The Trout

A few years ago the Marquette community decided to honor one of the famous local folks -- Judge John Travers, a guy that liked trout fishing so much that he wrote some books on it ("Trout Madness", among others). He also wrote other stuff -- including a fictionalized account of a murder that took place in the Marquette County area back in the 50's. The book was turned into a screenplay and then a Hollywood movie -- but lots of the filming took place here, and many of the extras in the movie were local folks. You might have heard of the movie -- "Anatomy of a Murder".

Anyway, Marquette wanted to honor him by having local folks decorate plywood cutouts (supplied by the organizers) of a trout, which then were displayed along city streets and in business windows.

Here's Nancy's trout.

You can't tell very well by the photos, but we cut the trout right at the tail, right behind the dorsal fin, and a bit behind the head -- and reassembled the fish with some angles on those cuts -- to make it look like the fish was swimming. You might also notice that the fish is decorated differently on each side -- one's a little more colorful than the other. Nancy's fish was much heavier than most of the others, and also (we decided) more valuable and therefore more attractive to thieves and vandals, so instead of being hung from lamppost standards -- we hung this one from the ceiling in the lobby of a fancy restaurant. The fish now graces the mantle in our house. One of these days I'll hang it from the ceiling and have a tiny motor slowly spinning the fish -- but that'll be when I've got lots of spare time to burn...

Frank Lloyd Wright

Here's one of the first pieces Nancy ever mosaic-ed. She modeled it after some work by Frank Lloyd Wright. This photo shows the piece from an angle -- so the glare of the flash doesn't make viewing it difficult. You get the idea, though -- it's about 2 feet square, and hangs over one of the sofas in our living room. I sure like it -- the bold colors are great. I'm not a pastel guy. . .

A Wall Hanging

Here's a piece Nancy did a year or two ago, showing that sometimes she'll use colored grout instead of the plain stuff right out of the bag. She can custom-color the grout to bring out highlights in the work.

A Wedding Card Holder

This was made to be a card holder for a wedding reception. A simple plane mirror on the bottom, with the inside done in colors that went with the bride's color scheme. The rest was done in more browns and other muted colors, and then the "box" was set on a flat board, fixed in place, and the board was then mosaiced to go along with the rest of the work. Yes, the mirror inside needs cleaning - - there are the inevitable dust and bits of dried grout that flake off during final preparation -- but wipe clean when ready to ship or use.

A Southwestern Mirror with Lizards

At an art show in the summer of '07 a fellow asked Nancy to make a mirrored piece for his "lizard" room, and this is what she did. The geckos add some lizard effect, and the colors were chosen for the Southwestern scheme. Note, if you will, the inlaid silver wire that breaks up the bulk of the normal mosaic chunks and pieces of glass. That stuff is a pain in the neck to bend to shape, hold in place, and grout (without burying it).