First table“I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”― Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald

I have always loved mosaics.  I don’t know when or how this love started.  I just know that any time I see something made out of mosaics I am attracted to it.  I am hypnotized, mesmerized by it. I want to keep looking at it.

Ten years ago I bought a mosaic kit to make coasters and I used it to make the house number for the house I lived with the ex-boyfriend.  I Googled the address now and the number is still there hanging on the tree.  After that I made a couple of things here and there, pictures frames, and some other decorating items.

I want to to do more, to learn more.  There never seems to be the right time, or I don’t have the right tools, or the right place for me to work with mosaics. I thought about renting studio space to have a dedicated space to work, but balked at the idea of spending $800.00 or more per month.  It didn’t seem wise.

For 2020 I decided that I would pursue my passions in any way I could.  I count mosaic as one of my passions.  No more waiting for the right time or right circumstance.  The right moment is now.

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone”― Pablo Picasso

I went to Google as I have done in the past and searched for mosaic classes around me.  Funny thing is, this time a studio came up.   Even thought it has been there for 14 years it has never come up before, until now.

I went there and fell in love with the place and the owner.  I think that my affair with this studio will be a long one.  I picture myself doing mosaics non-stop, one project after another.  I am entertaining ideas of becoming a partner there in the future.  The owner has not been informed of my idea yet, but the Universe has.

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

I love the idea of getting different pieces together and creating a whole new object.  I love the idea of re-purposing broken items and creating things that are useful and/or pretty to look at.  I love that I can use any material.  I can use pebbles, wine corks, tiles, buttons, broken china, dollar store finds, anything.

The picture on the bottom is a table I did awhile back.    The picture at the top is a folding table I just finished.   I can see a lot imperfections on it but I decided to embrace them instead of redoing those areas. That is, after all, one of the reasons I love mosaics: the imperfections!

“Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.” ― Salvador Dali

We are all mosaics in a way. All imperfect and so perfect!  We are made up of parts from our parents and ancestors.  Then through lessons and experiences we are shaped. We have some parts that we think are good and some that we would love to change.

It is up to us how to better piece ourselves together.  The more imperfect, the more different, the older, the more uneven, the more colorful, the more battered by time and life,  the more used the better.  The best we can do is to accept it all.  

No matter how similar we are, even if we have an identical twin, such as in my case, we are all unique in some ways.  I don’t want to be cookie cutter anyway.

I love my mosaic qualities.  I love my shiny pieces (my victories).  I embrace my broken pieces (failures/lessons).  I accept the misshapen, the aged, the pieces that don’t quite go together.  I accept even though sometimes it is hard.  In the end it all fits and I shine.

“To banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality.” ― John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice

No matter how broken we are or we become we can always be put together again, restored.  Not in the same exact way, but often in a better, more beautiful way.

I now think back to 7 years ago when I had my beautiful whole intact heart shattered into a million pieces. It was carelessly handled by somebody that didn’t use the same care I had with his heart.

My heart will never be the same again.  Like a diamond my heart has been cut and polished by the pain of heartache.  The pieces of my heart are melded together into a whole new stronger, less naive, heart. A heart better able to love.  A heart that understands pain is a heart that is better able to love.

I am older, wiser, fractured, lighter, ready, able, imperfect, and still so amazing.  I am choosing to embrace and accept it all.

oh yeah, and I love mosaics!

“For my part, I prefer my heart to be broken. It is so lovely, dawn-kaleidoscopic within the crack.” ― D.H. Lawrence