The photo above (upside down) shows my design evolving. At first I thought nothing of using two different thicknesses of tiles, I soon found the uneven surface not to my liking. To replace the thicker tiles with thinner ones is challenging, color choices are limited in our inventory of found and discarded material. I also removed the green glass beads, the big tree in the middle looks better in dark green instead of my first choice of a thick light green tile. I like the changes. 
On the left horizon line I added smaller trees of broken blue green chips. So far so good. The nearby foothills became shades of mauve, scatterings of yellow-gold glass in the foreground are made from smashing a vase into bits. The sticky back mesh arrived today, tomorrow I’ll go through the painstaking process of transferring this whole design onto the mesh which we hope will hold the whole composition together. If this works we will carefully slide the heavily laden mesh onto a freshly mortared bench top.
Carol’s mosaic underwent a major metamorphosis as well and looks wonderful. The round and oval shapes are rocks cut into thin slices. I’ll post photos of the completed benches once we’re finished.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist
Gail, That was a very bold and energetic project for a first-time! Looks beautiful!
Thanks Sylvia. I had no clue what I was doing, just went with the gut. Big job indeed!
This looks like a lot of fun, Gail. I really like both your and Carol’s designs, very different perspectives.
I also like the changes you made, in particular making the tree a dark green. It draws the eye in and with the smaller, similar trees in the distance, there’s a great perspective.
Clever artists!
This was a very fun project, I’d like to do more mosaics. Maybe take a class. Thanks.