It's the end of the year and I was organising some travel photos and discovered something. Over the past several years I've taken lots of unexpected photos of an art form I know very little about - one we don't see much in Australia, but which I keep tripping over, almost literally on my travels. Mosaics. They're not something we learned about in school art classes, and though I know what they are, it wasn't till I travelled elsewhere that I really discovered them. I love the fact they're tough, incredibly durable yet beautiful and created with such love.
How about this public path on a hill above the old town of Nice. Isn't it charming?
And now I think of it, I did have an artist heroine who was fascinated by them in my second sheikh romance. Maybe because I wanted to learn more myself.
Here's a touch of splendour in Paris: very regal an elegant.
Personally I loved this ancient Roman mosaic floor in Ostia, outside Rome. There's a whole terrace filled with mosaics advertising the traders who had their stores there.
And modern mosaics can be functional too. Take this one in the Black Forest town of Freiburg. The old town is full of mosaics of pretzels advertising bakeries, scissors for hairdressers, glasses for optometrists, etc.
Then there are the just plan cute, like this leopard in Rome, watching a couple of gladiators.
Or informative. Here's one of a series of mosaics in Breisach on the French, German border, explaining which government controlled the town at various times.
Do you have a hankering to try something in the new year that you've never attempted before? Maybe something artistic that you've never found time for in the past?
I'll leave you with Penelope, patiently weaving her tapestry of her husband's travels. She had such patience to weave it for ten years! Maybe that's what I need - patience to carve out time from all the busyness of life and patiently work at something new.
All the best for the festive season! See you in the new year!
Annie
