Mosaic river panels

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It's not every day a commission comes along in your favorite colors AND your favorite theme. But that's exactly what happened here! This client was looking to add something special to the entry of their riverside home. We created two mosaic panels inspired by the James River in shades of cool greys and blues.

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We used this sampling of colors found throughout the house to create the palette for the mosaic panels.

Abstraction of natural imagery is one of Johannah's favorite inspirations. For the mosaic panels, she created waves of color to reflect the shimmering movement of the river. You can see some of the notes she used to create the shading of color in the photo above.

More progress shots, from complete color palette in the top left to grouting in the bottom right.

First panel installed! With the door slightly ajar, you can see how well the mosaic colors coordinate with the palette in the house. Success!

The second panel, and the gorgeous view of the river from the house. The wall of windows directly across from the entrance where the mosaics reside immerse you in the greenery of the lush woods along the river's edge. What an honor to be part of this beautiful retreat from the world.

"Nothing Gold Can Stay" custom mosaic

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We recently finished up a large mosaic commission a year in the planning and execution. The inspiration for this piece was the idea of impermanence. We designed a triptych of 12" x 18" panels in Mexican smalti, a type of thick, opaque glass. The title of the series is Nothing Gold Can Stay. Here's a sampling of the boat loads of process shots we took while working on this project.

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Sketch on paper and a mosaic maquette or preliminary model on the left, bags of smalti ready to go on the right.

It's such a pleasure to work with the rich color and texture of smalti. How about those trays full of prepped and sorted material? This project was interrupted from time to time with shows and other smaller commissions. Those trays have been a life saver moving sorted material and projects around the studio as needed.

Kyle installed the finished triptych in his handmade reclaimed oak frames. Johannah signed the backs, and then it was time to come up with a way to photograph the piece. We turned our whitewashed pallet wood wall 90 degrees and hung it from the gantry crane to create a backdrop large enough to hang the three pieces together.