I think that the summer of 2012 was the most depressing I can remember. I had the whole summer off, from May to October and had big plans. Remember have concrete mixer, will build? Well, I bought a concrete mixer and planned to build a patio among other things. But it rained, almost continuously for the entire 5 months and even on the days when it didn’t rain, the forecast was never good enough to be sure that the fruits of my labour wouldn’t get washed away so only a couple of relatively small outdoor projects got done and the “big job” – the patio – got shelved.

I was going stir crazy because I was stuck at home with no money, no car and not able to get on with my projects so I rooted around inside, found a big box of ceramic tile bits that I’d been given a couple of years earlier, dusted them off, found some tile cement and got going on a mosaic. This is a small section from my mosaic, which overall is about 5’ high and 3’ across and surrounds a mirror on our bathroom wall.

Over the course of the project, I learned a lot about mosaics. The thing had to be done in situ because it’s so heavy that it couldn’t be lifted complete. This meant that I had to deal with the effects of gravity, which, over a 5’ height amounts to about 5” so my horizontal template needed some urgent readjustment. I also discovered that it’s a really great idea to use mosaics of the same thickness otherwise you end up fiddling about trying to make them level. Grouting with grey grout would have made the white tiles stand out but I didn’t realise this until too late! I’d also mistakenly thought it’d be such a doddle that it’d take me no more than a couple of days – ha ha – it took five whole days and was hard work because three of the five days were spent up a ladder.

BUT despite all of my acknowledged mistakes, I am still utterly thrilled with the overall effect. It brings a wonderful splash of colour to the room and it makes me smile every time I look at it because it’s slightly crooked and amateurish.

Can I consider this a self-portrait? Maybe. Am I ashamed of how dusty the mirror is? A little but I’m not feeling anal enough about it to go back, clean the mirror and do it again. Will I ever do another mosaic? Yes, yes, and yes again…..though I’ll learn from my mistakes and that’ll be easier now I’ve written it down, which is one of the great benefits of PAD.