Red Play

In preparation to resume work on Fragile Heart, I played with all the shades that I may be calling upon. Some people have a very good eye for value, but I'm not sure that I am one of them. The color is distracting to me, but this is a skill that improves with practice.

Below is the result of my morning exercise. The top two images show where I started, and the bottom two show where I ended up after several modifications. Its pretty tricky with reflection, as well as with the mottled shades of the Mexican smalti, but I do see improvement, all thanks to the black-and-white feature in my photo editor. 

I could go on endlessly making adjustments, but I think I'll stop now and hope for the best.

About Gold

My fascination with mosaic gold began shortly after my trip to Venice for an Orsoni Master Class in 2006. While there, I purchased kilos of colored golds, and a nice selection of whites to yellows. In 2007, I began working with them and I have not stopped.

I love the way that the many shades of Orsoni white through yellow golds are so responsive to light. As I walk around a mosaic with several shades, they seem to change in depth — and of course reflectivity — as though they are alive. The deeper yellow shades actually change to rich burnt umbers when viewing from a side angle, as you can see below in one of my early explorations.

© 2014 Jacqueline Iskander. Gold Rising (2007). 13" x 15" | 33cm x 38cm. Smalti, 12 shades of mosaic gold.

I remember Maestro Lucio Orsoni being amused by the common reference of gold smalti: "It isn't smalti; it is nothing like smalti," he said. Of course, it is nothing like smalti. Although the term seems to be more commonly used all the time, I remain a holdout and call it mosaic gold. 

For an informative article about golds, check out Going for Gold — 10 things you should know about gold smalts from Mused, a very nice mosaic blog that I follow.

Windows to the Wild — Public Installation by Elizabeth Raybee

I had the complete pleasure of hosting mosaic celeb Elizabeth Raybee in my home this last Sunday evening. She was heading back home to California after over a month on the road for her cross-country friends and family tour.

What a delightful human being she is! We talked and talked and talked, and I was amazed at how plugged-in she is to public mosaic stuff in all corners of the world. She also has a farm with sheep and chickens and pears and walnuts and who knows what else! She kindly brought us some homemade pear butter and we sampled her very own Walnut Liqueur... tasted like dessert!

I would like to spread the word about a cool public project on which Elizabeth is working and would like some help. Find out more about Windows to the Wild here.