Symbolic Meaning of Frogs

I've been wondering for a while what gave me the idea to make mosaic frogs. I don't like frogs particularly. But I just found a site about the symbolic meanings of frogs and the description is perfect for where I am right now in my life. This is what the Symbolic Meanings site says the frog represents:

• Creativity
• Fertility
• Luck
• Cleansing
• Intuition
• Transformation

Due to the fascinating transitions the Frog goes through in its life, it is a symbol of metamorphosis. Furthermore, the Frog’s dual time spent on land and water represents duality of the soul. The Frog also symbolizes creativity and forward thinking.

Frog Animal Totems Facilitate:

• Patience in undergoing life transitions, clarity of thought during transition
• Embracing of personal transformation, welcoming internal morphing
• Jump into creative thought, and leap out of habitual thinking patterns
• Acceptance of our diversity and celebration of our opposite poles found in personality and lifestyle

I am really hoping these frogs are giving me patience through my life transitions and personal transformation.

House Tattoos - Mosaic Frogs for Jingletown

The frog invasion continues! This time a homeowner in the 'hood requested some mosaic frogs for the front of his building. Thanks Michael!

These frogs range in size from approximately 22" tall down to approximately 7" tall.
As you can see the foliage is young but as it grows the frogs will become less obvious and more of a sparkly surprise among the leaves for neighbors, dog walkers, etc. There are 7 of them in all.

Another Mosaic for Jingletown

There is a new mosaic outside 2908 Glascock Street (at Peterson) in Oakland's Jingletown District. Saundra Warren, a tile-making artist, is the owner of the business there called In Saundra's Garden. Her specialty is making ceramic tiles out of the leaves she finds in her environment all around her. Sometimes other people will bring her interesting and beautiful leaves they have found too. In her artwork she either uses the leaf tiles as they are for mosaics or turns them into the most wonderful plates, wall hangings, bowls, fountains, etc. Her work is beautiful! Outside her front door is a large, ugly, bare, cement planter box. Each face is 41" x 27". She lives next door to Bill Silveira who, if you have been reading this blog at all, you know has a building covered with art. For years he has been shaming, cajoling and goading Saundra into making her planter into something beautiful. She finally capitulated and contacted me to make her a glass mosaic frog and hummingbird with the idea that she would use them as part of a mosaic on her planter. So we decided to collaborate. Well it only took us a few days and, voila, two sides are done.Here is Saundra's side, during (above) and finished (below). We each have a different mosaic style: Saundra's uses regular cut shapes and is more serene and Zenlike. I use broken tiles which create a more energetic look. Here is my side during (above) and finished (below). In the above picture you can get a good look at the leaf tiles that Saundra creates. And the shine and sparkle from the glass frog and hummingbird give it that added unexpected element of surprise. Jingletown has long been becoming an art destination and this is just one more reason among many great ones to come on down and take a look.

Rock Frog, the First

Okay enough vacationing! Back to mosaics. I've been using mirror and stained glass in my mosaics from the beginning - which hasn't been very long really. But recently I have been getting sick of the man-made look of it - the shininess and the colors that aren't found in nature. And it's been getting a little too easy to do too. I've started wanting to use more earthy materials. So on vacation I gathered pebbles and rocks from the Cape Cod beaches I visited and brought them home to the West Coast.
My first attempt with them is this Rock Frog. My vision was to juxtapose the rough, raw natural material with the refined and shiny glass. And I wanted to make it look like the frog was materializing out of the wall so I used a grout color that matched the cement color. It didn't turn out perfectly but this is an experiment for me and I will keep working on this "look". I have to admit I love working on these outdoor mosaics! I want this style of frog to be more of a surprise when the viewer comes upon it - not to be just this shiny decoration stuck to the wall but to be more of a challenge to see and understand what it is. Rock Frog 1

2008
Mirror, glass and pebbles
22" tall approximately

Cape Cod Vacation

"If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air, quaint little villages here and there...." I took a break from mosaics this summer to spend a week on Cape Cod. I have family there so I didn't have to pay for accommodations. It's a good thing because the Cape is pricey! I love it there though - that humid, heavy, salty air and soft, beautiful light are like nowhere else. I stayed in Monument Beach, a very small town near the beginning of the Cape. The house is within walking distance of the cute and beautiful town beach - open to anyone who knows about it. Luckily, it isn't well known so we didn't have to share with too many other beachgoers! After a few days there we moved on to spend time in Chatham with friends. We immediately headed for another beach - South Beach. This is a much larger and more populated one on Nantucket Sound - which was made colder than usual this year by Hurricane Bertha. We stayed to watch the sun set and the full moon rise and to totally enjoy that famous Cape light. The next day we hit Sandy Neck beach over in Barnstable. This is a beautiful, wide open, pebbly beach with smooth, clear water on Cape Cod Bay. For me, no visit to Cape Cod is complete without visiting Provincetown - or PTown as my new jacket says! It is a hustling, bustling little city with old buildings housing everything from world-class restaurants, galleries and souvenir shops. And the people-watching is the best I've ever found anywhere! If you stay long-term or are a local, you leave your car behind and rent a bike to navigate the narrow streets or to get to the two huge beaches - Herring Cove and Race Point. The old-time fishing industry is evident as you look out over the piers and wharfs toward the open ocean.If you ever visit Cape Cod, you will notice the amazing color of the hydrangeas there - a gorgeous, shocking bright blue caused by the specific ph balance in the soil.
Cape Cod is a special, if crowded, place. But if you come, try to stay far from the larger cities like Hyannis so you can discover the old-time Cape where the real natives live.

Gyotaku - Fish Rubbing

If you are like me, when you are on vacation you like to do a little souvenir shopping - or at least some strolling and window shopping. Once you've spent a little time on the Cape, however, you start to see the same old tourist souvenirs everywhere - same stuff, different town! But I came upon a pretty cool place in Chatham. On the surface it is just a clothing store. But when you check out the art on the clothing you know you are seeing something unique. The name of the store is Blue Water Fish Rubbings and the artist, Jenny Bovey, uses actual fish, octopus, seahorses, lobsters, sharks, etc to make prints on the garments. She uses real fish (she has fishermen friends who bring them to her) which she allows to dry. Then she coats them with screen printers ink and stamps the cloth with them! She has had some of her fish for 25 years. This is an old Japanese technique called Gyotaku which literally means Fish Rubbing. Check out more info here.

Gecko

Gecko
glass and mirror mosaic
27" x 20"
2008