illyrianth mosaics' photostream  

**Please note** Yes, I do talk utter gibberish quite often. This is perfectly normal behaviour for me and the best thing to do is nod, smile and avoid making eye contact. I -do- go away eventually ;)

Just an ordinary person leading an ordinary life, nobody of any interest whatsoever. Seriously. No, I am not saying this in order to appear all mysterious and whatnot. It's just how it is. Just needed to get that clear :)

With a love of ancient history, I have developed a taste for making copies of Roman mosaics in ceramics and have even started making my own designs now in a rather more modern style with glass. A member of BAMM, I regularly trawl through the mosaic groups on here and wish I was even half as talented as the people whose work I see on here on a daily basis. Doesn't stop me trying though and it's certainly better than succumbing to daytime television! Even though I am somewhat in awe of them, I have found the artists here on Flickr are an amazing bunch, always ready with a helpful hint or an uplifting word of encouragement.

Inspiration can come from any source and even though there is no such thing as an original idea, it's nice to build and to have our own interpretations come in to being. Guess it's why I like making big, solid things with my hands but utterly fail at any kind of drawing/painting attempt.

On a more serious note, I found out how good mosaic was in helping me to try and hold off the trauma of recent events. I can lose myself in the colours and the shiny for a while and try to pretend that the bad things have never happened. They have though, so every piece is also in a strange way a tribute to my nephew and neice, taken away from us so cruelly in 2007.

Uhm...yep, that's about it, I guess - best to quit before I ramble on any more.

Any and all comments welcome, positive and negative. As long as those negatives have some constructive purpose, all well and good.

If there's anything I can help with, just ask away and I'll do what I can to assist.

Recently, I realised how my favourite quote of all time somehow meshes with another from a far more recent source...It was one of those moments which made me smile.

"It is the job of the artist to deepen the mystery" - Francis Bacon

"Can you tell what it is yet?" - Rolf Harris

Oh, and just call me Illy...it's way easier ;)