In my garden

With all the heavy rain we've been getting, I've been itching to get back into my garden. New plants have sprung up everywhere, with many others flowering... enticing me with their multi-colour perfumed displays!

The rain also brought a heap of frogs with it, and the sounds of their croaking filled the air. It's a sound I find rather comforting because I know if there are frogs around, it means that my tiny part of the world is ecologically healthy.

While mosaicing away in my studio this morning, I decided to investigate a louder than usual frog whose echoing calls seemed very close. I found the little green tree frog pictured here, trapped in an urn on my balcony and then 'rescued' it so that it wouldn't drown in the next downpour which would most likely have filled the urn. Frogs can drown if the water is too deep and there is nothing for them to use to climb out. If you have a frog pond, you should include things such as rocks and pebbles or even a fallen log for your little green friends to disembark

Free, at last!

I love frogs, and seeing that they're one of the most vulnerable species here, I looked up information about local frogs and decided to build a frog pond where the water always sits in my yard. Now that it's built, I just have to add a few more water plants and wait for the frogs to come.

Ribbit!

The next downpour brought more of those ugly poisonous cane toads than I've ever seen in my life. I really wish they would go back to where they came from! I also saw a wallaby (a small kangaroo species, in case you're not familiar with them) grazing in my front yard... so far not the 'hoppers' I am trying to attract to the pond, however the wallaby was also a very welcome visitor. To help discourage those vile toads, you can use plantings of tall water grasses and other dense plantings which provide cool damp places for your welcome visitors to hide, but are too tall for Mr Toad to jump over.

After breaking the window pane which was originally destined to be the base for a wall fountain, I was left wondering what to do with the window frame. With a quick sand down, and a couple of coats of paint, it has found a temporary home in the garden until I decide what to do with it. I wasn't too sure about it, but I have seen three leprechauns hanging around it ever since!

The McShortee brothers, Seamus, Eoin and Oisin (pronunced Shay-mus, O-in and Uh-sheen).

 Well, it's that time of year again! ...so here's wishing you all peace and happiness, and a very Merry Christmas.

In the Workshop

I haven't posted for a while, as I've been busy on my art projects, some of which Santa wants completed before Christmas... and who am I to disappoint him. Santa is very secretive, and has asked me not to post pics or other details of these projects just yet, as he wants them to be a surprise.

Mosaic fountain being constructed in my studio.

The 'new' fountain glass substrate is finished and is much closer to my original drawing, without the constraints of the square window frame. I've added the faces, and am now working on the background. IMO it's turning out to be a very interesting mosaic.

Cracked

Wednesday afternoon I cleaned and began to prepare the large window pane I was going to use as the substrate (backing) for the glass wall fountain. As I carefully scraped off the silicone sealant at the bottom of the window, I found a crack which was beginning to run upward and thus made the glass unusable as I had planned.

I had been wondering how I could curve the top of the mosaic, to echo the round 'faces' I had planned... the difficulty being that the window frame was square. So perhaps this was the universe answering me, as I quickly came up with a solution... 3 smaller panels, which I have now cut to shape. This will also allow more flexibility when positioning the finished fountain in my rocky hillside garden.

Lotus mosaic vase

I've just finished sketching plans before changing my studio layout to give it a better work flow. Drawing a plan could potentially save a lot of time, as it helps determine whether or not the layout will work, before I move anything. I also drew plans to build new shelves after finishing gluing the final pieces on 'Lotus Vase' recycled glass mosaic which I'll post pics of after it is grouted.

If you've enjoyed reading any of my blog, please consider following it. I also welcome all kinds of feedback.

Colour

Choosing the colours for your #mosaic is not always as straight forward as it seems, and even the geographic location should be considered due to subtle variation in the colour of natural light in various climatic zones. The colour of grout is also an important choice, as it can fragment, blend or enhance the final appearance of a mosaic.

Much of my early #mosaic work has been abstract, which works well with bright or contrasting colours and doesn't require as much thought of colour choice as when trying to make something appear lifelike. With these projects I allowed the materials I had on hand to dictate the design and flow, such as in the 'Flow Dreaming' mosaic box pictured in the October 31, 2010 post on this blog.

Vitreous glass on stained & lacquered wooden tray.

My first pictorial mosaic (pictured above) almost four years ago, began with an attempt to use realistic colours, but was also limited to the available palette of the materials I had at hand, and thus it ended up a mishmash of colour. I don't consider that mosaic a failure, as it taught me some valuable lessons. It was part of the beginning of my creative journey, which will no doubt continue to grow and evolve.

Since then I've moved on from designs found in books, and have begun developing my own style. Time to cut some more materials for the fountain...

The beginning of my current project;
a large wall fountain mosaic.

Grouting

Today I grouted my outdoor work desk. I use this desk when I am cutting messy materials such as glass and ceramic, as it's so much easier to clean up afterward. I also use it for gluing mosaics, which requires plenty of ventilation... no shortage of that out here! I love working here as it has a great view, and my feathered friends can drop in whenever they feel like it, which seems to be quite often.

This Laughing Kookaburra is looking for home decorating
tips for the nest she built behind my house.

My grouting area is under the house where it's shady and cool. It is important to ensure your grout doesn't dry out too quickly, to prevent cracks in the dried grout. I like to cover the wet grout with plastic, and in hotter weather also spray it with water.

Grouting is one of my favourite parts of making mosaics. I feel like I'm unearthing buried treasure as the mosaic reveals its new look when I clean off the excess grout. So, now I just have to wait 2 days or so until I can use the new table top.

I finished off the afternoon, taking advantage of the cool weather to do some garden chores and dug up a few grubs to feed the kookaburras which flew down to join me almost as soon as I unearthed the grubs.

Yoga and pancakes

I always feel invigorated after yoga, and it has, along with meditation become an essential part of my daily life.

So, with my soul fed, I need to feed my body. I always try to choose healthy foods but on Sundays I often prepare a special treat for breakfast... such as banana pancakes. I almost always use fresh home grown herbs in my cooking, and my choice of topping for pancakes varies between home made apple and cinnamon sauce, maple syrup, or strawberry jam. That may not sound quite so healthy, but it's an occasional treat only which I think I deserve.

My pot of French Tarragon - great with fish, perfect with chicken!

Inspiring views

The inspiring views from my balcony are one of the things that quickly endeared me to my little house on the hillside. So it's no wonder I can't wait to start each day there. Tasty breakfasts on the balcony often follow my morning yoga sessions. And when the weather is good, I spend most of my creative time on the balcony where I am surrounded by nature.

Today I chose to be creative... again.

Dawn view of 'Straddie' about 10 minutes before sunrise.

I love thunderstorms!

There's nothing like a good thunderstorm to freshen the air... last night's storm was a real ripper, and great weather for catching up on reading the pile of books I recently borrowed from the local library.

As I sat down, thunder shook the whole house. The delay between the flash and deafening rumble was almost imperceptible, so no doubt the lighting strike was very close by.

Then down came the rain... in buckets! I don't have a water tank here, so I always take advantage of the rain to fill whatever I can for later use on my veggie and herb gardens, which is a good thing because we've been on water restrictions for ages. Another good thing about the rain is that the frogs in my garden love it too.

Temporary frog pond made from recycled wok.

So anyway, I was out on the balcony putting out several buckets, which all filled within 2 minutes. All of a sudden there was a another blinding flash, immediately followed by an ear-splitting thunderclap... I almost jumped out of my skin!

Well that was good enough reason to have a drink. Well, that's my excuse and I'll stick to it... I rarely drink, so it's no biggie. I settled again into my favourite seat, with a glass of merlot in hand. The storm raged for what seemed like 2 hours, it poured rain for over 6 hours, and I enjoyed a relaxing evening of reading.

This morning when I woke, the rain clouds were rolling in low across Straddie, although they didn't quite make it back over here.

Om!

Sunrise over "Straddie" (North Stradbroke Island), viewed from my balcony.

It's set to be another very busy day, but it's off to a beautiful start. The sun is rising and will warm my yoga spot on the balcony. I am so thankful for being introduced to Qi yoga... it's a dynamic, flowing style of yoga that really gets my day off to a good start.

Here are close-ups of the two mosaics I made for this yoga & meditation space.

"Naquada"
- recycled coloured glass on clear
glass tea light candle holder.

"Om"
- hand painted glass, vitreous glass
and  ceramic on craft wood substrate.

Crazy days!

First it was the crazy weather. I had packed away everything that could've blown away or gotten damaged, so I got out of it without losing too much apart from 2 trees, a potted plant and a ceramic pot... and a lot of flooding at the bottom of the 'mountain', as seen in the pic below.

Any more of this weather and I'll be trading the car in for a boat!

Then it was all the craziness with web hosting. I've employed a professional web designer to get my website back online, so it's currently undergoing a major rebuild since its last incarnation... there's not much to do now except fix a few script bugs and add more content, including pics of my artwork which is the main reason for the website. I'll post a link on here when that's done.

A sign of things to come...

It's break time, then back into some mosaic work if I remember how...

Birdbath mosaic during construction (detail).

I'm in a creative flow... it's a choice!

Hey, hey, it's a beautiful day!

I was woken shortly before 6.30 this morning by the sun shining through my bedroom window. It was such a welcome sight after all the rain.

The weather bureau has cancelled the severe weather warning, however more rain is on the way. I'm looking forward to being able to set up my work area out on the balcony again, as it's my favourite work location with inspiring views over the water to North Stradbroke Island.

"Fallen from HEAVEN" mosaic, which overlooks my outdoor work area.

The above mosaic wall plaque was inspired by the many green tree frogs which ventured onto my balcony from a nearby tree. They often appeared unexpectedly, as if they had fallen from the sky. The tree itself was very sick when I first moved in, but made a speedy recovery after I removed the grubs around the trunk and roots before pruning and feeding it.

Batten down the hatches!

Wow, that phrase brings back some memories from my seafaring days! I've never actually seen any hatches battened down... that practice was replaced by 'modern' technology, but I do recall running wires from winches to hatches on an old rust bucket of a ship that has long gone to the great shipyard in the sky. And if I never see another derrick again, it will be too soon!

What a wet and wild few days we've had here with rain and gale force winds, and there's more rain on the way!

Yes, that's right... more! The weather bureau says more rain and damaging winds are on the way.

Although the winds failed to worsen as forecast for yesterday, unfortunately two trees had their trunks snapped near the base. The smaller of the trees blew off somewhere into the neighbouring bushland, possibly never to be seen by human eyes again. One of my potted trees was uprooted, and another stripped of all leaves, and a smallish ceramic planter pot blew off my balcony work table before the 'bad' weather even hit.

The weather bureau issued another severe weather warning this morning...

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
SEVERE WEATHER WARNING
Dangerous Beach and Surf Conditions
For people in the Southeast Coast district.

Issued at 4:25 am on Tuesday 12 October 2010

Synoptic Situation:
An intense high over the southern Tasman Sea is weakening with easing winds and
deceasing precipitation on the SE coast.

Should we be worried about the 'deceasing' precipitation? It sounds like some nasty rain is on the way! Sounds just like the weather though, it's so out of kilter that even when it's easing, it's a killer.

Now for the clean-up. Any volunteers?

What do you get when you recycle some discarded items, and add water? A water feature, of course!

This project began with my first attempt at building a garden fountain to add some movement to what was a barren garden when I moved here a few months before. It received many positive comments, but to me as a new artist, it seemed like a failure, albeit one in which I could learn from the mistakes I had made. Using recycled bamboo, a discarded broken birdbath bowl, white pebbles and an assortment of recycled materials to create the structure, it didn't seem lacking in character and set the desired atmosphere in my garden... the tranquil sound of a gentle waterfall, as well as being an attraction for the local birdlife.

Recycled materials used for fountain include: bamboo, broken cement
bird bath, plastic tubing, plastic bags, reinforcing mesh.

The only problem was that the pump just wasn't up to the job it was designed for, even though it was operating way under its stated capacity. The pump was still under warranty, so I promptly returned it to the store and received a properly working replacement.

Newbie

This is my very first blog... so keep an eye out for updates and pictures of my current art projects.