Catching the Sun (Solar City)
If you read my last post you will have seen the progress so far on a mosaic I am making called “Solar City” which is part 2 of a series called “Catching the Sun”.
I am making the mosaic in the double indirect, or reverse reverse technique for reasons described in the last post.
These are the steps I took to get to the final piece…
The mosaic is all stuck with pva and water mix onto brown paper the correct way up.
I paste another sheet of brown paper with the glue mix and lay it onto the top of the mosaic…
Once dry the mosaic sandwich is flipped over and the original paper that the mosaic was pasted onto is soaked and peeled off …
Now the mosaic can be treated as an indirect mosaic: The underside of the mosaic is buttered with tile adhesive …
The cement board is also spread with tile adhesive and laid onto the mosaic and then the whole thing is flipped over…
Then the final paper is removed …
The adhesive is dug out to allow the grout in …
And finally grouting. Here I have masked off the rooftops of the city as I originally grouted them white. I wanted to show they were solar panels – however it didn’t look right as often is the case using white grout. Only use white grout in the bathroom and kitchen! (I thought I might get away with it on this mosaic and break the rules but no, no, no!)
I did, however use a darker grey grout for the water, the sun and the sky …
A few thoughts on the mosaic :
The shadow of the tree in the water and on the building is an echo of the past (the tree as the primitive sun catcher from my first mosaic of the series “The Embrace”)
Shadow and light is mixed up in the mosaic, this maybe impossible but perhaps there are reflections from other buildings around that can cause this.
The city has enveloped the sun, like a wave.
It is ambiguous.
This mosaic was unlike any other I have made, not quite in my usual style. However, I am sure you have spotted my signature bird reflected in one of the sunlit windows !
I welcome your comments good or not so good!
Kate
🙂
Hi Kate,
Really interesting mosaic – good to try something new and it’s worked!
Love seeing how you made it – did a similar thing on my blog … http://www.justmosaics.blogspot.com
Hope all Is well with you
Felicity
Thanks Felicity! Keep up the good work and good luck with your show.
Interesting and nice job too Kate.
The idea is original and challenging, giving an hard impact to who see.. it needs a few moments to keep the sense and to like it.
By the way, I prefer the last one (the embrace of the sun ?) with a simple tree with sun in backgorund and the leaf: if solar city talks to the brain , the embrace tlaks to the soul.
Compliments for your technique.
Ciao
Aldo
Hi Aldo
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I think you are right that Solar City talks to the brain and The Embrace to the soul …an interesting comparison. Perhaps this is because I have more affinity with nature. Perhaps I have to live in the city to really “feel” it.
Beautiful art…:)
Thankyou!