Mosaic Garden Pots WIPs

Sunday I started working with thinset as an adhesive for the first time. In addition to being the correct adhesive for outdoor objects, I am enjoying working it for these pots over other glues I've tried for non-flat, non-horizontal surfaces. I am still getting used to it.

One of my biggest problems with something vertical, or 3d, is impatience! In fact, I have been known to try to rush things along, not let the pieces dry long enough before turning the work, mess everything up and get really frustrated....like a million times. So today I solved that problem to some degree. I just worked on two pieces at once.

The larger pot


One pot ready to grout, splotchy with thinset and another sealed and drying.

The pot to the right is now about 1/3 done with blue, lavender and blue, and white and blue tessera, as I alternated between that and the bigger green, black and white pot...much less frustrating to wait out the drying time that way. I worked out on my deck much of the day, in spite of the wasp that began hovering around and around under the table, until a little after two. It was 92 degrees and definitely time to come in. Of course my child hurried through her math this afternoon and ran outside to ride her bike.

Garden Harvest!

Today we woke up to our first daylily.

Everything in the garden has been growing like crazy with the warm (now hot!) weather and the rain. Besides all the lettuces, spinach and arugula we have been eating from the garden for over a month and a half now, this week we harvested our first two tomatoes and one yellow squash. Yippee!

Here's a look at the garden this morning:

This view is looking over the carrot greens and strawberries to...

...our daughter's cosmos.


More tomatoes to come from this Early Girl Bush plant.
The heirlooms are a little slower.


And more yellow squash. Mmmm.

Mixed Media Collages

Last week I worked on two pieces of art.

The first is this diptych that I haven't titled yet. I think I had some ideas in mind as I chose images and started working on it, but I can't remember now what they were. This is mostly acrylic with collage, ink, colored pencil and Caran d'arche water soluble wax crayon on canvas.

Aidan's Solo Exhibit!

We, of course, remember Aidan toddling around at 2 and 3 years old with a disposable camera in his hand. Today 12-year old Aidan has the opening for his second solo photography exhibit. On Monday The Santa Barbara Daily Sound did a front page story on him and his photography. The link will take you to his interview and to 2 nice pictures of him at home, surrounded by photos.

Some of his photography can be seen at his pbase site.

We just wish we could be in Santa Barbara this evening for his opening.
(I hear there are going to be homemade chocolate chip cookies!)

Congratulations Aidan!