let the sun shine

I didn't go to my studio today because I felt a little under the weather. So....... I stayed around the house and pretty much did nothing. The sun made me feel a little better and as I walked in my living room I caught a glimpse of my candle shelter. The sun was illuminating it and it looked so eye catching. I made this a while back so I never really take much notice but today it glowed.

fill your heart with art

-manon

day off

Today I sat in my studio incapable of finishing my mirror. Burnout!!! So..... I spent most of the day putting gesso in my journals and doing a self portrait. Funny......I haven't done a self portrait since " Billy Idol and I." I can't tell you how much fun I had painting and playing around.

fill your heart with art

-manon

almost done

Close to grouting this mosaic. It's looking pretty good and I absolutely love the orange red glass. It's one of my favorite glass colors that I use. I will admit, however, that I need a little break from all these little pieces of glass that I have to fit in the crevasses.

More snow is on it's way to Ohio. Can winter be done already? My aunt sent me pictures of the snow banks in Canada so I have to be very careful not to whine too much. I just need sunshine! I'm sure many of us feel the same.

fill your heart with art

-manon

what happened?

I'm not sure how this picture happened but it did. Seriously...... I know nothing about my digital camera so when things like this happen it cracks me up. I couldn't figure out how to do this one again if I tried. All I know is that I was outside taking pictures of Otis when all of a sudden my camera was shooting pics at a fast rate. I must of touched something, (probably because I had my gloves on). At any rate, my camera is definitely too advanced for me. Ugh! Reading the manual would be a plus.........I just don't know if it would help!

fill your heart with art

-manon

mosaic flowers

As I work on this new mosaic I think that I must be in flower mode. The last two mosaics are covered with flowers. Maybe I'm dreaming about spring and the blooming flowers. Whatever it is I sure have a theme going. I'm very ignorant when it comes to the names of most flowers. I just know that I love to look at them and appreciate their beauty. My grandmother was even named Fleurette, (which is french for flower). So..... with that I'll continue on and enjoy my mosaic flowers.

fill your heart with art

-manon

ryan bingham

This is my new favorite album. I can't remember where I found Ryan Bingham but I'm sure glad I did. His new album Mescalito is off the hook. He reminds me of both Springsteen and Dylan. This album is fresh and original and Bingham seems wise beyond his years, (he's only 25). If you like a gritty voice and the sound of a guitar you'll love this album. You can sample his music at this site. I love the songs Southside of Heaven and Sunrise...... just to name a couple.

fill your heart with art

-manon

round mosaic mirror

My inspiration for this new mirror is the boot in this painting. I seem to be doing all round mirrors lately. I probably will do a square mirror next time. This mosaic will most likely be housed at my doctor's office for a while. I think she would prefer the last one I did but that one will make it's way to Arizona.

fill you heart with art

-manon

another tribute to otis

It's official.......I'm obsessed with my dog! He really is quite a pain sometimes but he amuses me so darn much. I'm almost finished this 18" x 18" acrylic collage of Otis. I think it's a fun little piece. There are words to describe him along the border which pretty much suit him. I put him coming out of the dog house because some of the time he is in the dog house with me. Take for example the other day.....I was coming into the kitchen and who was basking in the sun on my table ....... yes ... the boston terror. He didn't even motion to get up when I called his name. I literally had to remove him and I wasn't very happy. Most of the time he's great but he sure has his moments.

fill your heart with art

-manon

nearing the end

Yay! I'm done grouting! I still have to put a sealer on it then take the protector off the mirror and put the smalti on the inside rim. It feels pretty good to have this almost done. The grout was drying very quickly today. I guess it had to do with the outside temp. I was working like a mad woman.

The pics are in for Domingo. I will probably start him this weekend. I've worked the poem out so I can now concentrate on the drawing.

fill your heart with art

-manon

new painting

Most of the afternoon I spent getting the mirror ready to grout tomorrow. After finishing all the prep work I decided to start a small painting of Otis. Actually, I will combine paint and collage to create a fun piece of my baby boy. I cut a bunch of words out that describe him and will glue them on the border. Fun, fun!

fill your heart with art

-manon

close to the finish line

I'm almost done laying the glass on top of this mosaic! Yea! I've spent many hours on this one. Once it's grouted I still have to adhere smalti on the inside edge. I'm over cutting the black glass because as you can see, I had a ton of black on this mosaic. The more opaque the glass the tougher it is to cut. Sometimes it just shatters in my hand as I nip it. There are only a few places left to fill and then I can start cleaning it up to get ready for the grout. Yep.....I'm using black grout.....my favorite.

I think we may be getting a little snow tonight. They're calling it a storm with about 4 to 6 inches coming. It cracks me up because where I'm from this is a daily occurrence.

fill your heart with art

-manon

another photo booth pic?

Ok.....Ok... this will be the last photo booth picture for a while. I just wanted to show everyone how cool this pop feature looks when taken in the day. I love to play around with this thing because it takes zero skill or knowledge and that is what I possess when it comes to my computer. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

fill your heart with art

-manon

books of inspiration

When I need new ideas for colors or even inspiration I go through one of my books. I constantly cut pictures that appeal to me out of magazines of different kinds and glue them in a book. All these books give my imagination a boost when I need it. I love to go through these books and see what I was into at a certain time.

My studio almost had a major flood today. I was about to leave when I noticed water on my bathroom floor. As I was calling Howard, the fix it guy, the pipe started shooting water. Ugh! Thankfully, Mark, the new guy in my building, was able to get down to the basement and shut down my water. Yea! There was a ton of water on the floor but I avoided a major flood. Howard is supposed to come and fix the pipe tomorrow. It's never boring in my world.

fill your heart with art

-manon

play time

Play time was needed for me after three hours of doing a scroll pattern on the mosaic. So.......play time it was. I took a couple of old books and started to glue them together three pages at a time. Believe it or not....I had fun gluing, (go figure). The books will dry overnight and I will start to gesso them to use as journals. Yea! I have so many ideas swirling around in that head of mine, I just need more hours in the day.

It's supposed to pretty much rain all this week and throw in a little snow. I need sun! Winter is wearing thin on me. I'm happy that I painted the studio yellow, (at least it's cheery in there).

fill your heart with art

-manon

photo booth

In the fall I posted about my photo booth feature on my Mac. I was playing around with it today and it's so much fun. The first picture of me is the pop effect. The bottom pic is of Alex and her friend Kate on the thermal effect. The time of day makes a difference in the quality of the shots and both of these were taken at night. The pop setting looks better when it is shot in the light of the day.

I didn't work at all today..... I was too busy doing errands and stuff. I'll be back in my studio tomorrow!

fill your heart with art

manon

flower power

The flowers are complete! Yea! I actually have flower burn out. I'm glad to be moving on. The picture makes the mosaic appear a little goofy but I promise that the end product should look much better. I'm starting a white scroll pattern between the flowers tomorrow. I know I will eventually hit the finish line but it's a long slow crawl.

fill your heart with art

-manon

inspiration

My inspiration for the new mirror is this guitar. I found it in a magazine and Emmylou Harris is holding it. The colors really pop out at you and that's what I'm aiming to do. I chose a different flower for my mosaic and I've added a little yellow in them. I hoping it turn out as well as the guitar. I had six flowers to put together and I'll be finishing the final one tomorrow. Yea! The pics of the finished flowers will be posted tomorrow.......I hope!

fill your heart with art

-manon