Something else I love as much as mosaics.

Pandas! I love this video so forgive the non-mosaic post today. Clearly I'm not very busy making my own artwork, but that's no reason to not share other peoples brilliance.

My favorite subway mosaics of New York City

For all the drudgery that getting around New York City can be, one of the best perks is the wonderful mosaics so many of the subway stations are decorated with. So many stations can be stinky dirty caverns you simply cover you nose, keep your eyes down, and rush to the closest exit. When I have business that takes me off my usual route, sometimes I get lucky and pass through a station that's been gifted with mosaics. It's been a simmering idea of mine to take photographs of some of my favorite works. Since my camera isn't yet up to the task, I've decided to post other people's pictures. Some of these are stations I've never seen before, but the mosaics give an excellent incentive to find something in this neighborhood to visit. For somewhat obvious reasons, my favorite station is the F train stop on Delancey St. Basically take my rainbow trout mosaic (listed below) magnify it, multiply by 1000 and throw in some cherries, and you have an idea of this glittering display. I never mind train delays when I'm stuck here. So enjoy these links and photos, I'll keep adding to it as I gather more pictures.

http://nycsubway.org/perl/artwork (almost all the stations of NY photographed here!)

http://mingfay.com/

http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/

Vermilion Flycatcher

Another little friend from Central/South America, the Vermilion Flycatcher. This little piece is only 7 x 7 inches. The challenge of this project is actually what ostensibly should have made it easy: it's only two colors. It was a challenge to give this little guy dimension while being true to his color scheme. Hopefully I pulled it off. This is why I don't do panda mosaics.

UPDATE---Mosaic Class, Saturday October 6th

The August class was rescheduled for October. You have another chance to sign up and get mosaicing!

I am very excited to inform you of a mosaic workshop I will be teaching at EtsyLabs in downtown Brooklyn on October 6th. Take a look at the link below and if you've ever thought about getting crafty, sign yourself up and spend the day with me making art. Etsy has a great space so this should be fun afternoon. It would be great to see a familiar face in the class, so I highly encourage all of you to enlist!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6534101


Cut and paste version:

Date: Saturday, October 6th, 2007
Time: 12pm-4pm
Location: Etsy Labs, 325 Gold Street 6th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

Email me if you have any questions. Hope to see you there!

Lady Gouldian Finches

Another one signed off on. These lovely little birds come from Australia. I can not find any mosaic versions of these creatures, which surprises me as I think they are so perfect for this medium! I'm going to work on improving the photography but I love getting these posted the second they are done!

Mosaic supplies for sale

these are some things I'm looking to get rid of. I'm either done with the project or I'm just never going to use it. Please email me if you are interested in any of this. River stones, pebbles, glass marbles, alabaster chips, sea glass. Don't leave a comment as I can't reply via email!

Koi Fish

Update to the update: Well, what do you know, I finally came through with all this talk of eventually getting better pictures. Of course, it helps that the owner of this piece is the wonderful Jennifer (Pienkoski) Goldstein, a gifted photographer and artist herself. This piece is the one that brings the most people to this blog (Hi! Stick around for the birds, they're nice too!). Even though it seems most searches are looking for live koi's, I think Jen can attest that these fishies are pretty low maintenance but just as zen like to have around. If your landlord would disapprove of you digging a koi pond in your third floor walk up, mosaic fish are the way to go.

At long last, a new one. A pair of lovely Japanese Koi fish. The pictures needs edited a bit but I wanted to post this asap! Enjoy. UPDATE: This piece has been sold and is now in a Los Angeles collection

Work in Progress!

Stay tuned for mosaics in the works! I'm working on a new one now and it's coming along very quickly. Hopefully it's finished in a few more days so check back for updates!

This is a mosaic of a Resplendent Quetzal bird (thanks RK for that detail). I found it in a book of Birds of the World and it turns out this an extremely rare South American bird. Now I know.

Rainbow trout

So this is my latest and greatest triumph! It is difficult to photograph as the surface is so sparkly, thus the double photo. It took over a year to complete but it's the one piece that really taught me some technique and I got into some different materials. The surrounding water material is all stained glass rather than the italian glass tile the fish is composed of. I also gilded the edge, not as easy as it looked so I learned! I am happy to be done with it and yet anxious to start another one!

Black Peacock

This is dark sibling to the blue peacock, so officially it's my second complete mosaic! The feathers were made from the same mold but I went with a darker scheme according to the tones of the glazes, I think this one turned out more jewel like. People tend to like this one better although I consider the tiles in the blue one to be superior quality.

Peacocks!

This was the first mosaic I completed. The bird sections are hand made ceramic tiles, the tail feathers were formed in a mold I made. The surrounding pieces are blue river stones.Updated image now! I finally photographed it almost properly