About Us
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Blue Floor
Flower Pot for Andrea's Web Site Award
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Summer Sabbatical
Monday, July 21, 2008
Ceramic Cuerda Seca Technique
The three butterfiles in this multimedia mosaic are actually three single butterfly shaped ceramic tiles. There are no tiny individual pieces, just the illusion. Lines have been channeled in the clay while it is leather hard. After bisque firing and glaze firing, these channels will trap grout when the entire piece is grouted, leaving the butterflies to appear as though they were mosaiced from tiny pieces instead of a single piece. This is a form of ceramic Cuerda Seca technique. If you look closely at the bottom butterfly, you will see that I forgot to channel the large portion of its left wing. Notice how it looks different than the right, as if it were one piece instead of two.Thursday, July 10, 2008
New Glazes
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Playing With Smalti
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Paths are Made by Dreaming
Pique assiette headboard completed.
along with new TV chest.
Daughter happy!
Mother giving up the room makeover business
and any future projects with a week's deadline!!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Do You Believe in Fairies?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Writing on the Walls
Monday, June 9, 2008
A New Toy Arrives in the Mail
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Something is Never so Broken that it Can't Live Again
Friday, May 9, 2008
Pi Kappa Alpha Mother's Day Auction Item
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Polymer Clay Mosaics
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
For the Love of Mary: Work completed, Work in progress.
A Virgin of Guadalupe tile purchased in Albuquerque is the centerpiece of this large mosaic retablo. Made in 2005 with a variety of handmade ceramic pieces, glass beads, broken china and talavera tile, it frames a window in the Nunez house.
Measuring 6'X2', it was constructed on hardwood, and hung flat by being directly attached to the wall with screws on either end. After hanging, the two tiny areas left open for screw placement were patched with a pre-planned mosaic piece and grouted. The round edges of the retablo were obtained by running flat glass marbles along the sides and building grout over them to form an arc. Grout color is crucial to any mosaic--something we've learned the hard way. This piece works successfully in the room, because it was grouted in the same color family as the walls, using a slightly lighter colored grout.
Both of us have always been attracted to images of the Virgin Mary. Atrium Studio Garden Update
Ocean Mosaic Panel: Happy Birthday Julie's Dad!
Nothing like promising one's father a mosaic for his bathroom wall on one birthday and delivering it on the next. Sneaky way out of giving a gift. Actually, who knows if Dad would have ever gotten a birthday present in 2006, had he and Cassie not called to give their daughter ample warning they were planning on driving out from Colorado to pick up "said present" in their Yukon truck, and spare her from having to ship it via the U.S. mail.Clearly, setting a date for receipt of goods was a smart idea on their part. This meant (yikes!!) Julie had to actually finish the darn thing which she had been pulling her hair out to complete for almost a year. Here is a portion of the work in progress and ungrouted.





The idea of submitting this piece to the Society of Mosaic Artist's of America (SAMA) juried competition in 2007, got tossed around for a bit. But by the time it arrived safely in Colorado and was hung in it's final resting place without (miraculously) incurring any breaks or chips, sending the mosaic off on a potential second journey seemed like tempting fate.
So on the wall it remains, in it's quaint little venue. Visitors to the Castleberry house frequently request to use Paul's bathroom, and is it any wonder? Who needs a newspaper or magazine for entertainment while stationed there.Mosaic Table Centerpiece Creations for Valley Christian High School
In 2005 and 2006, we created center pieces for the annual VCHS Teacher Appreciation Dinners. Jan, a member of the Valley Christian High School Board, was chairman of this big event--one of the many she headed up for our kid's high school.
Putting together a memorable sit down dinner for three hundred people, would be a daunting enough task for most human beings. Add to that the responsibility of collecting and artistically arranging the donated items for ninety-some teacher gift baskets, and the creation of fifteen table centerpieces to be raffled as gifts at the end of the evening, and you have a recipe for many months of hard work. This is where bringing your girlfriend along as assistant comes in handy.
In 2005, we chose a colorful theme and planted the centerpieces with Gerber daisies. Using Terra Cotta pots from Italy, we glazed the rims and fired the pots, three at a time, in the kiln. After cooling, the pots were then sealed and mosaiced with a corresponding palette of tesserae. Production in the studio looked something like this. Here's Jan hard at work...

A few of our final pieces photographed by Jan's husband, Brent in their lovely back yard.
Many of our first ceramic tiles --in the form of leaves and flowers--were included in these pots.

The life-like appearance of the shells was obtained, after some experimentation, by painting with ceramic underglazes.
Production in the studio (prior to our recent remodel) looked like this...
Pots lined up and ready for grouting...
Centerpieces were planted with a variety of sedum that had been propagated in Julie's garden for use in this project. These drought tolerant plants look a great deal like coral and plants one would find at the ocean bottom.
Difficult to see in these photos, two tiny glass fish on wires were stuck in the planter-mix to appear swimming above the plants.
The centerpieces were placed in the middle of the table and coarse sand sprinkled around their perimeter. Real sea shells and dried star fish, along with glass beads and candles were then arranged around the sand for a lovely effect.
As always, at the end of the evening, names were drawn and the pots given away to the lucky winners. Thursday, April 24, 2008
The Evolution of an Art Studio

As our creative endeavors in the studio became more and more a full time occupation, we began tossing around a few ideas for changes that would make it a better working space. Remove the carpet and pour a level concrete floor. Wouldn't a bathroom of our own be nice? And while we are drawing up a wish list, why not a kitchenette with a small refrigerator? A sink with a hot water dispenser for tea? A sliding glass door opening to a shady, moss covered brick patio with tropical plants. And as always, shelves, shelves, and more shelves. Dream big, don't be afraid to ask, that's our motto!
Frida Kahlo on the valance...

More shelves for our growing library of art books.Sunday, April 20, 2008
A Bit of History First
The studio evolved over time, as a result of having to deal with the more run down rooms of the house. Adjoining the greenhouse, was a mudroom room (for lack of better description), covered in dark paneling, deteriorating carpet and decorated in "early American hunter." Both rooms were the inescapable walk-through to the main body of the house and needed a good deal of attending to. The renters wanted nothing to do with this task.
Being long time "do it yourself" kind of people, Ramon and I made several trips to the city dump, then rolled up our sleeves and pulled out the dust pan and paint brushes. A few months worth of general cosmetic work--paneling and shelves painted, drop ceiling tiles torn out, benches re-upholstered and new carpeting installed--things were cleaned up and we were generally pleased with the results.
And this is what the mud room looked like when Jan and I started making use of it to work on a variety of artistic projects associated with events for our children's high school. Two years later, when Austin and Alx graduated, we hung up our volunteer badges, and took up a more "please yourself first," delight directed orientation to all things artistic.
