The Made Strong Song

K A R E N S I K I EP a p e r M o s a i c S t u d i o

Happiness

Happiness is like a crystal,Fair and exquisite and clear,Broken in a million pieces,Shattered, scattered far and near.Now and then along life's pathway,Lo! some shining fragments fall;But there are so many piecesNo one ever finds them all.

You may find a bit of beauty,Or an honest share of wealth,While another just beside youGathers honor, love or health.Vain to choose or grasp unduly,Broken is the perfect ball;And there are so many piecesNo one ever finds them all.

Yet the wise as on they journeyTreasure every fragment clear,Fit them as they may together,Imaging the shattered sphere,Learning ever to be thankful,Though their share of it is small;For it has so many piecesNo one ever finds them all.

It all begins with the drawing.

The drawing is reworked and refined onpaper.

drawing on Luctie, front view

Lucite comes with aprotective paper on boththe front and back surfaces.

This allows the drawing tobe transferred where it actslike a map for the PaperMosaic to emerge.

Now I can turn my attention to creating my palette by painting the papers.

butterfly papers

bird, branches and leaf papers

flower papers

background papers

To begin, I must remove the protectivepaper by using an exacto blade to cut outthe shape and expose the Lucite.

I then trace the exposed shape withtracing paper and find the paper I want touse to fill that space.

Next I cut out the shape. The tracing paper acts as a pattern.

The Paper Mosaic comestogether as each piece ofpaper is hand cut andglued to the exposed Lucitesurface.

After the front is complete, I begin toaddress the back. I expose the work tolight so the front design comes through.Now I can draw the design on the back.

The process is the same as the front butwhen I glue down the paper it is reversed.

The benefits of working with Lucite are that depth and shadows are created.

The Made Strong Song

Karen Sikie is a Los Angeles artist who enjoys working with private collectors to creatework that is meaningful to them.

Her muse is the natural world, finding inspiration from the infinite array of colorspatterns and textures. She sees the underlying ideas in nature like; energy, reciprocityand connection and incorporates them into the work.

Her mediums are paper and Lucite. So when you visit her studio you will see hermeticulously hand cutting paper or engraving the smooth surface of Lucite all whileher grey hound lounges on his pillow nearby.

You are welcome to stop by they. They love company!

To see more of Karen Sikie's work go to www.karensikie.com

K A R E N S I K I Epaper mosaic studiowww.karensikie.com