Gandalf the Grey

I’ve never really been that interested in wizards.  That changed recently when my friend Dave asked if I could create a custom mosaic for his son Tim who is reading The Lord of the Rings. Having never created a mosaic face before, I thought this would be a fun challenge.  The concept of adding magic and fantasy to the composition gave me a lot of excitement about this project. Knowing that Tim Itemhad seen the movies, (and wanting the mosaic to match the picture in his mind) I thought it would be best to base my depiction of Gandalf on the character from the movie. If there had been no movie, there is no telling how a young boy would picture this character as he read the books, so the movie actually helped me out a lot!  

Lately, I have been working with a new mosaic technique of using clear glass layered over collage. For the wizard’s background, I wanted a smoky, swirly atmosphere that appeared to be set back from the figure. I decided to use hand marbled paper! I am really happy with how this turned out.

Now I have a new interest in fantasy combined with reality.  I also discovered my love for constructing a human face using small pieces of glass. This has also deepened my (already great) appreciation for the ancient Romans, who created very lifelike faces out of mosaic- all with natural stone, which of course has a limited color palette.  

This has been a busy summer, teaching lots of workshops and creating new work, so I will be posting many more photos in the coming weeks. Photo credit to Janine Norton.