass there.


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Monday, August 22, 2011

Stuck!

I am sort of stuck on this project--the Clean Water project.

I intended to do it all from scrap glass; and, I picked some of my favorite pieces that I save just for special projects to use in certain areas of this mosaic.

Only one problem with that.  Not enough!  Oh, I have tons (okay pounds) of scrap, just need more of a particular style. Can't really afford to go get new glass, but this one is an important piece.

I have two options.  Go buy more glass or scrape the canvas and add in other glass of similar tone and mix them all together.

Dilemma!

I was leaning more toward scraping before I thought of the silicone that would stick to the bottom of some (most likely many--just trying to be an optimist) of the pieces that I scrape.

I still may scrape though, because I could improve on the appearance of these two sections greatly if I made the glass flow a little differently.  Of course, I don't want to waste any of the glass that I have laid thus far, because that is some of my favorite glass, and of course some of the most expesnive.

Oh the choices an artist must make. Tee Hee.

What is nice, is that I am willing to wait for the right answer.

I have learned a lesson from thinking about how to solve this:  When working with scrap, cut all pieces similar in color and mix the batch of glasses together so they are randomly placed in the mosaic.



Sunday, August 21, 2011

Permission to Pause

Although I have no desire to pause currently, another silent agreement I made with my artistic self was that it was okay to start a project and then pause for bit--that I could take a year to complete it if that is what I desired.

Admittedly I haven't read much of the text in my massive Dali book that my daughter got me for Christmas, I have perused the photos and the captions that include dates.  My conclusion, from not reading the book, is that he would take years for some of his pieces, and within a couple year period he would create separate pieces that were similar to each other.

I also decided that I would continue my small mosaics, and I could use them to practice visual techniques for my larger mosaics.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Scraping the Canvas

Part of the silent agreement I made with myself when I began on Clean Water, was that it might not be perfect or look anything like I want it to, but that didn't matter.  I could reproduce it again until I got it right if I wanted--using the lessons I learned making the one before.

That idea came to me from Art & Fear and was reinforced by seeing that Dali repeated his art at times.

I decided that I could always scrape off areas that I didn't like what they looked like and start them over. I realized I had done that for two custom pieces I created as presents. Although I hate the idea of having to scrape the glass off without disturbing surrounding areas, I realized that it is unlikely that any artist relishes the idea of scraping the material from their canvas to fix an error; and, that perhaps it is part of the process.

I'd much rather spend my time getting to the end of the piece so I can finally meet it, but I'd get more pleasure from something I didn't cringe at each time I looked at it.

PS....Happy Birthday to Jaime--the sister that God forgot to give me!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Started My Clean Water Mosaic

So, I did begin on my Clean Water (working title for a mosaic) piece that I came up with at least three years ago.  A series of surreal paintings popped into my head one night--like a flash.  I wrote down the ideas as they came and then the next would pop into my head, and I would write it down.

Since I am not a sketch or oil painting artist, I was concerned about how I was going to complete these.  I got some oil paints and began to play a little.  I painted a mountain, or was it an island?  Anyway, I got praise from several people about my first oil painting.  There was one person.--One!--and I don't even remember who it was, but he/she couldn't even make out that it was a mountain, or an island and kind of chuckled about it.

I haven't painted (except disappointing attempts at journal spilling with watercolors) since.

Anyway...so I decided that I could definitely do it with mosaic.  They wouldn't necessarily fit the images I saw in my head that were worthy of being compared to Dali or Kush, or Moore, but perhaps one day when I perfected oil painting, if ever, I could attempt to get the clearer picture on paper.

This mosaic project, that began as a mosaic-a-day, has gotten me started on my "real work." (I haven't stopped doing the smaller mosaics, I just won't be doing them daily.)

So, with reading Fear & Art and being inspired by a skull-a-day, I am beginning to trust in my artistic ability.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Tree

Love this tree! There is/was a stained glass panel of a tree at AK Glass, in Redondo Beach, CA,  that I have always just loved looking at and have wanted to make.  So, here is my much smaller version.  I really like how it turned out.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Tempered Glass Heart

I drew this heart a while ago with my watercolor pencils. Covered it with silicone and tempered glass.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Bluetini

Two for the price of one.  So, I used this one for my Whale-A-Day blog too.  Cheating?  No!

At first the whale wasn't showing because using the black mastic really changed the color of the glass surrounding it.  But a little bit of white grout helped bring it out.

I am definately learning.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Still working with new medium

I did start a mosaic two days ago.  A small one.  You know I went and bought all my supplies and now I can't find my caulk gun.  Not like it is small. I am hoping it is buried in the trunk of my car that needs to be cleaned out. I will do a thorough search tomorrow and will find it.

I needed to use the silicone to finish this mosaic.  Funny, I finally bought my mastic to use and the two mosaics I come up with in my head, I need my silicone.  I am using the mastic on this project too, and that is turning out to be very messy.

I think mosaic is a somewhat messy artform, but using the mastic is super messy, especially since it is black.  Not sure I am liking it so far.  It certainly changes the color of the glass and does limit the glass I can use in a mosaic, which I don't like so much.  I am not giving up on this tool yet, I will keep playing with it.


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

New Focus

Well, this 365 mosaics isn't working for me.  I still want to mosaic, but I don't want to force myself to create something everyday...although maybe I should.

So, rather than doing a small mosaic everyday, I am going to start on one of the projects that has been in my head for years; and, the one that I sketched out just before I began the 365 Mosaics project.  since the blog's url is LisaKirbyArt, I think that I should be able to create whatever I want.


Some days I feel like doing mosaic, some I feel like dong other things, so I don't want to not do the other things because I have to create a mosaic (they do take hours).

I will use this blog to just express my artmaking and to show you my art.

I will continue to do my whale a day. (although I missed two days in a row--not making that a habit).

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Art needs time to breathe

Well, another day without a mosaic.  Tomorrow is the day.  I swear!  I am going to mix the black acrylic paint into the entire tub of white mastic and then it will be on like Donkey Kong.  I am no longer afraid of the new tools and am ready to conquer them.

My head was all over the place yesterday, I wanted to journal, I wanted to draw, I wanted to mosaic, and I wanted to clean my closet.  I drew...and then played my seek and find game on my computer to just mellow the head.

This was a stressful week, and an irritable one too. I think I am coming out of it though.  Soooo looking forward to the weekend.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Mosaic Something

I've been a little busy.  These mosaics take hours, so some days I just don't have the time.  But I am beginning one (and hopefully finishing) tonight for posting tomorrow. 

I know today, when I was conjuring up an idea, a title of "stress" seemed appropriate, and I could somewhat picture what it would look like. But that was today; this is tonight.  

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

New Tools and No Art

I bought some supplies last night.  Pre-mixed mastic, pre-mixed adhesive/grout, black acrylic paint to color my premixed stuff, non-sanded grout that needs to be mixed, craft sticks, clear silicone and a good sponge for mosaics.

Then I got home mixed some black paint into my white mastic/grout (oops, meant to do just the mastic) and realized that when you use mastic, it will cover the lines drawn as a guide for the mosaic design.  

So there I sat staring at my mixed mastic and no design in my head.  Learning curve with the new tools.

No time today to figure out the new tools--have a busy day planned.  Tomorrow perhaps.

Monday, August 1, 2011