Mini Ballerina Mosaic Dress, a student's journey

Rita Dipaolo is a newbie to mosaics, this is her third mosaic and her second mosaic dress.  I wanted to share with you her journey because she did such a unique job of mosaicking this dress so it truly feels like an actual tutu using all of her mom's discarded treasures.

Mini Ballerina

In the beginning, she chose her dress substrate and started sorting through her mother's treasures.  You can see her outline drawing behind the form, this is where she will plan out her design using her tessera. 

Neckline

I always say "go where you know" and in this piece, Rita started at her neckline, again using her mother's pearls & beads.

the ruffle skirt

This is my favorite part and so original.  I love how she cut all of her mom's china plates into strips and then layered them in with my magic putty, to create this fabulous ruffle for the skirt.

the skirt  

completed

Just wow, loving the ruffle technique that Rita used on her skirt.  And now to finish up the bodice with more of her mom's old necklaces.

Master

piece

Brilliant, the way Rita was able to mosaic the bodice with the rest of her mom's china pieces so that it truly feels like it is hugging a body underneath.

Now it is your turn to try a mosaic dress at home.  My Dress-Making online Class is now LIVE.

"Painting with Glass" a student's journey

Susan Bass has been coming to Mexico to study with me for several years now.  She is so creative that I always have to come up with new challenges for her to master, but this piece was all her.

Let's begin at the beginning of my process that I taught her, the inspiration:

This is a stained glass portrait that Susan made of her other dog, Theo and then she wanted to do a pet portrait of Kodi.

a portrait

She found inspiration in this  Renaissance painting, a regal portrait in fancy clothes.

Sir Kodi

And here he is all dressed up with a feather in his cap. This was done with old school cutting and pasting from color copies pieced together prior to the workshop. This is where we began the mosaic process.  And then Susan gathered her discarded treasures to translate her vision into mosaics.

(see below her "palette")

Kodi

a Masterpiece, made in my Mexico workshop, 2017. Thank you Susan for sharing with us your unique creative mosaic POV.

I do teach this class online and yes, Susan did take that online class too.

"PAINTING WITH GLASS"

Let's Begin...

Welcome to my New Art World!

I have been wanting to redo my website for a while now, but technology is not always my friend.  Squarespace made it pretty easy.  As you can see, I am still fine tuning my vision, when in actuality my art as is my life is always a Work In Progress.

Presently, I am working on a new series of Modern Art pieces for a show in September.  I am determined to get a wall full of these 12" X 12" pieces completed by then.... wish me luck!  I love the visual impact of a space filled with little stories that can be displayed in a grouping or stand alone as an individual piece.  I am so attracted to color, texture & the repetition of building a visual story.   As I began this work a circle became the starting place for each piece.

I do have other themes that interest me in this format, but we will have to see where this visual journey takes me.  Stay tuned!