Etsy

I began my career as a mosaic artist sometime before the millenium, while watching a late night "how to" television program on mosaics. I started out thinking, "I can do that" as I have done in the past many times with various projects/forms of art that I often never followed through with. For some reason, this time I went for it, finding myself buying all the necessary supplies at the hobby store the next day. My first project was a tall votive candle holder created using smashed wine bottles (I had plenty of those available) as my media. When I look at the piece now, which at the time of its production was what I considered a masterpiece, it makes me laugh. It is covered in haphazard chunks of glue, grout and jagged pieces of glass that make it too dangerous to even pick up without protection.

I continued from there making various pieces of mosaic art and furniture for family and friends, over time becoming faster and more confident, and eventually moved from working in my backyard, to an art studio in an artist’s complex in South Austin. It was there that I began to develop and fine tune my style, which now mostly consists of using stained glass as my media. When creating a piece, I usually think about something I might like in my own home, which usually involves a circular, 60’s, mod influence as well as recycled or locally purchased materials. I feel my work reflects my passion for color and design, and whether I create a mirror, table, home installation or wall hanging, I infuse a bit of myself into each piece. I also feel that what I create is quite different than the “smashed dishes” hobby-esque look that most mosaic artists follow. I wanted to bring a bit of youth and trendiness to the mosaic world…

Please stop by my website at

www.vanillagirldesigns.com

or
my myspace page at

www.myspace.com/vanillagirldesigns

to check out more of my work!
Thanks!
Elise Rich aka Vanilla