Listening

I started with a sketch. At first, a few lines. Then, a bit of colour. Then words came to me and I wrote them down, without thinking. Just listening.

And then, finally, mosaic. Slate, smalti, gold, thinset. I’m so grateful…

I used thinset to raise the smalti a bit above the slate, thus giving the impression of something forceful rising from the cracks, pushing through the slate.

I also laid smalti at odd angles, to increase reflectivity and give the feeling of something out of control.

Slate, a metamorphic rock that splits into thin, smooth-surfaced layers, was an obvious choice to represent the layers of the shell.