gram's wish

gram's wish 20 x 36 inches
Yeah, I'm a slow learner. I remember almost thirty years ago my Gram was shocked that I was planning to spray some toxic shit on something as beautiful as a dandelion.  To illustrate how wonderful they are, she promptly went out in my yard, picked some and ate them, unwashed.  At the time, I was mortified.  How did I not see that what I was planning on spraying in my yard was far worse for my family (not to mention the rest of the world) than eating any dirt that would have been on dandelion leaves?  I feel a little embarrassed admitting to you that it is just 2013 that we quit spraying our yard, even when we were growing food for ourselves in it.  The aha moment came to me when I read the blog of a landscape designer that was working with a doctor that said he knows how toxic even the "safe" sprays are to his family but he doesn't want his neighbors angry.  REALLY??!!  So, I am not going to tell anybody what to do, but I thought maybe I could show you what my Gram wished I would see... that dandelions are pretty. 

living the dream

Who gets to play with kids all day... and then gets paid for it?  Yeah, this girl.  I have one more day of this residency but WE'RE FINISHED!  Chill for tomorrow, yo!  That's what I'm talkin' about!

 

 

The kids got to vote on words and they chose these.  I thought aggression and angst might be good words but they didn't let me vote.  Just kidding.  I am SO proud of the work that Mifflin County High School did.  To cover three 3 x 5 foot boards in 8 days was an unbelievable feat.  What a fun two weeks.  Now it is back to the same old job that is even more fun than playing with kids.  Life is but a dream.

anybody ready for spring?

Whew!  This is how much I have been in my shop lately.  That is Rob hanging with me, getting all "comfortable" with my sandblasting cabinet as a backrest.  He normally avoids my shop but till I get a few things sewn up, this is how we do it.

 All right, these are just phone photos and I ask you to look past gaping ungrouted crevices, and bare cement board but almost all of the hard parts are done.  I have a bee that is about two firings away from a decision of whether he will make the cut.  The poof part of this mosaic took WAY longer than expected... then that yellow flower, come ON!  I am still pushing to have the rest tiled by Sunday.  Then I start another school residency Monday and I can hopefully grout this sucker next weekend.  Regardless, all good.  BTW, when I said I was in my shop all the time, I was sayin' that like it's a good thing, cause it is.  Lovin' this life.

best supporting actor EVER

YES!  My new video is finished!

Bonz playing the part of magician's assistant!  What?  Is it cheating to use a cute dog to make myself look good?  OK, maybe, but I also got a new editing program AND a new camera so this video is bigger and more badass than any of my previous.  I loved this piece and every minute working on it... well, not the part where I smashed the polka dot glass and started over, but the rest.  Stopping to take photos constantly makes a piece take much longer so thanks for watching.  The music in this video is awesome and used legally.   One.man.And  Hope you have good speakers and crank them.  And I have to mention my spectacular dance moves at the end.  yunk yunk. 

 WATCH! Thanks!

poker face

I generally don't make "parts" for people but this was a Christmas present for my baby brother.  He likes skulls and squids.  Yeah, NOBODY has one like this.  It was so crazy hard to make 8 tiny legs in a one color design squished up like that.  Oh yeah, and I did it carving with a dremmel.  Come on!  Seriously check out those suction cups.  I worked so hard at getting the 8 legs in that the one guy has nine legs, HA!  Now I need a casino to commission me, yo!

presto!

WHAT!  Two posts in two days.  Yup.  It happened. I finished this baby yesterday, and was issued a perfect overcast sky to photograph it outdoors this morning.  36 x 20 inches of tasty goodness in glass. Well, the commission was obviously about magic.  How lucky did I get right there?  Originally, the whole thing was going to go in a Houdini direction.  So while I am thinking all these Houdini thoughts, I meet a friend that is all about Houdini trivia.  He told me a story about the word believe and that stuck.  I linked it HERE if you're interested. But that is what those tiny "crystal balls" are and the large one is actually a humongous marble sawed in half.  The word beneath is tiny and is so distorted that it looks huge and you cannot tell if it is convex or concave as it appears to move beneath the glass as you change your perspective.  Really, it is flat.

 

So here are some other things incorporated in this mosaic: The red background of the bird is a REFERENCE to the heavy red velvet drapes that I think of in magic.  The recycled bottle rings are a nod to that trick with the three cups.  I was talking with my brother about this trick and he said to make sure I only put ONE red ball in... I am embarrassed that I didn't think of that simple idea myself.  There is a lot of greys and silver in different forms, my way to illustrate "smoke and mirrors."  The tiny black and white strips are a little extension of the tuxedoed arm. And the signature tile?  This cracks me up.  Bicycle cards are the cards we always used.  While I was working on it, taking ideas from various card backs, I had a small open section that I was deciding on.  I asked Shaundi what I could fit in there and she instantly spits out, "a gecko!"  In my former life as a mailman, my nickname was gecko or geck... so there you go. 

 

I WISH everyone could see this in person.  There is so much movement and sparkle in this.  The "magic" from the wand is layered inside and on top of the half inch grey glass.  This is the deepest mosaic I have done and also the most prominent relief.  This makes the mosaic the heaviest I have done per square inch, weighing in at 32 lb.  The entire time I was working on it, a substantial amount of chronological life, I was thinking that this is an amazing world that I get to do this.  I have my daughter and daughter-in-law saying my favorite prayer and it SO fits here.  I pinch my eyes shut and say, "More like this."

super legit

OK, how much fun is this?!!??  In high school, my son was in a band, the singer was Kailynn West.  I wanted to contribute to her kickstarter program and had no idea it came with a song.  I answered a few questions and told her she could take whatever photos from my blog or site.  What a great Christmas idea for someone, right?  I don't know if she would have time yet but Valentine's Day?  She's a doll and I am happy to have this self affirming song stuck in my head.  Click the here to see her adorable video.  Yeah.