And I really feel that I and THE MOSAIC have come home! Knowing that this home is not where my family is gives me a crunch in the stomach.
The fish figures that were still wrapped for two weeks are taken out of their bubble wrap blankets and seem to be happy to hear the waves of the aegean sea for the first time.
I arrange my workplace in the patio in front of Santimetre’s former atelier. In the morning I just have to walk through the garden and down a few steps to be at work.
Finally I again manage to set up a working routine, especially for the background tesserae as they are placed mainly in line but still have to be put down thoughtfully in order to achieve a good mix of shades of beige.
I can visit THE HOUSE for the mosaic every day and feel completely happy and relaxed. I can go and smoke a cigaret on the roof top of the atelier and see the sea and the sun set. And I have interested friends around that I can talk to about techniques and materials.
Ayvalik sunset
There is Tulya Madra who hosts me and THE MOSAIC. My special thank is to her for showing interest in my mosaic work from the first moment we met and to be so explicit that she likes what I am doing.
Tulya is the crafter and manager of the porcelain workshop SANTIMETRE and makes dishes for everyday use. I invite you to watch their website, you will be enchanted!
There is Firat Aykac our architect who helped me not only with the design of the mosaic in photoshop and paper print outs but also made my first tree trunk out of olive wood to hold one important tool – the Hardie!
the olive tree from which the stand for my hardie will be cut
And there is Evrim the stone macon and his partner who come twice to the studio and look at my work and chat about the best way how to get the wall pieces onto the wall.
…. and of course there is Hamdi, who runs a fine small restaurant Argos Ayvalik on the shore of the sea and and is the best address when you are alone and with friends always with the best food, the best music and a good chat until late at night.
After now 6 weeks of working for 10 hours almost every day I do miss a my family
….. and last weekend my husband comes to visit me and THE MOSAIC!
I am proud to show him my work and life.
But he also brings the message that they can not live any longer without wife and mother so far away in Brazil. So I have to take a decision:
Either living on my own in Ayvalik and finish the mosaic there and at the same time being near the house for the mosaic and observe the building work, with my own friends and contacts in the mosaic world,
or moving to my family in Brazil, chauffeuring teenagers around and attend receptions and dinner parties again, arranging a large household, learning a new language, finding new friends and mosaic interested persons and keep working on the mosaic —
The decision is: I will move again! with my design and stones, and hammer and hardie, and nippers — over the Atlantic into the tropics.
On Friday Sept 11 , 50kg of stone material for tesserae and tools are being shipped to Brasilia.
I am leaving Ayvalik with all its lovely supportive people and THE (half finished) MOSAIC on Sept 14!
In my head lots of uncertainties:
Will the boxes arrive in Brasilia?
Will I find a tree trunk and somebody to cut it for me to mount the hardie again?
Will I find the glue that I used?
Will the glue hold the stones even in tropical climate during rain season?
Will I find the time and energy to work on the mosaic next to learning to get to know a new place, culture and language?
How will I bring the mosaic pieces back to Ayvalik ?
