This is my entry in the 2016 Hibiscus and Bays Art Awards exhibition, being held at the Estuary Arts Centre, Orewa. Below is a little more information about the piece.
When I first started this
mosaic, towards the end of 2014, I thought I would title it ‘A New
Exploration’. This does not relate to the flower in the picture so much but to
my first exploration into a new way of creating mosaic artwork with round
tiles. The design is from a print on canvas, which I chose to use for my first
experimentation. However, the close up view of the flower with the layers of
petals and the deep colouring do also give a sense of exploration.
After moving home and doing
a number of smaller mosaic pieces in between, I finally completed this artwork
in time to enter it for the Hibiscus and Bays Art Awards 2016. When I filled in
the application form, I put ‘A New Approach’ down for the title, as I had
forgotten what I was originally going to call the artwork. Once submitted, I
could not change it.
Although there has been a
slight change of name, this does not change the fact that this piece was the
starting point for a new approach to my mosaic artwork. The use of different
sized round mosaic tiles has now become my signature style.
This artwork is made up of around
7,000 handmade tiles. They are colour blended, cut and baked from polymer
modelling clay. After gluing all the tiles in place, on the canvas, it has been
grouted with coloured acrylic gel medium. It took well over 150 hours to
complete.
