Today was my mosaic-finishing day. So, during my walk home, I gathered a few last minute shells and then set to work attaching my natural objects to the canvas board! Here is the final result of my Nature Mosaic Art Challenge:

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the way my circular collection came together–and am looking forward to future nature-inspired mosaics! As always, I’d love to see your results from this month’s challenge! Send them my way! Also, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this month’s challenge, as well as my mosaic!

‘Til later..happy explorations!

Tomorrow is the final day of the challenge. That being said, I will attach all of the above pieces to my chosen canvas board and will add the remaining details to my composition!

I hope you all have enjoyed this challenge as much as I have!

‘Til tomorrow…happy explorations!

For today’s part of the challenge, I sorted through my materials to begin preparing to piece together my composition. I started by laying out all of the supplies I had gathered over the last 4 days:

After looking at all of my supplies, I decided to soak all of the shells to get rid of any potential “friends,” and then began to  explore different arrangements of my remaining objects (this also helped me to get a better feel for the objects that I still needed to add to my collection and those that I didn’t want in my collection).

After moving around the leaves, acorns, and other assorted items, I decided that I wanted some of my acorns to sit flush on the canvas. Using sandpaper, I leveled the tops of the acorn caps to help them sit properly on the surface of my board.

Finally, I decided to arrange my materials into some sort of tighter configuration–again, just playing with the forms, colors, and composition. Here was my result:

This is by no means the finished product. It is merely an experiment. After I finished my explorations, I put all of the pieces back into a little pile and set the shells out to dry. Manipulating the various pieces that I had collected felt like I was attempting to solve a puzzle. At the same time, I also discovered things that I hadn’t noticed before when I first found these objects–such as small cracks, additional color variations, textures, and surface changes that had taken place over the last couple of days. Interesting explorations!

For tomorrow’s challenge, finish collecting any additional materials you may have decided you need during today’s explorations. I know in my case, I would like to find a few more leaves with brown tones and some more of those very small white seed shells (see the top section of my final exploratory composition). In addition, begin the construction of your mosaic. Please note: There are no set rules for the composition of this mosaic. Perhaps you’d like to fill your whole canvas with natural objects. Or maybe you’d like to leave some open space on your canvas. The choice is up to you and your creativity! Enjoy the process!

‘Til tomorrow…happy explorations!

Here are my finds of the day:

In addition to finding more hole-filled and circular leaves and shells, I FINALLY came across a very small piece of wood with more of the negative space I have been searching for! (I’m secretly hoping to find more of these before I finish the mosaic challenge!) I also found some awesome little seed pods–one was even sprouting, so I placed it into the soil to give it a better chance of survival!

While I wasn’t able to go on my usual collecting walk today, I did enjoy the short outdoor excursion and break from my day spent indoors!

For tomorrow’s challenge, start thinking about the design of your mosaic drawing from the shapes and textures of the objects you’ve collected.  In addition, start thinking more about your COLOR SCHEME that you will be working with and focus on collecting and sorting your colors. As part of tomorrow’s challenge, begin putting together your mosaic on your chosen base. 

I’m excited to see the mosaics that will develop from the last 4 days of gathering!

‘Til tomorrow…happy explorations!

Here’s a close-up of my favorite find of the day–two fossilized shells!:

Although I’m not yet sure these shells will become a part of my mosaic, they were too awesome to pass up. Tomorrow will be the last day of the mosaic HEART-inspired gathering process. The focus will then turn to the other supplies that will be needed for my mosaic. So, enjoy your final day of gathering!

Tomorrow I will be judging an V.A.S.E. art show, so will attempt to find some interesting circular objects during my breaks. Click here to learn more about V.A.S.E., a program sponsored by the Texas Art Education Association to provide high school art students with opportunities to talk about their artwork and have their work evaluated in regional events. I must say–the  artwork that is brought to these events is absolutely phenomenal!

‘Til tomorrow…happy explorations!

Here were my findings today (not including two metal disks and one bottle cap that I picked up as well…though I’m not sure I want to introduce these sorts of found objects into my mosaic…thoughts?):

Along with my circular findings, I also found a couple of leaves with some interesting coloring (which might prove to be useful to my composition as well).

Today’s walk was definitely an EXPERIENCE–I found that walking with this sort of narrow focus or mission in mind really altered my perception of the world around me (I almost walked past my apartment entrance!). While this sort of nature experience probably isn’t the best way to soak up the sights and sounds of the natural world, it does provide an opportunity to focus on the beauty and fascinating details that are often overlooked (literally) for the loftier views. Even if you aren’t participating in this week’s challenge, pick one day this week to take a collecting walk. Take a small bag with you and collect some interesting objects. Whether or not you later do something with those objects is irrelevant. The act of collecting provides the opportunity to notice the little details and quirkiness inherent in the natural world. Go outside and explore!

For tomorrow’s collections, continue to focus on the HEART of your mosaic. With this leaf in mind,

I will continue my search for circular objects in nature, focusing on the NEGATIVE circular spaces in nature.

‘Til tomorrow…happy explorations!

Here are the items I collected during today’s walk:

Although many of these objects had within them the potential to inspire me, one in particular caught my eye…

The interesting shape of this leaf, as well as the circles within the leaf will inspire the content of my mosaic as I collect items throughout the week.

For my canvas, I plan to use a piece of hardboard (subject to change as my collection evolves).

Tomorrow, based on the patterns and shapes contained within the HEART of my mosaic, I will focus my attentions to collecting CIRCULAR objects in nature. For those of you working on mosaics of your own, focus your attention to the HEART of your mosaic—pay close attention to the shapes, outlines, textures, and color of your object. Use one of those observations as a springboard for tomorrow’s collection.

I hope you all have enjoyed your first day of collecting!

‘Til tomorrow…happy explorations!

For those of you wishing to join me in this challenge, tomorrow’s challenge will be to gather the HEART of your composition. In other words, find something interesting to be the fuel for your mosaic—the heart from which the rest of the piece will flow. Also, choose a canvas for your work. Since I do not have the proper supplies to create a true mosaic (grout, etc..), I will be using alternative methods to piece my composition together. Enjoy each day’s task as it comes! DO NOT OVERPLAN. This is meant to be a very organic process–so don’t have an overall picture in mind!

In preparation for the start of the challenge, check out this awesome blog called Mosaic Art NOW! It includes images and information about tons of mosaic artists. Here’s the work of one particular artist that caught my eye–Rachel Sager Lynch. She explores geology in her mosaic works, as well as industrial processes such as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

Enjoy browsing these mosaic artists’ works!

‘Til tomorrow…happy explorations!

And now, to continue on with my mosaic research, I give you the mosaic glass sculptures of Katie Green! Rather than using natural objects in her sculptures, she mimics the natural shapes, texture, and light found within natural garden spaces. She uses glass from all over the world to create her works, frequently recycling old pieces of glass as well. Here are a few of her works:

To view more of her mosaics and read more about Katie, click here. February’s nature challenge will begin this coming WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1st! So exciting! More details to come in the next couple of days…

‘Til later…happy explorations!

To start getting you thinking for February’s Nature Art Challenge (which will focus on exploring the environment through MOSAICS), I wanted to introduce you to the work of some pretty amazing mosaic artists. For today, check out the mosaics of Ilana Shafir, an incredible artist from Sarajevo, former Yugoslavia. Her biography is well worth the read. Growing up during the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia, much of her early works were informed by her experiences and encounters during that time–painting and drawing the suffering and sadness of Jews during this time. Her work later shifted to mosaics and, since 1980, she has been an active artist in a growing community of mosaic artists throughout the world.

Though I find many of her mosaics to be absolutely beautiful, I am particularly interested in her thought process as she creates these works. She calls her process “The Spontaneous Mosaic,” as she lets the materials dictate the design of her composition. She explains, “The artist paints with stones and composes with the shapes and lines that are inherent in the found materials.” She continues,  ”I usually start with one interesting piece that attracts me and says something to me. This initial piece serves as a key element that will further dictate the development of the entire work.”

Through her mosaic work, Shafir forms a closer relationship with her materials–as they are manipulated and handled. She often is inspired by objects that she finds during various moments of her day. Based on one object, she then builds an incredible composition–building on her ideas and experiences with that object.

I hope you enjoy exploring the mosaics of Ilana Shafir as much as I have!

‘Til later…happy explorations!