Category Archives: Mosaic and other crafts

Life imitates art or art imitates life

07 Thursday Apr 2022

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“The trouble is not that I am single and likely to stay single, but that I am lonely and likely to stay lonely.” ― Charlotte Brontë

I made a mosaic piece of the face of woman a couple of months ago: https://blessedwithastarontheforehead.com/2022/02/21/happy-woman-having-an-off-day/

I thought she was lonely, so I made her a boyfriend.  The moment I created a boyfriend for her, I got myself a boyfriend. 

He still needs buttons on his shirt, to match her necklace, but I haven’t found the the perfect ones yet.

Here he is:

“If you’re lonely when you’re alone, you’re in bad company.” –― Jean-Paul Sartre

“Solitude is fine but you need someone to tell that solitude is fine.” ― Honoré de Balzac

“Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” ― John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

“being alone never felt right. sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right.” ― Charles Bukowski

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” ― Mother Teresa

“Remember: the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself. Life’s cruelest irony.” ― Douglas Coupland, Shampoo Planet

And here they are together. I think they make a lovely couple. 🙂

“I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish… You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger.” ― Simone de Beauvoir

 

I think I see a bird… yes, it is a bird!

22 Tuesday Mar 2022

Posted by in Daily Life, Mosaic and other crafts

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“I would like to paint the way a bird sings.” ― Claude Monet

Here is my newest project. It is supposed to be a bird in a snowy forest, as you can see on the Christmas card (1st pic below) that inspired me. 

Each little piece of glass was cut by hand. At the end of every session I had some nicks and cuts. I love working with mosaics so much I don’t mind a little pain.

I am just glad that it does resemble a bird, or does it?

“The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.” ― J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird

“For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly.” ― Kahlil Gibran

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.” ― Robert Lynd

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that’s all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.” ― Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

 

The 4th date and a misframe

13 Sunday Mar 2022

Posted by in Daily Life, Daily Message, Dating, Mosaic and other crafts

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“I find only sadness and melancholy when I wade through the past, even when revisiting good memories. The past is gone; I can neither grasp it nor reshape it. Therefore, I must force my eyes to look toward the future where my mortal powers thrive.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich, Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year

The fourth date was on Thursday night.  We met at a wine bar called Aura.  He remembered that this is the same place we had our second date 5 years ago.  At that time the place was called Gnarly Vine. 

He remembers everything about the few dates that we had 5 years ago.  He remembers where we went, what I said, etc.  I don’t remember anything, but as he shares what he remembers, bits and pieces come back to me.

It is crazy that I totally blocked out any memory of dates with him.  I remember liking him, and that is it.  My lack of memory of the past it is probably a combination of covid mental fogginess plus selective memory.  No sense in dwelling in the past.

We agreed to stop talking about the past and focus on the present. We are happy that we are getting a do-over.

If he doesn’t have to drive his daughter back to college tomorrow, Sunday, I will be going to his house for homemade pizza.  I am looking forward to seeing his home.  One can tell a lot from how a person lives. Fingers crossed that she is able to get a ride.

“. . .Looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

While I was waiting for my latest piece (a bird) to dry, I decided to do a picture frame.  It was going to be a gift for my brother, but then came the flowers and the butterfly. And instead of grout I used glitter, tons of glitter.  It is hard to see the glitter in the picture.  It is no longer for my brother 🙂

“Happy Woman Having an Off Day”

21 Monday Feb 2022

Posted by in Daily Life, Daily Message, Mosaic and other crafts

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I love, love, love this piece. It came out of nowhere. This is a piece that makes me feel that I do have a creative bone in my body.

As I was organizing some glass pieces for another project a saw this face materialize in front of me. I abandoned what I was going to do and decide to finish the face.

The same day at the studio, there was a woman that I often see there.  She has been doing mosaic for years, and does commission pieces. 

She is always talking, always having fun.  We have a good time together.  On that day she was quiet and gloomy.  She was not her usual self.  She said that there was not a specific reason, she was just having an off day. 

It was definitely a different energy with her being so quiet.  I was trying to make jokes and cheer her up.

For some reason the tiles in front of me made me think of her.  Perhaps the pained, sad look and the short hair.  I announced that I was naming the piece after her.  

She was so happy.  I could see glimpses of her usual self returning.  She said that there was never anything named after her, and she was over the moon.   

Fast forward a couple of weeks. I was at the studio working on this project and another woman heard that I had named this piece after her friend.

She said: “It doesn’t look like her.” I said: “I know.  It is not supposed to look like her.  It is just the idea of her.” 

She appeared a bit annoyed, but didn’t say anything.  Later on, she said, out of the blue: “People should be careful about naming pieces after people, specially since it doesn’t look like them.”

I said: “She knows and she is happy about it.”

She then said: “Sometimes people hide their feelings.”

What? I was so shocked with that statement.  I said: “I am sorry you think that way.  I will ask her about it.  There is no way that I would do anything to hurt her or anyone.”

I was going to ask the woman herself about it, but then the studio closed for 2 months and I haven’t see her again.  For now the piece is nameless.  None of my pieces have names, but for some reason I feel this one needs it. 

For now the name is “Happy Woman Having an Off Day”.   I welcome ideas for a different name.

Since when the world got so sensitive? It is just a name on a piece. It is not a portrait, and not meant to look like the person.  It is meant as a compliment, just a fun and nice gesture.

I feel her friend created an issue where there was none.  But, I guess, I could be wrong. I have been wrong before 🙂

I have learned a lesson. Well, I am trying to learn the lesson.   I am very impulsive, and often say what comes to mind.  Naming the piece right then and there was an impulse.  I can’t assume that everyone would be okay with that.

Toning myself down is hard. I was not intent in causing pain. But, as they say: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

In the meantime, I had to hold back tears when the woman told me that I was perhaps insulting and hurting her friend. Who is the sensitive now?

“And why is it, thought Lara, that my fate is to see everything and take it all so much to heart?”
― Boris Pasternak

 

My very talented Mom

21 Friday Jan 2022

Posted by in Daily Life, Mosaic and other crafts

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“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” -― Stephen King

I had complained to my mom that my sister had a towel with little girls on it and I didn’t.  Mom set out to correct that. The result is the cute towel above.

I am very proud of my mom.  She has always been a hard-worker, honest and generous to a fault.  She is the type of person that, given the opportunity, could have been anything she wanted. 

Instead, she had to start working very early, at the age of 7.  Yes, 7!!  She only went to third grade in school, but is smarter than most graduates that I know. It was a sad childhood.  A poor family, 14 kids, she was the baby.  Her father died when she was 4 years old.  She says that when he died she lost her protector.  She adored him. 

Eventually I will write more about her life.  This post is about her beautiful macramé towels. 

Mom will be 87 years old in a couple of months.  She has been always very active, working and doing her crafts.  She hasn’t done much lately because of her issues with her hip.  She has been in a lot pain, so she spends a lot time resting now. 

She has always done knitting and crocheting. At the age of 70 she took a few classes and started oil painting.  My walls are covered with her paintings. I am not sure if I have posted them here before, but I will make sure to post them.

Then, she taught herself how to do macramé by reading some craft magazines.   Macramé is a craft that is done by knotting yarn, and other similar material.   It was a dying art that has become popular again.  It requires patience, precision and persistence.

It has taken her weeks to remind herself how to do the macramé knots for little girls, but she did it!  I admire her constant wanting to learn, relearning and challenging herself. Be it a new recipe, a new macramé knot, or a new painting.  

Below are some of the towels that she has made in the past for my sister and I.  She has made dozens more as gifts to friends.  She also has taught a few people how to do it.  Not everyone that she tried to teach was able to learn, but a couple are doing it well.

My mom’s life now is very different from her childhood.  My parents are spoiled by my siblings and I.  We try to make them happy, inasmuch as we can do that.

“Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age.” ― Aristotle

“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it. ”  ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” ― Émile Zola

“According to this law [the law of Dharma], you have a unique talent and a unique way of expressing it. There is something that you can do better than anyone else in the whole world–and for every unique talent and unique expression of that talent, there are also unique needs. When these needs are matched with the creative expression of your talent, that is the spark that creates affluence. Expressing your talents to fulfill needs creates unlimited wealth and abundance.” ― Deepak Chopra

 

 

 

 

A face only a mother can love :-)

23 Thursday Dec 2021

Posted by in Daily Life, Finding Me, Mosaic and other crafts

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“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” ― Winston S. Churchill

I am in love with my mosaics even when they fail.  What is failure anyway?  The beauty of the creative arts, is that there is no right or wrong.  It is all subjective.

That is why I love mosaics: for its imperfections.  I look at this one and I see where I can do things better, different, but still I appreciate the time, effort and creativity I put into it.

This new piece taught me a lot.  It showed me that I need to learn certain techniques and how to use certain materials. Such as how to draw faces and how to use resin.

I am learning to love the creative process.  I am still in awe that I can be creative.  I still continue to try to rush, but I am slowly learning how to love the moment and not only to aim for the results.  

Here I present to you what was supposed to be an Indian with war paint on his face and a colorful headdress on his head.  The result looks more like a lion or a cat burglar.   Still, it is my creation and I love it, flaws and all!

“A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions–as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young

“I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.” ― J.G. Ballard

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” ― Robert F. Kennedy

 

“Do not let arrogance go to your head and despair to your heart; do not let compliments go to your head and criticisms to your heart; do not let success go to your head and failure to your heart.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

 

 

A Colorful Change in Plans

30 Saturday Oct 2021

Posted by in Daily Life, Mosaic and other crafts

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“If you dare nothing,
then when the day is over,
nothing is all you will have gained.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

As I was choosing materials for a new mosaic project I am starting, I grouped the glass tiles by color.  I loved the way they looked and decided to do a piece just like that.  

I call it “A Colorful Detour”. 

This is huge step forward for me.  To stop doing something I had planned to go do something totally different and unplanned is new and exciting.

Having ideas and being creative is not natural to me.  Going off course feels wrong to me, and yet this piece feels so right.

This to me represents being okay with doing something unplanned, just because; in art, as well as life.

My message to you is: It is okay to change directions in the middle of the journey.  It is okay to go off the script.  Change things up, do things different.  Don’t be so planned, so expected.  Routine is the enemy of creativity and growth. 

One of the joys of getting more involved with mosaics is finding out that I am creative, that I have this whole side to explore.  It doesn’t have to be perfect or make sense to anyone.

All my projects talk to me.  They all say: “You go girl, you can do it!”

“Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, with Annotations – 1841-1844

“Trust your heart if the seas catch fire, live by love though the stars walk backward.” ― E.E. Cummings

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“Don’t be very frightened, Marilla. I was walking the ridge-pole and I fell off. I suspect I have sprained my ankle. But, Marilla, I might have broken my neck. Let us look on the bright side of things.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

“Love is like a wind stirring the grass beneath trees on a black night,’ he had said. ‘You must not try to make love definite. It is the divine accident of life. If you try to be definite and sure about it and to live beneath the trees, where soft night winds blow, the long hot day of disappointment comes swiftly and the gritty dust from passing wagons gathers upon lips inflamed and made tender by kisses.” ― Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio

Introducing Miss Lucky Ladybug

15 Friday Oct 2021

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“I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it”― Thomas Jefferson

She is not perfect, but she knows it and she is proud of her uniqueness.  She is larger than life, in her mind and size. If you look at her and make a wish, it will come true!

“When ill luck begins, it does not come in sprinkles, but in showers.”― Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson

 

“Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” ― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” ― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.”― Dalai Lama XIV

Coffee and friends: the perfect blend

30 Thursday Sep 2021

Posted by in Daily Life, Daily Message, Finding Me, Mosaic and other crafts, Poetry

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“Either way, he figured a cup of coffee would hit the spot. For what is more versatile? As at home in tin as it is in Limoges, coffee can energize the industrious at dawn, calm the reflective at noon, or raise the spirits of the beleagured in the middle of the night.” ― Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow

Again I am struggling to finish posts.  Blame it on lack of time and lack of focus.  Ideas come and go, and they fail to land on a page and be posted. 

I am trying to be better and do better.   

In the meantime my mosaics keep going.  Here is another one.  Now that I posted the pictures, I can see a lot of issues with the final product.  Such as, there are some areas where I need to clean some more of the grout off.  But if I am going to wait to do that first to post, this would be another post that wouldn’t see the light of the day.

Also, that is the beauty of mosaics, it is never perfect 🙂

“I’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

“We want to do a lot of stuff; we’re not in great shape. We didn’t get a good night’s sleep. We’re a little depressed. Coffee solves all these problems in one delightful little cup.”- Seinfeld

“What the hell makes you smart?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t go for coffee with you.”
“Listen – I wouldn’t ask you.”
“That,” she replied, “is what makes you stupid.”
― Erich Segal, Love Story

“Coffee and chocolate—the inventor of mocha should be sainted.”
― Cherise Sinclair, Hour of the Lion

“Coffee is a lot more than just a drink; it’s something happening. Not as in hip, but like an event, a place to be, but not like a location, but like somewhere within yourself. It gives you time, but not actual hours or minutes, but a chance to be, like be yourself, and have a second cup” ― Gertrude Stein, Selected Writings

“Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.”-Anne Morrow Lindberg

And here is a sneak peak at the start of a ladybug, inspired by Monica at https://brilliantviewpoint.com/2021/09/03/ladybug-more-luck/

 

Art redone: From oil painting to mosaic in glass

19 Sunday Sep 2021

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“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” ― Albert Einstein

Here is another piece I just finished. I like to use old paintings that I find in stores or tag sales.  It serves two purposes: First, it already has a frame, often it is antique and beautiful.  Second, it gives me a starting point, an inspiration, even though the end result is, oftentimes, much different, as you can see below:

Doing mosaic art is my happy place, and I I love discovering that I do have some creative bone in my body.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…” ― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!