Valentine's kiss (Less Flat #3)

[Purplie]

Another learning experiment in making mosaics “less flat”. Plus trying to catch up on my holiday pieces!

All these tricks would be obvious to a 1st year art student, I’m sure (but not obvious to me):

• A black backdrop deepens the shadows.
• Precise 1mm gaps between pieces emphasize their edges and break the flat surface.
• The foreground subject is slightly raised, and also distinguished using brighter colors and stronger wood grain patterns of different orientations.

The pieces are made of 10 types of veneer mounted on 1/8" plywood. Most of them have their natural wood color; three of them were dyed (red, blue, coffee).

The black backdrop is a thin veneer lattice that helps position the pieces with 1mm separation, and is glued in place.

The pieces will be left unglued for now, so it can be enjoyed as a puzzle.

[dklgood]

This is lovely. The variety of veneers gives it such depth.

[cynd11]

Oh, gorgeous. I like that you raised the foreground image. If this was a gift, I’ll bet it was much appreciated!

[shogun]

I like the idea of emphasizing the gap and making it consistent. It really adds to the piece. Well done!

[jamely]

That is gorgeous! I love the piece grid in the back for placing the pieces and deepening the shadows. And that it allows it to keep it’s shape at an angle is icing on the cake!

[marthajackson1970]

Very cool!! Beautiful!!

[Aloha]

This is awesome, as always! Thank you for sharing!

[Purplie]

@cynd11

If this was a gift

Not sure … a candidate for next year’s Valentine’s day gifts anyway.

One problem with making a batch of these is that a veneer variety pack only has small samples of each type, so for each copy it’s extra work to select the veneers and mount them.

[reynoso]

Your creativity has no bounds! Congratulations on another inspiring masterpiece @Purplie.

[ptodd]

Beautiful!!!

[rvogt]

This is beautiful!

[wenning08]

Nice contrast of color

[deirdrebeth]

@Purplie

The black backdrop is a thin veneer lattice that helps position the pieces

That’s exactly how I did my faux stained glass. It looks fabulous in the veneers!

I just picked up a huge roll of veneer from a yard sale, I may give that dying effect a try

I love that this is very “valentine”, but also something I’d be happy to display year round.

*I’m guessing it’s not intentional, but the placement of the veneers on the taller person’s face makes me think this is Wanda and Vision

[Purplie]

@deirdrebeth

Wanda and Vision

I haven’t heard of Wanda and Vision before, but that figure does have an inhuman quality which I didn’t intend. To me it seems robotic. My wife just doesn’t like the bald head. Anyway, I decided to leave it unfixed, one of those serendipitous mistakes that add variety.

[deirdrebeth]

They’re both Marvel comics/movies characters - and Vision was a robot who gained sentience

[mark14]

@Purplie

All these tricks would be obvious to a 1st year art student, I’m sure:

• A black backdrop deepens the shadows.
• Precise 1mm gaps between pieces emphasize their edges and break the flat surface.
• The foreground subject is slightly raised, and also distinguished using brighter colors and stronger wood grain patterns of different orientations.

none of these were obvious to me and yet all make great sense. thanks.

[Purplie]

They weren’t obvious to me either. My first attempt didn’t include those things, and it wasn’t very attractive.

[ellencadwell]

I think it’s remarkable! Love the different colors. You never cease to amaze.

[timjedwards]

Striking!