Category Archives: Mosaic and other crafts

“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

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

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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

Posted by in Daily Life, Mosaic and other crafts

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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!

Practicing

15 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by in Daily Life, Mosaic and other crafts

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“Tomorrow’s victory is today’s practice.”
― Chris Bradford, The Way of the Warrior

It looks better in person.  Believe me! I always say that, but it is true.  Anyway, how can I find any of my mosaic babies ugly?

I am blaming my phone.  I may invest on a camera to just take pictures of my work. I feel that the colors aren’t true in the pictures.

It is a purple plate that was begging to become something else.  Now it is something else. 

 

 

“I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God. Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.” ― Martha Graham

The fallen flower

23 Friday Jul 2021

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

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“If we demand perfection from ourselves we are not living in the real world…The inherent problem in the relationship between the ideal & the real is that the ideal judges the real as unacceptable and brings down condemnation and wrath on the real. This sets up an adversarial relationship between the two and like all adversaries, they move further and further apart.” ― Henry Cloud, Changes That Heal: The Four Shifts That Make Everything Better…And That Anyone Can Do

I just finished this piece and it makes me so happy to look at it.

The idea started with some flowers I found at the studio from some other project.  I used a store-bought ready to hang frame.  

I cut an old blue mug in half for the vase. I am choosing to leave it as, with the nicks in it. I added the flowers, then the white tiles for the background.  Then different green glasses and mirrors for the additional leaves.

I was going to use green grout, but it didn’t feel perfect. In the end, I put gray grout on top of the green.  It is hard to tell in the pictures but there are hints of green in the final product and it gives the idea of old and used.  Exactly what I wanted.

I chose to leave the frame in the natural wood, instead of painting it white or some other color.

“Take these broken wings and learn to fly.” ― Paul McCartney, Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics, 1965-1999

“Doctoring her seemed to her as absurd as putting together the pieces of a broken vase. Her heart was broken. Why would they try to cure her with pills and powders?”― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

“The storm is out there and every one of us must eventually face the storm. When the storm comes, pray that it will shake you to your roots and break you wide-open. Being broken open by the storm is your only hope. When you are broken open you get to discover for the first time what is inside you. Some people never get to see what is inside them; what beauty, what strength, what truth and love. They were never broken open by the storm. So, don’t run from your pain — run into your pain. Let life’s storm shatter you.” ― Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life

Somewhat like a flower

21 Wednesday Jul 2021

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

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“Tired, tired with nothing, tired with everything, tired with the world’s weight he had never chosen to bear.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned

Hello, I hope everyone has been well. There is a lot going on here, and at the same time, nothing.  If that makes any sense at all.

I canceled two dates.  The two men were both annoying me for different reasons so I decided not to meet them.  I have been on this canceling phase for some reason. It will pass. 

I am meeting my friend Anthony tonight.  I miss him and our conversations, so I am looking forward to it.  He nourishes me spiritually.  Thanks heavens for the friends that brighten our lives.

“Feelings are for the soul what food is for the body.” ― Rudolf Steiner, How to Know Higher Worlds: A Modern Path of Initiation

I have finished two mosaics pieces.  One is below, and and the other will be on the next post.

I think I am the lazy mosaic maker.  I often start with a canvas with already a design there and frame, and go from there.  I have been told canvas don’t work  for mosaics but it has been working for me.  

I have been trying different materials and techniques.  I see growth and it feels great.

It looks better in person, I promise 🙂 The colors don’t look quite right in the pictures.

“That which causes us trials shall yield us triumph: and that which make our hearts ache shall fill us with gladness. The only true happiness is to learn, to advance, and to improve: which could not happen unless we had commenced with error, ignorance, and imperfection. We must pass through the darkness, to reach the light.” ― Albert Pike