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Where All The Fish Go

That mottled sky that inspired “Where The Flying Things Go” (see last post) led to another mosaic, more relevant to the mottled or “mackerel” sky as it is known. It is known as mackerel as the cloud formations resemble the markings on a mackerel fish. Here is another look at that sky:

mottled-sky

 This time I wanted to make the design with a sunset sky in contrast to “Where The Flying Things Go” which happens at dawn.

I made a quick scrawly colour sketch in oil pastels:

Where-all-the-fish-go-sketc

Then I simplified the design by taking out the boat sail and I let the fish flow naturally into the sun. I love the way shoals of fish make a circle in the water when under attack always trying to get to the middle for protection. This was how I visualised their form in the sun.

Progress of the mosaic:

progress--Where-all-the-fis

Once I had filled in the sky with sunset colours (offcuts of stained glass) I had to decide whether to grout the sun as it was or fill it with tiny pieces of stained glass. I grouted a small section in black to try it out, but there was too much reference to my past black suns and this time I wanted more of that dark orange as it wasn’t about dying suns. Orange coloured grout maybe? No, too much will kill the mosaic! So there was nothing for it but to spend a day in the zone cutting and fixing some tiny bits in around the fish.

So finally:

Where All The Fish Go
Where All The Fish Go

Detail of sun:

Detail - Where All The Fish Go
Detail – Where All The Fish Go

The fish outline is cut out of the tile and the grout is painted with silver ink:

Detail of Where All the Fish Go
Detail of Where All the Fish Go

I now have 4 new pieces of work to include in my exhibition at Divas Café, Black Swan Arts Centre, Frome which starts next Saturday 14th September although if you visit this coming Thursday or Friday it will all be up. See here for more details

🙂

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4 Comments

  1. Lovely work – I really like the fish outlines in the water. Did you paint over the grout or use a light grout just for those outlines?

    1. Thanks John! I painted over the grout in silver ink to make them shine a little. It’s really tricky grouting fine lines in another colour, even if you mask out the background – this was much easier and more effective I think for the fish. 😉

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