Black Sheep Hostel
Adventure Racing Team-Mate and Black Sheep Hostel Owner Kevin Leahy commissioned me to create a 4m x 1.5 metre mosaic in the Hostel Garden. The theme was to be an Adventurer looking out over the Reeks Mountains! Wow, fantastic job!
The Garden is a walled area backing on to the hostel. The original stone walls are 150 years old, and in the process of being repaired by two stone-masons. Apart from a 4mx1.5m section in the middle, that is…
In the 1970s the local council decided to knock a channel for a pipe through all the adjoining gardens… and rebuilt them with ugly block. SO the plan was to put a mosaic there!
Early Stages! The sky is lighter in the distance, this will give the picture great depth, and is a good technique to use in paintings too!
Setting out all the colours. The more colour and tone, the better the end result will be, although colour must be used very carefully so the design remains clear and defined. My colour sketch is there in the pic above also!
The Garden is a walled area backing on to the hostel. The original stone walls are 150 years old, and in the process of being repaired by two stone-masons. Apart from a 4mx1.5m section in the middle, that is…
In the 1970s the local council decided to knock a channel for a pipe through all the adjoining gardens… and rebuilt them with ugly block. SO the plan was to put a mosaic there!
The fields are emerging! This was about day 3, and at this stage the weather was still good!
Looking up the garden. Jim the Ozzie stone mason and general font of all knowledge, who was here on walkabout, blowing bubbles for Rosa and Gnasher the dog.
Day 4 below it started raining, and hats, coats and gezebo were needed! The mountain line went in, Caruntohil, Beenkeragh, and even the detail of the Devils Ladder! Great fun!
We’ve had terrible trouble sourcing bright coloured tiles, particularly green and yellow. Killarney Tile and Bathroom Centre have been very patient with me routing in their skips. In the end we used yellow mugs from Dunnes for the yellow in the foreground field! Great fun smashing them up!
The figure of the adventurer has gone in at last, along with one of the foreground trees! The dark colours in the foreground really emphasise the depth in the scene, and help the light colours in the distance to recede more, adding to the dramatic 3D effect!
The weather is bad at this point, some drainage has gone in below ground and we need to wait for the wall to dry out before getting down in the mud and doing the lower part of the wall!
The grouting and polishing is a big part of the job, and I have really great help with this part, and some of the tiling too!
