This is my first completed mosaic of 2016.
Last year I had in my mind that I wanted to mosaic a female silhouette with long flowing hair – very 60s and psychedelic. When I was at South Bank Mosaics last October for the BAMM Conference, I saw a beautiful mosaic on the wall that had a silhouette with birds flying from it that made the main mosaic. I asked David Toothill (Artistic Director of South Bank Mosaics and Chair of BAMM) if I could use the silhouette image in my own mosaic, and he kindly agreed.
She was going to be made in very muted colours using ceramic flat tiles. As I worked on her at Kitty’s weekly sessions, she became affectionately known as Abigail (from Abigail’s Party). As usual, I couldn’t resist using more colour than I originally planned and the flashes of gold and bronze were added. I then went to see Donovan in concert and promptly renamed her Jennifer Juniper. However, oldies like me will remember the lyrics to that song ‘lilacs in her hair…..hair of golden flax’ she was such a gentle soul that didn’t fit the ‘wild child’ that the mosaic was turning into. Once the piercing black eyes and the red lip slash were added, she became much more menacing – the type of women that would play a nasty trick on her husband ‘she wants to test her husband, she knew exactly what to do’ (from Lyrics by Kate Bush) so I then realised that she was a perfect BABOUSHKA!
I may still make a Jennifer Juniper. Sadly, I am now also thinking I may need to make another one and call her ‘Jean Genie’ in tribute to the great man, as that is one of my all time favourite songs.
LONDON ACTIVITIES
A great start to the year with an exhibition by the brilliant and mind-bending MC Escher at The Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Lumiere London this weekend – the UK’s largest light festival with spectacular art works, interactive installations and 3D projections.
Following the recent ‘
I then went self employed so the room became my home office. When I started mosaicing as a hobby I had a small mosaic shelf in the ‘office’ and harmony was restored. As mosaics took over, so did the mosaic shelves! Eventually I ‘retired’ from professional work and that was when mosaics became my main pastime. The room is now a dedicated studio although there is an small area for my laptop and admin.
At the moment I am negotiating a commission with a client so am ‘between mosaics’ if you like, so this gives me time to play with my fun piece. It is a large slab of stone, 2 foot high traingular shape. I am calling it my ‘Totem Pole’ and it will sit in the middle of a flower bed in my back garden. I want it to be very vibrant and eye catching, so I intend to use a lot of glass in it as well as the mosaic tesserae. I have started at the top with a ‘sun’ and rays flowing down. Not sure what the next section will be but I will keep you posted. I know it will take a long time but there is no rush and that’s what is nice about having a fun piece, I may just spend the odd half hour on it as and when.
Rosanna's Mosaics and Glass 