Grey Tess on Bright Mortar with Kelley Knickerbocker

How to Build Literal and Metaphorical Color into Your Andamento

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Course intro and interview with Kelley Knickerbocker and Tami Macala

Learn how to work with some of Kelley's favorite tools and materials while she shares her tips and secrets for creating her gray tesserae with bright mortar mosaics


Are you ready to level up both of your andamento and color games? If so, this course by Kelley Knickerbocker contains multitudes: a grayscale material gradient, a vividly colorful mortar gradient, and the basic principles of andamento are all unpacked in this technique-rich offering by one of our most prolific and innovative instructors.

If you've been wanting to know the basics of successful andamento (directionality, keystoning, splitting a line, etc.), this course opens with a crash course in just that, then moves straight into complementary gradients (dark-to-light grayscale over light-to-dark mortar).

Here are just a few of the things you'll be learning in this course:

  • How to apply the basic principles of andamento (the flow of a mosaic line)
  • How to organize a grayscale material palette
  • How grayscale and constraints enhance color
  • How to build metaphorical color (liveliness and character) into a line of grayscale andamento
  • How to use wet pigments in mortar
  • How to create and manipulate (expand and contract) a rapidly-changing color gradient in mortar

This all may seem like a lot to tackle at once (metaphorical color, what?!), but Kelley's thorough, encouraging, and humorous explanations during step-by-step demonstrations (first in a getting-familiar exercise, then an artwork) ensure that you're never left floundering in the deep end. And you'll emerge with new knowledge and confidence along with two gorgeous samples of the techniques.

Kelley shares her suggested tools, materials and resources for this course.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride!



Your Instructor


Kelley Knickerbocker
Kelley Knickerbocker

Visual artist Kelley Knickerbocker left a 22-yr administrative career at the University of Washington in 2006 to found a mosaic studio (Rivenworks Mosaics, Seattle) and direct her accumulated skills in project management and planning toward designing/fabricating/installing mosaic artwork for public, commercial, residential and gallery environments.

Kelley’s ruggedly dimensional mosaics, in a broad range of materials, are a textural distillation of her fascination with contrast, material properties and the technical challenges of mosaic construction. Sharing that fascination and learning from other art makers are keys to the freshness of Kelley’s mosaic practice, and she travels extensively throughout North America speaking, collaborating and teaching in-depth workshops on mosaic style and technique.

Kelley’s fine art mosaic panels have been accepted to numerous national and international juried exhibitions, and many reside in private collections. She is an active member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists.


Course Curriculum


  Grey Tess on Bright Mortar: How to Build Colorful Andamento with Kelley Knickerbocker
Available in days
days after you enroll

Frequently Asked Questions


When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 14 days and we will give you a full refund.

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