For months now, mosaic genius, Norene Schmuck, has been working on a piece for our house.
In particular, an aspect of this house which I have never liked.
Funny how long you can live with something like that isn't it?
We have a loft above the living room which had this awful, rough railing made with OUTDOOR deck rails.
Here we are, 12 years after moving in, FINALLY taking it down!
YAY!!
We decided to put a big, wide bookcase up there in its place.
Eventually, I will get one of those light weight, bamboo ladders from Chinatown.
Even though we can access it from upstairs, I always wanted a library ladder and this is the next best thing.
Anyway, we were then faced with how to finish the rough, dark brown board below it...
Super Mosaic Artist to the rescue!!
I gave Norene a few ideas I had, and she set to the task...
Drawing, designing, dreaming of what could be...
Picking through her vast (and I mean VAST) collection of broken dishes...
Finding just the right colours, shapes and characters...
The mosaic would consist of arbutus trees, sky, hills and sea...
Little treasures can be found every time you take a look...
She even incorporated an old piece of china that I brought home from Ireland...
It's the blue 'moon' bits surrounding the raven...
After seeing what goes into doing this kind of art, I am a witness to the hard work and vision it takes to create these types of artwork...
Hours of cutting pieces, fitting them into place, gluing, grouting, wiping grout,
polishing, polishing and MORE polishing.
Finally on Sunday, she brought the 5 collective works over for installing...
More glue...
drilling...
screwing into place...
And then....
VOILA!
The picture really doesn't do it justice.
You should see how the light catches the pieces of china!
Here is the one on the far end, around the left corner...
A tree with the phases of the moon...
According to definitions of this type of mosaic art, "pique assiette", it means
'scrounger', 'sponger', 'gatecrasher or
'one who steals from dishes'.
To see more of the progress of this piece, and other incredible works by her, visit Norene's website/ blog
6 comments:
A fine addition to the house
love this. i have always wanted the library ladder as well. and the mosiacs!! to swooooon for.
have you read "broken for you"?
by the way, in my blog you were named #1 blogger if you are interested. come pick up your reward and my thank yous for having a place for me to come everytime i need to.
Absolutely gorgeous! What a stunning piece of artwork, and how wonderful that you get to enjoy it!
Oh my gosh this is beautiful! What a great idea. I love where they are and how you can see them so well.
The bookcase is wonderful. I want one too.... with the mosaic.
Could you send both the bookcase builder and the mosaic artist down here to California to do one for us between our livingroom and kitchen.I have just the right place.
I hope you find a bookcase ladder. You don't see them very often.
Loved all the photos. That bookcase really made a difference.
Wow! It's so beautiful! You must be thrilled every time you walk in the room!
What a transformation. I'm here from Sherry's blog and pleased to meet you. I so enjoy your journey here, from ugly household familiarity to a wonderful piece of art. thanks.
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