NOTE: Some email will clip this article. Click on the title to read everything I toiled at so energetically in order to brighten your day. ᕕ(︶‿︶)ᕗ
Some people seem to have all the luck. Some all the money, some all the power, some the good looks. But there are very few who seem to have all the talent! At least that is how I feel when looking at the works of Kory Dollar.
Behold this most fabulous Work of Art!
Click on image to enlarge (worth it!)
The inimitable powerhouse and great friend, Kory Dollar, created the above mosaic called “Sea Turtle”. This is just one example of her prolific works of fine art. The creation of projects such as this happens every day at The Manor of Marvelous Mosaic and Fine Art where artists of all levels of skill are busily humming about making their dreams come to life.
The place is located in a HUGE old schoolhouse in Deer Island, Oregon where Kory teaches people how to make fantastic art. Her students travel from around the world to learn her techniques. Kory has invented several methods for creating mosaics that give them the flow and vibrancy you see in the above image, despite my sorry attempt to photograph it.
As an aside, I’m not sure how I do it, but all my pictures look like I just saw a Elvis piloting a UFO trying to beam up Bigfoot and Nessie mud wrestling - meaning they are murky, fuzzy and indistinct. In the above image, I cropped out the actual frame and, using a bit of Photoshoppery, overlaid a digital one as the sun was glaring at me like my mom reading my report card, only the sun is less angry.1 Pictured below is what it looked like “au naturel”.
Perhaps a few dozen Gootube instructional videos might help me learn the basics seeing how expert photo-blogger Ken Barber of The Old Mountain Man and I can never find the time or wherewithal for me to get schooled properly in the art of photography.
Thomas and Ashley Art Stand
Thomas and Ashley are mosaic artists who love to spend time at The Manor. When they’re not busy taking classes and soaking up the vibe of the place, and it IS a fun place, they work on their own projects. They have purchased some of my frames in the past, but this time they commissioned me to make a stand for their recent fused-glass slider. I posted about these ‘sliders’ a while back here.
When I asked what style they preferred, they said the magic words; “You have Full Artistic License!”.
ヽ(°▽ﾟ)ノ Yes!
I went into motion like a little kid with a new bike! A young child with a bike has freedom! Me, now riding into the wind with freedom of motion, freedom of expression and freedom from self-doubt, I followed my three phases for creating a work of art; Ideas, Inspirations and Ideals, which I wrote about below.
After looking at the piece for about an hour, the idea hit, I knew it needed a mid-tone yet rugged wood to compliment the color and texture of the piece. I found the inspiration from two pieces of raw-edged and sun-bleached walnut, so next it was on towards the ideal - make is so! And I did!
Georgina Art Stand
[Click on any image to enlarge]
Georgina traveled all the way from Puerto Rico to attend one of Kory’s mosaic classes and whilst there, she ended up making one of several Melt Glass sliders. As these sliders are a lot narrower than usual, I used a different style stand design to try and not interfere too much with the beauty of the glass.
These stands are made from scraps of black walnut that somebody THREW AWAY! I know, millions of tons of walnut have been used for firewood in years past, albeit not as much these days, but still trees fall due to development, blight (sometimes the same thing) and windfall. The trunk and large limbs are usually salvaged, yet I still see them cut up for firewood with the rest sent to the chipper. Little attention is paid to those odd, twisted or knotty pieces such as the one I employed. Anyway, nothing to see here.
Alfred, is that you?
Some people really have a mug.
A family member asked me to frame this 1958 photo of one of their distant relatives who shall remain nameless. Lucky for me they never access my Substack as I might get hate mail by cracking corn over this guy’s visage.
What do you think? To me the guy could have been the model for Alfred E. Neuman! But who am I to talk?
Thank the Lord laser eye surgery was not available when I met my gracefully beauteous bride. Most of you don’t know this, but I met her as she was working the front desk of her father’s automotive repair shop. If she could see as well as she does since her laser eye repair, I wouldn’t have stood a chance! That wonderful day when I walked in the office door, she may have mistaken me for a rusted-out 1959 Ford dump truck instead and ordered me to the scrap heap! Yes, I do stand out in a crowd.
This post is already too long and I shall end it here, but the next post will feature my Sweetness Kathie and her latest projects. Thank you for reading and check out the links to Kory and Ken and how they capture life’s beauty.
I absolutely h-a-a-a-a-t-e-d school. Each day was prison. I could feel the creativity, individualism, and dignity being slowly extinguished every moment I was there, including the final insult of homework. I especially hated English classes and therefore never learned grammar, spelling, punctuation or usage. I also, but to a lesser extent, eschewed history, geography and the dreaded math. Only art and music classes did I thrive. So, if you would be so kind, please forgive my clumsy narrative, grammatical errors and improper sentence structure, I just “wing it” and hope you will continue coming back to read another post, warts and all.
Thanks for the support, Dave!! You are fantastic in everything you do!
I hope you and Kathie are well. Bee-oo-tee-full! Thank you. I get so inspired by you.