Ruby Aspirations Mosaic

Glass, white gold, mirror, gems, pebbles | 26" x 38"

Ruby Aspirations Mosaic

Ruby Aspirations is my favorite of the Earth Series. Red is my favorite color, but for some reason I hadn't been using it in my art. This piece was actually commissioned by my Mom. She loves red and wanted a bold piece of art. It's currently hanging above her fireplace.

Creation of the Ruby Aspirations Mosaic

Needless to say I was excited to create a mosaic using both the 3-D spirals I love so much and my favorite color, red. The piece is fairly large in comparison to my other3-D spiral mosaics, but I didn't want to crowd it with too many spirals, so I kept it simple with only two. I wanted the red bursts to look very quartz-like, so I added in bits of mirror, white gold and silver beads to give it a sparkly, crystal feel. I wanted texture beyond the spirals, so I used glass of different thicknesses. I also used glass gems on edge, made by breaking them in half and adhering them with the rounded side up. I also used glass cut and placed on edge so that the texture is very uneven, similar to Italian smalti. When I grout, I use cheap, cut off paint brushes to flick the grout out of the crevices of these textures to allow the glass to shine.

I was lucky enough to have a large assortment of red gems on hand. I usually foil back my translucent gems for extra sparkle. On this one, since I have those giant translucent gems, I crinkled the foil before adhering it to give it a deeper texture. Some of the glass beads were added before grouting, some after depending on their location.

I wanted the background to be fairly neutral, similar to Cycles and Pods, but since there would be so much background area I didn't want it to be boring. I had these amazing green pebbles and just so happened to have green glass with gold ripples that flowed together beautifully with the pebbles. The outer circles of copper streaked glass were perfect for creating a cohesiveness between the background and foreground. I used really tight grout joints throughout the mosaic as I usually do so that the glass is the star. This also helps tilt the glass in different directions so that there is light reflecting from all angles.

I think this is my favorite of all the mosaics I've created. All the elements I love in a mosaic are here without looking too overworked. I need to work with red more often.