2015 Ambitions.

2014 has not been a great year. It started well. I was back into mosaic art, started drawing again and made an attempt to get back into my writing. Then disaster stuck, when my step grandfather passed away suddenly in July, a couple of days before my birthday.

Things have pretty much ground to a halt for me since. Mosaics, art and writing have been non-existent. The renovations I wanted to start back up in spring never happened and emotionally I have been a bit of a mess. All I have to say is, thank goodness for family support, or I would not have coped at all.

I can't solely blame new family commitments on my lack of creativity either. This last year has seen me go through new stages of health changes, as I grow older, and my concentration seems to be going down the gurgler with it.

I am angry at myself for not spending more time on exercise and watching what I eat. I have gained weight, which has not helped my overall health either.

And to cap off a not stellar year, our rainwater tank sprung a leak. Good news,we think we have fixed it. Bad news, the rain pretty much stopped once we had.

We are surviving with just 7 rungs in the big tank now and have been getting just enough rain to keep us going. Shower rationing and not being able to do the washing at home is the pits, though. Thank goodness once again for family.

There is no veggie garden this year but the fruit is doing fine, despite the lack of water. In short, we are managing because there is not much more we can do.

So, 2015?

I have so much I want to do, but realistically I don't think I can manage them all. 

Renovations are at the top of the list. I have painting to do and floors to lay. Hall, office, lounge, bathroom, toilet and laundry. Blah!

I need to get back into mosaics, I have commitments there and have promised people my help and I have projects I want to compete.

Writing and drawing. God, I so want to get back to these, but I create on an emotional level and if I can't feel, then I can't create. Writing wise, what I used to do in a continual flow of words is now just a trickle and very disjointed at best.

One of the solutions I am thinking of is getting away from the internet, I really don't have the time and it does me no good emotionally and uses up most of my mental energy for nothing. The problem is, I don't want to loose contact with friends I have made over the years, so it might be a case of rationing and set times only. Which should also help stop my arse from spreading any more than it already has. I hope. :P

I would love to get to know a few people on a different level, start using Skype more. I am finding trying to communicate with writing and just a few lines here and there to be more and more frustrating.

Sims. Yes I play sims. I want to get this back on my computer and get back into world building, but in all honesty it wont be a priority, there are too many other things sucking time already. I did have the idea of getting back into sim story writing, to kick start my writing again, but after my game computer died and needed fixing, the appeal has left me. Maybe when I get a few more of my more practical goals cleared I can get back into it. Will just have to wait and see.

The garden. This is the one thing that is going okay at the moment. The front yard needs a good tidy up, but apart from that I have kept on top of things, with main thanks to Winnie and his garden maintenance, without him it would be a disaster.

The house. The house is clean! Got this done just before Christmas. This was getting a bid depressing. I hadn't done a proper clean in a while because of renovations but it should be easier to keep on top of now. 

Okay so the list is already long and that's not with all the other commitments that go along with life. I think if I apply myself and try and build some routines, it just might be doable. My main ambition this year is to at least get some of this done. I am not going to push too hard and over tax things. If I can make good headway into at least the renovations and health, I will be happy, the rest might just have to fall into place as they happen.

Finally Finished The Fish

It took a long time but it's finally done.
The black grout made all the difference to this piece, really made it pop.

Fishy!

Okay it's been a while since I started my glass mosaic class and we have been learning a lot.
I drew my fish design trying to keep things simple and fun and to degree it has been, but there have been challenges on the way too.
I had know clear picture in my head how I was going to tackle the original design, apart from that I wanted it to be colourful and fun, and not orange. Choosing the colours was more difficult than I thought, I wanted I wanted them different but to still compliment each other and bring life to the piece. I am happy with the results so far.
Here is how things have progressed.

I thought the smaller pieces would be the hardest, but it turned out to be the fins, because of the variation of color in them caused the glass to be more fragile.
Hopefully next week I will be filling the background and then it's just a matter of grouting!

Plinth Progress

I did promise myself that I would not start too many mosaic projects at once this time and try to keep things simple. So far so good. My plinths had gone on hold over Christmas and the last month because of the heat and time, but I am hoping to start up on them again in the coming weeks.
I did start on the filling work before the break, it's the most tedious part of the project but I am hoping it runs smooth and I will have them finished in good time.

Glass Mosaic

I started a glass mosaic course last night. I did one a few years back but never went on with it.
Glass is a beautiful medium to play with and can give some very stunning results.
I have been a good girl this time and am firstly, making something for myself and also, something fairly small.
Another first for me is working on the back of a large floor tile. This gives a very solid base to work on and very straight and accurate angles.
Last night was spent practicing cutting/breaking a lot of glass and getting a feel for it. Most importantly learning how to handle it safely.
I have gone with a fishy theme, always wanted to make fish mosaics. I came up with this little guy and am really pleased with the design I came up with.

 

Next week I will be choosing colors, cutting them out and starting to bet them glued.

An afternoon of mosaics

Spent the afternoon finishing off the bases and line work of my mosaics. All I have to do now is fill in all the white on the sides and I will be ready to grout.

Studio Of Mosaic Art

Thought I had better do a plug for this on my own Blog, seeing I am running this one as well.
I am doing a blog for my mosaics teacher Bruce Long. He is an extremely busy man and also is not really into computers, so I have put this together for him. There is not much there at the moment but I am hoping to bet more going soon. You can see more of my work under Artist and student work and also under events there is an article that I just did on the Dalek that Bruce and his team put together.
Hope you enjoy.

The Studio Of Mosaic Art

Latest Mosaics Project.

I have been working on this on and off for the last few months, as time allows.
I have had two old cement plinths in my garden for years. They come from the farm where I grew up and are possibly older than I am. On was broken in half, the other intact and I had plans to mosaic them for a long time now and finally I am getting them done.

I cleaned both of them up with the high pressure water sprayer we have and I glued together the broken one with tile glue.
These things were turned out from molds on mass and are about as square as a dogs hind leg, so I have had to fiddle around with the design quite a bit.
I wanted something that was art deco in look, using very few colours and a simple design. I sketched out some ideas but putting the design together has been a very organic proses. Basically I have been making it up as I went along. 
I used mainly floor tiles for this and they are an absolute pain to cut, so I have to thank Bruce, my teacher, for doing the cutting for me. Also Lynda for getting the idea juices flowing for the side designs.
Anyway this is where I am up to now.

 

I still have to place the side pattern on one and then finish the line work. The filling in will be done in the same white that I have at the top.

And the weather was....Sultry!

It has been a strange sort of evening here. The weather today was hot and humid and I slept through a lot of it. Tonight we had thick cloud and thunder, but unfortunately no rain, Winnie and I have had fun taking photos, though and I thought I would share.

First shot is a rather bad one of a flock of pink galahs across the road in the playground. I used my little compact camera and of cause scared them all off with the flash before I got a better shot.

I got Winnie to take a couple of me and the new table in action. Still have to paint the frame but it works exactly as intended. I thought I would show one of me in my natural habitat, too, face stuck in the kindle.

And to be fair, one of the ever cheerful Winnie. He does love a good storm.

Here also are some of the shots that Winnie got tonight, as the clouds built up.
Is it my imagination, or does this storm have balls?

The cow just because I really liked the picture and the background.

Back To Mosaics

It has been a number of years now since I did mosaics and I think the time and mood is right for me to get back into them.
I started a very simple project the end of last year and yesterday when in and grouted it and brought it home. You cant really see the colors in this shot, the green and red are quite bright.

It is nothing spectacular, just a very simple pattern using tiles that I had around the place. The table itself needs a good revamping, cleaning, painting. This will then sit on my front veranda and be my coffee table.
I am not sure what I will tackle next. I have a large concrete cylinder that has a cactus growing in it that really needs sprucing up. I also have a bird bath that is starting to look really tired and I think it would look good with mosaic.