(This entry is part of a look at early mosaics I’ve made).

My good friend Albert Howell, comedian, star of stage and screen, and comedy writer, jokingly suggested that I make a mosaic of him. So, I did. I think it turned out very well, and taught me more still about portraits and shadowing.

I usually don’t like the “side by side” comparison. Other people are amazed at how close the picture is, etc, but having spend hours staring at the pictures, I usually just see the flaws and what I’ve missed. (In this one, Al’s hair bleeds into the shadow behind him).

As usual, I took a few pictures with Finny sitting on or near the piece, to add scale. It occurs to me now that as he gets bigger, I’ll need to either make bigger mosaics, or accept that the scale will be less impressive.

I also experimented with building up parts of the mosaic to make it a bit more 3D. I didn’t think it really added much, and it seemed weird, so I stopped.

As Albert is “Canadian Famous”, he didn’t actually purchase the mosaic, but I made up for that by renting space to a fellow who wanted to build a castle. I think this makes this mosaic fairly unique, as I can’t think of any other LEGO creation that uses a portrait as it’s baseplate.

Thanks for visiting and allowing me to ramble on about the work. Hope you enjoyed it, and as always, Brickwares is available for custom mosaics. You can’t buy THIS mosaic, as it’s of Albert, and that would be weird. Oh, unless you ARE Albert, or maybe his parents, possibly his sister. Otherwise, it’s right out. Contact me at dave@brickwares.com if you have any questions.