Creative architecture - jellyfish style

http://www.giancarlozema.com

If I had a few million dollars floating around I would be the first one in line to buy architect Giancarlo Zema's Jelly-fish 45.

The floating house is built to fit 6 people and is about 30 feet high and about 50 feet in diameter. The structure has 5 levels all connected by a spiral staircase, the uppermost level is intended to be used as a study and the lowest level is 9 feet below sea level!

I swear this thing was designed specifically for me - I cannot imagine another abode more perfectly matched to my wish list.
My husband and son could spend all day fishing without even leaving the patio!

My only worry is that this thing would make like a UFO and bolt away at the first sign of hurricane force winds.

Check out the designer's other incredible projects including a semi-submerged resort in Qatar and a cliff house in California that has a submerged acrylic room 10 meters below sea level!
Really amazing stuff!

Jellyfish Delight

© Eve Lynch - Ethereal, 8x10 inches

With batteries back in my camera, I snapped a quick shot of my new work, Ethereal.

This jellyfish has made some serious transformations from just an idea into a work in progress. I hadn't planned to make it almost entirely pink but the glass I had on hand dictated my color selections.

I started with the pink & white glass in the tentacle trail. I'm not even sure what the stained glass is called but it has a wrinkled texture and looks exactly like the lacy underside of some jellyfish. The color in it determined the shades of glass I had to use everywhere else.

The cap has been challenging. It's been ripped out at least 3 times this week. I'm trying to get the right mix shading and texture. I'm working off of a basic painting that I did prior to laying the glass and all I can say is that mosaic just isn't as easy as watercolor!

The background is next...

More to come.

Jellyfish on the brain

© Strini Art Glass

I've been wanting to get back to working on some undersea designs so I started working on a jellyfish mosaic last week.

Jellyfish are some of the most interesting and strangely complex animals that float around in the sea. I've always been slightly attached to them and when I decided that I was going to take a stab at being a painter a few years ago (...it didn't pan out...), the first thing that I painted was an ethereal jelly.

Before drawing out my design, I did the usual "visual research"...combing the web for images of washed up jellies and Man O' War. I posted the most inspiring of these images in my Flickr jellyfish gallery.

Somewhere along the way I ran across this amazing Jellyfish chandelier made by Strini Art Glass. The lamp portion is 14 inches in diameter and the tentacles are 36 inches long! I couldn't find a price listed on the website which usually means that the price tag is well above what any normal human being can afford but I do love it so.

Anyway, my jellyfish is halfway complete. I have the tentacles and the underside finished. I ripped out all the glass on the cap of the jelly and will have to redo that part sometime this week. The background is completely up in the air. I always leave that part until the end and usually regret it. I planned to use black glass to liven up the colors on the jelly body but I think it might be too harsh of a contrast.

I'd post some work in progress photos but my son has conveniently removed all of the batteries from most of the electronics around the house for use in his XBOX controller. Look for some photos soon.

Rainbow Squid II

Rainbow Squid II

It's not very often that I go back and revisit any of my past designs but I when I was commissioned to create a second squid skateboard for the client who purchased my original Rainbow Squid skateboard, I felt that it was a good time to improve upon the design.

The original piece of art was created on a whim when I dug up an old skateboard we had laying around in the garage. The oblong shape was the perfect canvas for the slender mantle of a giant squid. I used shards of glass that I recycled from a box of scrap that I bought from a local stained glass shop.

The newest incarnation of Rainbow Squid was an exercise in patience. I used much smaller pieces of glass and I spent a good amount of time focusing on shading. The iridescent black glass that I used has a rainbow colored mirrored finish that shimmers like oil on water when the light hits it. Keeping the different hues together was challenging.

In person, the result is more than amazing. The glass glimmers like a rainbow disco ball. The black iridescence mimics how a real squid changes color to signal their mood.

I finished the piece off with two giant, comical squid eyes and polymer clay suction cups. The entire thing is about 32 inches long by about 8 inches wide.

Some day I'd love to make a giant (8 foot +) cut-out of a squid using plywood and mosaic it using the black iridescent glass. I have just the wall to hang it on.