VOTE in our Summer Challenge

This is the mosaic I made for the Piecemakers Mosaic Artist's Summer Challenge contest. I hope you will vote for me. I call it "Back to the Beach". . Below are a few Works in Progress pictures I took. The pottery I used in this piece are shards I received from Janet at http://www.jansonpottery.etsy.com/. The colors were so beautiful that I just had to put them in this piece. They remind me of the ocean with all the colors of blues and greens, so I added some shells, a sandollar, and even a rock to give it some depth. There are lots of bits and pieces hidden away in this mosaic like little treasures you might find on a beach. For instance the oval shaped blue object just above the brown dish tiles is actually a piece of turqoise embedded in silver that my dad made. I also have beach pottery from Australia, beads from a necklace, shells, a sand dollar, rocks, a glass fish, and some circle-shaped beads that look like abalone shell.

Here are some works in progress pictures so you can sort of see how I go about making my mosaics. I lay all the tile pieces out on the floor to get a feel for the design and the colors, then I start adding jewelry, gems, odds and ends until I'm satisfied with the overall feel. Next, I start to play with it on the wood base to see how it all fits. Now it's time to adhere it to the wood and grout. As you can see, I change it up a bit as I glue down as sometimes it shifts and creates an area I need to fill with something, or maybe I just change my mind.

You can vote on our team blog at http://www.piecemakersmosaics.blogspot.com/ .

You can see this and more of my creations at my shop on Etsy at http://www.memoriesinmosaics.etsy.com/ .