After last weekend's hair-razing experience, I decided to work on easier portions of Luke's body: his ear and neck. He's starting to look like a real person - not just a face floating in a void. The ear looks somewhat funny because it's hanging out there, but I expect that it will blend in when I make my next attempt at doing his hair.Necks are interesting. There is a lot going on in a neck - movement and shadow.
First of all, note the line of tesserae that separates the left side of his beard from his neck (his right - your left). This line also extends down the side of his neck and even breaks out into the neck. The effect is nice, providing a definitive separation between the head and the neck by creating a slight shadow effect. I used a pale green stone for this - the only place in the mosaic where this color occurs. Green was typically used in Byzantine portraits.
One problem I did have was the andamento of the lighter neck stones around this line. There was too much of a noticeable angle in making the corner. This probably occurred because I placed the green line of stones first and then filled in the lighter stones. (This is what happened when I worked on the hair. I started with the strongest line and then tried to fill in the shading around it.)
So I ripped out the stones in this area and built the curved line of lighter stones first. This time I used larger pieces which I think help balance the smaller pieces closer to his beard. The first attempt had too many distinct rows of thinner stones which drew unneeded attention to it.
Once the curved line of lighter stones was in, I rebuilt the stronger line of green stones. The result looks much better.
The hair is next; can't avoid it now. And following the advice of that wise Texan sage, I will pour myself a glass of Vin Santo and dip a few biscottini di Prato before tackling it.Ultimately I need to decide on the materials to use for the background. Any suggestions?
5 comments:
Good work on Luke - I do like what you've done to the neck...do we sound like two vampires at a convention?
Background, hmmm. I would vote darker the better, but you still somehow have to distinguish his dark hair from the background. Is he of the Pre-Halo era? If not, you could surround him with a slight "aura" of that cool rich gold color, then blend out to dark. But sumthin' tells me he would have only a thin gold band outlining the edge of a halo, not the full disco treatment. Apropos of the neck jog incident, remind me to tell you about "sdoppiamento," another technique learned from Carolina Zanelli. - jR
Looks good! How big is the piece? I am encouraged as it looks like you used all stone for this. I have only used smalti for my icon mosaics, even though I read that they used to do the faces and hands in limestone.
A mosaicist I met in Cyprus (George Kepolas) does a lot in stone, and he uses a light yellow marble for the "gold" background"
Good work!
The piece is 12" (width) x 14" (height).
Yes, many of the Byzantine mosaic icons had stone faces and hands with smalti hair and garments.
A light yellow background is an excellent idea. I have been leaning toward a gold stone background, but yellow might be better.
Seeing your icon mosaics, Mother Macrina, was one of the reasons I was inspired to do this piece.
- Bill
Check out http://www.mosaic-art-gallery.com
He does an interesting light yellow inside the halo, and a red line, with a darker gold stone outside the halo line.
I have been told that the best way to do any of this cutting was with hammer and hardie, but haven't gotten used to it. I just can't imagine cutting the tiny pieces I used on the face of my most recent one with anything but the leponitt nippers....
How small are your tesserae?
My pieces are about 1/4 inch or less - fairly small. I use nippers. I live in a duplex with people living below me. Hammer & hardie not even a possibility when they're home.
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