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!

Back In The Drawing Saddle.

Okay, this is nowhere near finished, still a lot of shading to do and since I am doing most of it in pen I am being very careful, and have called it quits for the night.
I haven't tried anything remotely like this for about 20 years and it's thanks to, Mark Crilley's ,wonderful tutorial on, how to draw a wolf, that has help me get into back into the mechanics of drawing.

In the next few weeks I am hoping to start a drawing course with, Bruce Long, at The Studio Of Mosaic Art but I wanted to see if this was still something that grabbed me and that I could actually do.
One of the things I am looking forward to learn is angle and perspective, something I have always struggled with in art.
I am also looking forward to trying more of Mark's tutorials, now that I have gotten back on the bike, so to speak.
I think my wolf looks okay, kind of wistful and happy. Possibly he is on drugs. >.<  Lets hope he improve as I finish off the project.

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.

The Veiled Garden

It is hot. It is stinking hot! Five days now of extreme heat, crippling heat. Adelaide was named on of the hottest cities in the world. We have had about a week of 40c and above and it's not been a pleasant time at all!
One of the hardest things is keeping the garden from literally cooking. Winnie and I went around last week covering everything we could with some form of shade. So now our garden looks like this.

Thankfully it's worked too and with nightly watering the garden is holding in there.
One of my main concerns were the blackberries, they were just coming on to getting ripe and I didn't want all that lovely fruit to fry to nothing.  Some of it still shows signs of withering but they are not the dessicated husks that would have been left if we didn't cover them.

Working!

Well after over a year of being unemployed I am finally back working. I am now a catalog deliverer.
I started on the 22nd of Nov. and so far it's been okay. Quite time consuming where bundling up the catalogs are concerned but I am loving the walking and the area I have is really nice. Winnie is a big help and has come out with me every time so far.
It's nice not to have to worry about the times when our business is slow and it will be good to be able to get things for my garden when I need them.
I am already feeling fitter and it's not as exhausting as I thought it would be, so bonuses all round.

Fruit Thief!

We could not figure out why we weren't getting any strawberries for the last week or so. Turns out we have a thief!
I was hanging out the washing the other day and saw a rat running along the railing of the fence that runs along the back of  the bed.
Rotten little blighter is not going to win. His execution is being planed!