Author: gertrud

THE AYVALIK MOSAIC – Brasilia Mosaic Moments Studio 6th week

I am writing this blog at 2 am at Sao Paolo airport waiting for my flight to Istanbul depart in  2 hours. The mosaic parts are in my two suitcases which are weighing  almost 50kg. Luckily I did not have to pay excess luggage . The check in personnel had a good day. Its nice to stay awake at such odd hours because I really want to tell  you about this exciting last week. On Tuesday I set the last stone. Already when finishing the last figure I felt a slight feeling of procrastination. As much as I do want this project to come to completion as much I dread to let it go. Its my life since almost a year. And I also grouted the wave mosaic with dark grey grout. I actually only had light grey so I mixed some black pigment in it.  I hope it will not harm the quality of the tile grout. On Wednesday my daughter Louise helped me to tidy up the studio and arrange the mosaics for …

THE AYVLIK MOSAIC – Brasilia studio Asa Norte – fifth week

All is good! Thanks to all your supportive messages, jokes and calls  the dark forces from last week could not get hold of me! On Monday morning Robson and I sanded most of the stones in our garden. It is much better to do this very dusty work outside, and in the tropics it is possible to work outside all year round In the afternoon Cida and I put the trial mosaic onto a wall close to the floor as this will be a similar place for the AYVALIK MOSAIC too. First we filled the gaps with fine sand, then covered the mosaic with tile cement then pressed it  onto the pricked and wetted wall On Wednesday I went to the Vitoria stone fair for one day. Vitoria is a coastal town just 1000 km east from Brasilia, a little bit north of Rio de Janeiro. The amount of beautiful stones was overwhelming and fun to see. Much more vivid colors than in Europe. Especially the blues are amazing. In Vitoria I met with Evren …

THE AYVALIK MOSAIC – fourth week Brasilia studio Asa norte

This week I lost my inner calm! Given that I have only 2 weeks left until the departure to Turkey I got the panic about finishing the background and making a trial wall installation which I am most worried about as I haven’t put a mosaic onto a wall yet. My neck is so tense and my eyes can not see well anymore.  I really need support! It also was unfortunate that in this moment my family was away and I felt so lonely and scared at night. Consequently I slept bad which contributed to the tension during the day.  Brasil still is foreign for me. Speaking Portuguese needs a lot of concentration for my brain. I visited a turkish colleague of my husband on Thursday who’s father, an apricot specialist and dealer from Izmir, was around. Trying to speak Turkish with him was a nightmare. So frustrating. I am lost in all these languages! But enough of laments. What happened this week? My dear neighbor and mosaic artist Cida helped herself and recruited a …