The Mosaic Show

Mosaics are fascinating, and new, and strange. Unlike most art forms, there are different "compositions" for each mosaic: 1) What one sees on the surface if place upon a white background. 2) What one sees when it hangs in the window with light reflecting through the glass.  3) For mosaics with black grout, what one sees when the mosaic is hanging in a dark window at night. For instance, the moon on the mosaic below is grouted with white and the remainder of the composition is grouted in black. This is the "surface" photo. The mosaic is laying on a white floor. You can see the white moon, the purple frame, and a little of the colored glass pieces.

The photograph below is the same mosaic in a window with light showing through. The white grout of the moon shows gray, but the glass pieces are vibrant with the black outlines reminiscent of stained glass windows. The frame virtually disappears to black in the brightness, however, most of my frames I painted to match the glass colors when light is showing through so the purple of the tree is the same color as the frame.

Here is the same mosaic hanging in a dark window although the flash of my camera did brighten it up a bit. As you can see, the purple frame is dominant and if it wasn't for the white-grouted, but clear moon, the composition practically disappears! So weird.

Everything I read says black grout is the way to go as it serves as outlines although some prefer gray and even other artists prefer colors like rust or dark purple. They say white grout tends to be too bright and stark, but given these various lighting examples, I prefer it. It shows dark gray with light reflecting from behind and maintains the composition at night. I'm not sure I like a window decoration to black out at night.

Black grout is also scary when one has white tile floors! Grouting is messy. It's like slinging mud all over and I'm doing it in my kitchen. In the middle of grouting the above mosaic which was my first black grout experiment, I realized if I dropped just one little piece of grout on the floor it might stain the floor! Eeeww...I'm growing more fond of white grout every day, although I am still experimenting with various colors.

My Very First Online Mosaic Show

All mosaics are photographed with a white background which allow one to see the frame color, grout color, and basic glass shapes and for some I included the view through light.

"Sunflower"

"Daffodils"

"The Fall"

"Mt. Rainier"

"America"

"Blue Rose Window"

"Medicine Wheel"

"Heart-Broken"

"Love Grows"

"Dandelions and Dragonfly"

"I'd Rather Be Dead than Decaffeinated, or
Caffeine-Induced Depression"
Because this is abstract and the frame
is unusually thick and wide,
I decided to decorate the sides:

...with coffee cups.

"Paradise" (or "My Garden")
If you are wondering why it has four hangers
I couldn't decide how I wanted to hang it, horizontal or
vertical. I couldn't put only two hangers so I just added
one to each side. (Think of them as vines or stems....)

"The Final Frontier"

I have one more to finish, but it's a big one, and many more ideas and plans! So fun.