Learning From Experience

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the 

utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and 

richer experience." 

— Eleanor Roosevelt

Today I had the privilege of re-visiting one of my first "professional" mosaic back splashes. My friend, Kelly and I designed, made and installed this about 8 years ago. It was a great experience, one that provided confidence and basic know-how for the next job. My friend who commissioned the mosaic has sold the house and when I photographed this today I thought I would be sad to possibly never see it again. In the making of it I did so much pondering and praying over its soon to be owners that once we installed it I was glad to move on and leave it in its permanent spot. My part alone was almost 200 hours. It is kind of like preparing for and having a baby, except that once it is "born" it is a static immovable work of art that won't grow or change. You notice all the possibilities of how it could have been improved or altered only after it is finally installed, and then like a child leaving the nest, you must set it free hoping you did everything in your power at the time to create a pleasing product.

Re-visiting it helped me to realize how much I have improved as an artist, and after inspecting it by taking some final pictures I am ready to let it go; for I have lived it, experienced it to the utmost, and now am ready to reach out eagerly and without fear for a newer and richer experience. This may all sound a bit melodramatic, unless you have experienced all that goes into an initial idea, lengthy design process, and production of a large project. It is love of a sort that I will definitely be spending time with again. 

Here is Mike & Suzanne's kitchen backsplash mosaic. The initial design was worked around three adored frog tiles that Suzanne brought back from a vacation. I made a template of the walls, laid the tiles in place and started drawing the tropical and beloved flowers and frogs around them. One of my favorite parts of the mosaic is the koi pond with Suzanne's Grandmother's plates (the orange and white dots). It was a labor of love, love of the craft, the subject matter, and the people to whom the house belongs.