Inside the Drawing Phase of a Mosaic Commission

Large commissions are a gift. The longer time frame allows us to dive more fully into a project and I find that my focus is better than it is when divided among several small projects. I do still have other projects right now, but this big one is the main event in my day.

The stakes are higher as well though, and a large scale project is harder to pull off well. Throughout my career I’ve had some shining moments and some dimmer in the form of large scale commissions and while I wish they were all stellar, I have learned a great deal from the less successful works.

With a larger tile project I certainly spend a lot more time in the design and drawing phase. The designing process for me is always about defining the concept specifically; sort of pinning it down. There are always many fluid ideas circling around in me but when pencil meets paper, I have to take the images and ingredients from my senses and put them into cohesive form. It’s a narrowing process of choosing one impulse, image, and letting the others go. It reminds me of how when planting a row of carrots, one drops many seeds and then thins out the sprouts leaving only a third of those to grow into the full-size the carrots for your salad.

This culling requires confidence and agility with the creative process and while in it I feel incredibly alive and alert with a tinge of excitement-fear.

My current mosaic commission began with the client’s desire to have a focal point, a mood setter for her pool house. The pool house has an indoor-outdoor feel and is designed to function as an indoor extension of the pool area where my mermaid mosaic is installed.

My client is special because there is an ease to our process together. She really enjoys this process of brainstorming and collaboration and this pleasure makes all the difference. She and her interior designer Barbara Sumner came up with the idea of a beach scene having a Hawaiian feel to it. At that point I was brought in and we all looked at photos of my previous work as well as inspirational photos to put together the concept. The purpose of the space is for relaxing and enjoying life so the mural needs to inspire and support this.

First I always start with loose thumbnail sketches; I like to just rapidly get onto paper any ideas I have circling around in my head from our meetings.

I also spent some time looking at botanical illustrations and textile prints and to research plants and birds of Hawaii.

Next I drew up some palm trees with plants to get the look, the feel I wanted. Plants, leaves, flowers are my favorite thing to cut in clay, the shapes and lines pull me into a rhythmic bliss while pulling the knife through the clay. It’s precisely this simple but beautiful feeling that keeps me coming back to this extremely labor-intensive clay work; I emerge shiny clean on the inside afterwards, every time.

I also made a few tests to see what some glazing ideas would look like:

With the client, a few additions were made - rocks with sea turtles, a cat, frog and more foliage on the left side to frame the piece - so I made another sketch.

inked and ready to be enlarged

The small drawing serves to show the client the basic idea and composition but all of the defining of the forms and tile shapes happens when I enlarge it to the size it will be - 7’ x 6’.

I enlarge it, tape sheets of vellum over it and using the basic composition from the enlarged drawing, I rework the forms and draw the tile shapes. At this point I think through all of the nuances of texture and sometimes color too.

Now and for the next week or so I’m immersed in making this large drawing with an often used eraser in hand!

Thank you for supporting my blog, it’s a great pleasure to share my process and pieces of my studio and life with you. Happy Thanksgiving North Americans!