Dogs Rule (sometimes)

The many faces of our Dining Room

In 2006 our dining room was builder's beige. Since then it has changed, many times...

May 2013

As you can see the white lovefest is still going strong.
Read more about The Queen of Hearts with The Mona Lisa Smile here.

Happy Father's Day Marathon Man!

 

Our Emma's grade 9 English assignment; to write about and discuss something that is very important to you, something that has helped to shape who you are - Emma chose running and soccer. She put this video together as part of it. It gets me every time:)
P.S. I won't tell you how many times I've played it.

Dolan Geiman

Why I can't get enough Pinterest - it's a great place to find and be inspired by so many wonderful artists from around the world. I came across Dolan Geiman the other day and followed the links back to his website. I admire his collage work. I can especially appreciate the painstaking hours that would go into his creations.

IKEA:)

Thank you Ikea for making your Ritva curtains extra long.

A Day North

William and Kate watching a Beaver swim by.

Best time to be at the cottage. Lovely weather, no bugs and good company:)

Mirror Mirror

This is The Tight Shag Mirror from my Shag Series. It's made with white, hand cut vitreous glass tiles, glass seed beads and chained crystal rhinestone. In 2011 I was commissioned to make two of them.
The other day I received pictures of where they ended up...

24.25"x40", weight 25lbs.
in a beautiful bathroom designed by BedfordBrooks Interior Design.

More dining room changes

This is William enjoying our new dining room rug.

And this is the wall William was looking at before he fell asleep. The Ledge was a quick (1 day for building, 1 day for painting) and easy (thanks to my mitre saw) project, via Ana White.

Making The Queen of Hearts

As I said in the last post The Queen of Hearts with the Mona Lisa Smile took 7 months to complete (working on and off in between various other projects). Although the process was long it was actually very simple. Here is a breakdown.
I began with a primed 4'X6' piece of plywood. It's sturdy which means no warping. From there I painted my layout/design (the plan). My colour scheme and the various elements used were all decided on before anything was laid down. Without an organized plan things can get out of control (ugly), real fast.

Then the fun began. I used the direct method which is laying tesserae right onto the surface.
The challenge, as always, was having all the elements work nicely together.

There was a lot of cutting, a lot of putting down and taking up and a lot more cutting.

 

As with most mosaics, the photos don't do it justice. At nighttime, with the light from the paper clip chandelier, she glitters on the wall.

The Queen of Hearts with The Mona Lisa Smile

 

Yesterday I finished The Queen of Hearts with The Mona Lisa Smile.
She is 4'X6', weighs just under 100lbs (give or take some) and is a nice example of Pique Assiette - made with white and grey vitreous glass tiles (hand cut into 1/6" tesserae), clear acrylic beads (of various shapes and sizes), crystal and grey glass seed beads, plumbing chain, washers, bolts, decorative trim, antique broaches and chained crystal rhinestone.
Our dining room/table has been my makeshift studio for the past 7 months. I'm very happy that The Queen of Hearts with The Mona Lisa Smile is finished and Marathon Man is very happy that we have The Sunday dinner table back:).
Now it's on to The Poppy Field.

Detail