Blog – Page 2 – Kate Rattray

Fronds in the Sun

Bykaterattray October 10, 2019January 31, 2021

This summer I was asked to make a mosaic for a couple’s Golden Wedding Anniversary to place on a tree in their woodland garden. The brief was “something fairly abstract, with a suggestion of plants and flowing water and using reds, oranges, golds and magenta’s, the size to be about 120m x 50cm” It was…

mosaic art

The Angels Who …

Bykaterattray August 23, 2019January 5, 2020

Re-Formation Exhibition 22 July – 6th October 2019 A fine art exhibition taking place with Somerset artists at the Bishop’s Palace and Heritage Courtyard Gallery, Wells As well as the Seraphim (The Watcher) which hangs on the outside cafe wall at the Bishops Palace, I made two small angels for the exhibition. These are displayed…

angels | art | exhibitions | gold leaf glass | mosaic art

The Watcher

Bykaterattray July 18, 2019January 31, 2021

Seraphim at the Bishops Palace, Wells

bird mosaics | mosaic art | sculpture

Spring is here!

Bykaterattray April 9, 2019January 31, 2021

Spring has finally come bringing with her flowers and warmth and a wonderful chorus of birds. Two of the birds I have been watching in my garden are a pair of bullfinches. The male donning his dark pink red chest and the female a paler pink. I’m glad to see them because finches are seen…

art | bird mosaics | legends | mosaic art | sculpture

A Little Bird Told Me

Bykaterattray March 13, 2019March 6, 2021

A little bird told me to look for legends about the Blue tit. I found this old Cherokee Indian story about the Chickadee and the Titmouse (in UK the Chickadee is similar to a coal tit with it’s black cap and the Titmouse is like the Tufted Tit with it’s crested head, and all from…

art | beetle | mosaic art

The Beetle

Bykaterattray March 10, 2019January 5, 2020

Did you know there are over 350,000 species of beetles in the world, and that’s just the ones that have been discovered? According to https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/side_O_0/beetles_01 this compares to “250,000 described species of plants, 12,000 described species of roundworms, and only 4,000 described species of mammals” And it’s not surprising as the beetle species has evolved…

art | beetle | mosaic art | moths

Who’s Got the Bug?

Bykaterattray February 13, 2019January 20, 2020

Heart Moth It seems that whenever you think of a name for a creature you find out that there is one that really exists with that name. Like the ‘Heart Moth’. I didn’t think there would be one with that name, but there is. It’s a very pretty little moth and lives in wooded areas…

art | mosaic art | moths | skulls

Death Head Moths

Bykaterattray January 25, 2019January 5, 2020

I was looking through a book of moths over the holiday and decided to make some. I found the Death’s Head Hawkmoth and remembered seeing one a few years ago outside my back door. I have never seen “Silence of the Lambs”, but I am told by the internet that the moth features in the…

art | bird mosaics | mosaic art | sculpture

Midnight Star Lings

Bykaterattray December 11, 2018January 5, 2020

The Midnight Star Lings (The Birds Who Bring Stars) It’s lovely to watch the starlings return this year. They gather on the fields and the farmyards to feed, then fly off together to roost in the reeds down on the levels. If I’m lucky I see a murmuration at sunset when I’m at the Avalon…

Tree of Life at the RUH

Bykaterattray November 29, 2018January 5, 2020

This summer I was commissioned to make a “Tree of Life” mosaic to raise awareness of organ donation for the Royal United Hospital in Bath. When the organ donation hospital team were looking for inspiration for a tree of life, they found my Olive Tree on my website and got in touch. It was a…

animals | art | gold leaf glass | sculpture

The Missing Tusk

Bykaterattray October 4, 2018January 5, 2020

Interventions at Wells & Mendip Museum As a member of the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen I had the opportunity to make a new piece of work for this exciting exhibition which is in conjunction with Wells Art Contemporary Inspired by the artifacts in the Wells and Mendip Museum, local artists and craftsmen have placed new…

Somerset Open Studios 2018

Bykaterattray September 14, 2018January 5, 2020

As I have been teaching mosaic workshops at the Heritage Courtyard Studios and Gallery in Wells, I was delighted when a small studio became vacant. This makes things a little easier when it comes to storing workshop materials and being able to show my work to students and collectors. I also work in it, the…