The mosaic began in 1989 with the creation of Egyptian wings either side of the main door.
Some years later the adesign grew from the wings and the style was set for that particular wall.
2015 was the centenary of the house so in 2014 I decided to cover the wall facing the main road and I decided on a more photographic look. I purchased a large format inkjet printer and composed the design on the computer and printed the whole thing full size. I cut up the composition into manageable sections and used them as a reference to place the ceramic pieces directly onto the print ( a bit like 'painting by numbers') so with this method I was able to create a photographic look.
Here you can see the idea as I lay down similar coloured ceramic pieces on top of the inkjet print.
Eventually I became good at choosing various ceramic plates and mugs that I needed from the local charity shops. It was important to use a variety of material as they reflect the light in a random way as opposed to ordinary flat mosaic tiles that are easily purchased.
The first section was to represent the ghosts of the people that lived in the house and the perfect place was an ugly section of the wall that used to have a window and a side door in the 1950s when it used to be a shop..
The advertisement board against the wall shows the Royalty Cinema in nearby Bourne End and was projecting the film Rosale and Showboat so that helped me to date the photo.
Placing the sections of the mosaic accurately onto the wall needed a simple hinged pltwood board that could register the mosaic section (covered in cement) in a fairly precise manner. Theboard with the mosaic section was slapped against the wall and it never ceased to amaze me that the whole lot stuck firdt time onto the wall, I couldn't resist calling my invention 'The Slapper'.
Eventually I began using printed plates of birds to introduce more interest into the design that lead to the idea of making the chimney breast the source of the tree of life. As the mosaic grew higher it became obvious that I needed a scissor lift to get the the very top but before that here is a short film made for my local camera club and directed by a friend Geoff Bourne, It shows a few of the processes that lead up to the cementing onto the brick wall of my house.
I loved the scissor lift....
The chimney had been 'capped' some years before I appeared but it was well ventilated with brick sized grills and although the house was built with lime mortar the mosaics provided good reinforcement.
Sometimes I would have get to the chimney from the roof to finish around the back.
The last of the mosaic was finished in the Indian summer of 2019 to great relief. Early on that year I also covered my second chimney breast at the back of the house where there is a tribute to the Red Kites that soar above the skies.
The design below is layed out to give a better idea of the tree tops.
View work on the two chimneys HERE