Shafts of sunlight streaming through the canopy of trees to the undergrowth, was my inspiration for this picture. and I decided to use multi textures to depict the leaf litter and mosses that made up the ground level, the ferns are splashed with gold to show the sun dancing on the foliage.

The Year of the Forest gave me plenty of scope to mosaic a range of topics.  I love working with colours so I chose  these Two Toucans  to mosaic as they are such vibrant and exotic Birds - ideal subjects to be made up in stained glass.  Cutting the  pieces as large as possible  shows the wonderful textures and colours in the glass.  And  I decided to mount the design on clear glass as this  also allows light to pass through and enhanced the picture.

I have always felt that the Silver Birch tree is seen at its best during the Winter months. Throughout my mosaic I  wanted to create a magical Winter scene highlighted by the distinctive white peeling bark of these attractive trees against the snow covered ground.  To contrast this I have created a backdrop of a red evening sky populated with silver stars.

Life in the trees encompasses every memory and experience of wonderful trips to the woods, excited and child like examining the delicate intricacy of its flora and fauna, the forest dominating, wild, beautiful and ever-changing.
The piece displays the seasons change and the simple beauty of the bark on a tree and all that lives within it. Making the work itself a potential home for the forest creatures. With this, the materials needed to look natural, less ordered embracing textures and colours that would make it more emotive. The piece was designed by myself in wood, varnished and covered top to bottom in mosaics. Recycled broken crockery, chosen for their colour, pattern, texture or shape and marrying them up with vitreous glass, iridescent, glass beads, marbles and Italian smalti.