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 14 X 30" panel was mosaiced on sealed birch and made entirely of handmade, low-fire ceramic pieces, stained glass, beads and dichroic glass.

Paul and Cassie refer to it as the most expensive work of art in their house, after word got back to them that an interior designer, who had been in their employment, had mentioned to one of her co-workers that the people she was working for had a mosaic worth at least $10,000 hanging in their bathroom!

All of us got a good laugh out of this, and figured it might not be too far off the value of the panel if one charged for the hours (and headaches) that went into creating the many intricate sculptured pieces and then assembling them together.

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.