What do you do when a couple gives you their treasured rock collection that they have foraged from 7 continents over a period of decades and asks you to create a mosaic to hang in their home?

a.) You jump for joy because this is EXACTLY what you want to be doing. EXACTLY your dream come true.

b.) You run like hell and hide from the studio because deep inside it feels so scary to be creating a design and setting these prized personal possessions in mortar for all time. What if I mess it up?

Yep, it’s a little bit scary.

And, I remind myself, again: we can do hard things. Sometimes you just have to keep showing up and trust.

So...I set out to create this commission, spending weeks with the rocks to explore their color, lines, texture, shape, and size before laying down the first piece. The rocks are quite varied in every way.

I spent some time pondering: How do I showcase the gorgeous tiny details of these disparate treasures, and also create a cohesive, balanced design that will also look nice from afar?

My inner dialogue went something like this….

OMG, this is going to be so fun!

This is not fun. At all.

I need some ice cream.

And eventually, after weeks of coming and going…

This is super fun! I want to do this forever. I am the luckiest person in the world to get to do this work.

You can’t rush the muse. It finally arrived, and I got in my flow. Thank Goodness.

The creative process is so perplexing, so maddening, so fascinating. Fortunately, I’m learning to befriend the cycle rather than try to control it.

Here are some photos of “Seven Continents,” created with my client’s rock collection, as well as some slate, smalti (a handmade opaque glass), and bugle beads from my studio.

I delivered this commission yesterday, and my client loved it. (A good thing, since those rocks aren’t coming out of that mosaic any time soon.)

It’s the best feeling ever. To get into the flow state, create, and make someone happy with my work. So grateful for the opportunity, and for them entrusting me to take their rocks away and make this piece for them.

The process….

I opted to create small clusters of some of the tiniest treasures with different colored tinted mortar.

To highlight the fact that these treasures had come from all over the world and my clients’ reverence for the natural world, I created sections that are evocative of the desert, volcanic, forest, ice, ocean, and mountain landscapes of our Earth.

This piece is approximately 33 inches by 23 inches framed. For scale:

So happy and grateful to spend so much time with these beautiful and inspiring rocks!

If you'd like to commission a mosaic for your home, please be in touch. I really would be delighted to make something for you. Turns out “a little bit scary” is actually a good thing. It challenges my creative limits and helps me keep growing as an artist. I realize that some of my most ambitious pieces have been commissions. Bring it on.

It’s a little bit scary.

An Uninvited Stranger