Aluminum, copper and steel carpet tacks on artist panel

This is a mosaic created from 17,980 carpet tacks, where the subject is the material. The image shows three tacks: copper, aluminum, and blued steel. This mosaic is part of my Self-Actualization series started with Circular Reference - Still Life of Beads. The goal is to create a photo-realistic image of an object created using the object itself. I first started working on this piece in early 2007 and finished in early 2012. There was a steep learning curve and I had to redo large portions to correct early mistakes.

This image shows the work from around 40 feet away.