Father's Day Comission

Ella's Mosaic, stained glass mosaic on board, 9" x 12", 2012

This cityscape mosaic is my latest commission.  I was approached by a friend to create something special as a present for her husband for his first father's day.  Her husband has been a fan of my work so she thought that this would be a perfect gift.  The project was very open and the most important guideline she have me was to incorporate the date of their daughter's birth.  She also mentioned that her husband likes the color blue and is very passionate about their home city - Chicago. 

Basically my friend gave me complete artistic freedom and wanted to be surprised with what I would come up with.  Seeing that someone had such confidence in my abilities was great and at the same time a little bit intimidating.  Thinking of all the possibilities,  I approached this project with excitement but soon I became nervous and afraid that I may go in the wrong direction and end up disappointing my friends.  After a lot of pondering, sketching and going back and forth, I finally decided to create a calm sunrise over the city of Chicago and Lake Michigan.  I associated the birth of a new life to a new beginning like a new day - a perfect day in which two people were blessed with a beautiful baby girl.  The project really came together in my head when I figured out a clever way to include the birthrate of their daughter into the design of the lake. 
I am so happy with how this mosaic turned out. Every commission is an opportunity to create something I would never have made on my own.