Faux Mosaic Mermaid on canvas of two-by-fours 8.5' 2011-2012

Carved by Will Worsnopp, painted by Emily and Will Worsnopp

First coat of paint completely done.  Still need to do a second coat, plus seal it to protect against moisture.  Using polyurethane will also give the tiles a sheen reminiscent of ceramic tile.

When my wife and I tore down a wall separating our kitchen and dining room, we were left with a stack of nail-filled two-by-fours about nine feet long.  When placed side by side they made a nice canvas for my next mosaic piece.  In some places, the two-by-fours have been stacked one on top of the other to create even more depth.
In the end, the entire piece has been "tiled" to create a colorful mosaic surface.  I  place "tiled" between quotes because the tiles are relief-carved into the surface and then painted one by one rather than using actual tiles and grout.  Thanks to my lovely wife for helping me choose and apply the colors.  Lots of the painting inspiration came from her, both in terms of style and color choice.  The large circle in the center, for example,  was designed and  painted completely by Emily Worsnopp.

In the photo above, each of the three parts of this piece are at different stages in their development.  On the left, most of it is still untiled, while the piece on the right has gotten it's first coat of acrylic.  

Here also you can see the carving at three different stages from top to bottom.  The top third has not fully carved (no tiles have been carved into the surface).  The middle is carved but not yet painted, and the bottom is in the first stages of painting.  

You can see how the "tiles" have been carved into the background.  The tentacle and suckers will have smaller tiles with tighter "grout" lines.  

The very first "tiles" I added.  I find it's best to do this style of tile freehand because it leaves an impression that I was working with random, broken tiles.  In the foreground, on one of the suckers, you will note a dark line of wood.....there was a gap in the wood here when I glued the boards together.  I glued a bit of walnut in here and smoothed it out to fix it.  

Every day a little bit smoother.

Mermaid as of 10/21/'12: made from boards in our dining hall wall.  8.5' long

The boards, nails removed.  

 The original design was inspired directly by the two images below (Sophie Blackall art on right).  You can see that I decided to combine the woman's face with the spiral at one end of the carving.  Directly below these two photos you can see how I merged these two photos to create the design that I ended up using.  The remainder of the carving came from other inspirations in my life, including a year I lived in Spain as part of Dickinson College's program in Málaga. Spain has a rich tradition of incorporating truly unique mosaics in their arts and architecture, and I am certain that my experiences in that country made an impression on my own artwork.

A mix of images combined to get some color inspiration.

Some less direct inspirations to my recent works have been mosaic works by Spanish architect Gaudi, the natural world, and other artists.

Will Worsnopp, Dickinson College, Bronx High School of Science, Sidney Central School, carving, powercarver, gaudi, antonio mosaic mosaico, barcelona, Spain, Malaga, MATSL BENNINGTON college