Coral Reef Mosaic Design

A custom mosaic design of the rich, colorful, vibrant life in a coral reef for a dear friend and mosaic artist Mermaids Sea Jewels.
Mermaids Sea Jewels specializes in beautiful medical alert jewelry and will fabricate the mosaic in her bathroom renovation. I can't wait to see her progress and am very excited for her.

Coral Reef Mosaic Custom Design,  by Sue Betanzos for Mermaids Sea Jewels

It's a large, ambitious undertaking that will be a creative journey she will document as it goes.
The mosaic will be fabricated in tile.  There are three panels surrounding the bathtub. The square in the center panel is the shower niche. The left panel will have the shower fixtures.

The floor of the bathroom was a custom design of playful, colorful blue swirls of iridescent blue tiles surrounded by sandy colored matt tiles - magical.

The concept was to use the line art and color key similar to a coloring book. This allows for artistic interpretation to serve as a creative spring board when fabricating - putting her own spin on it to make it her style.
The color illustration was done in colored pencil as a guide she will use when choosing tile. There is a scaled line art drawing (before coloring) that she has already printed, enlarged to full bathroom size on a banner printer at Kinko's to serve as a blueprint guide to mosaic from.

Well Hello There!

Hello out there! Seems like time is flying by way too fast. Lately I average about 5 hours of sleep, but feel pretty good. Must be because I am so excited about my new cookie store MoonLight Cookie Art, the new article of my work in Tucson Lifestyle this May - the BEST birthday present ever - and planning for a nice road trip.
The article in Tucson Lifestyle lists this blog site here instead of my main website due to a slight mix up, so here is a flyer with my main web address and work samples - I will post a few times over next month.

Click to enlarge full size

Still working on a mosaic that I love and will have finished in a week. Also now that Easter is over Mother's Day is coming up and I will have to set cutoffs for orders for cookies. I was swamped for Easter - this time I will have more control. Also working on a small mural project that, is due at the end of this month! But I wouldn't have it any other way - I love working in different media and ideas always flow!

La Sirena - the Mermaid

Slip stream quick sliver sure, The Mermaid of the Sea of Cortez glides thru her forest of kelp and coral reefs. She is friend and guardian to the sea life in her home.

Folk tales of fantasy have always attracted me. Mermaids, dragons, elves and unicorns - magical beasts and beings.

I always felt that everything has a spirit. Trees, rivers, wind. The ocean must have its guardians too. La Sirena that lives in the Sea of Cortez is the color of her consorts, the garibaldi. Though her home is the kelp, she is connected to everything that happens - she can feel the happiness, pain, fear, joy of those living in her home.

This is a reverse glass painting, 16x20". There is more silver and gold than is shown in the painting. Tiny silver sardines gleam and surround her as she speaks to a butterfly angel fish.

Moon jelly fish float overhead and a ray glides off into the distance. Golden sea turtles slip through the colorful coral with their entourage of tiny yellow angelfish.

I Never get tired of looking at this painting.