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And some art updates



This lovely lady is my newest sculpture piece and I'm very proud of her. She's been percolating in the back of my brain for some years now but I didn't feel comfortable attempting her until recently. I've been using paper clay a lot and I'm finding it was a real break through in my abilities, possibly because it forces me to slow down and really consider what I'm doing, pause, and rework as needed in stages. It's not a sort of "control factor" that polymer allowed and given my tendancy to rush and push, I think this really helped overall. I've been using paperclay for my masks for years - but the shift to art dolls and sculpts was a new one.

I'm exploring some different themes lately in my dolls - lots of seasonal thoughts, but this is the first time I've ever created a pregnant figure as well. I'm, ironically, not pregnant in the least and my husband and I are waiting until we feel ready for that. However, several friends have been blessed recently and so I've been watching their anticipation and joy increase as days go by. Their glowing and excitement and patience was a major emotional inspiration behind this piece.

I've also started playing with silk fiber again, from dress to wings to shawl I'm finding I really just don't get the same results with anything else on figures of this size.

In other news, we're back to work at school next week. I'm both terrified and excited all at once and I'm hoping that I can keep my artistic bent this year amidst everything else. The students are both inspiring and exhausting on a regular basis so we'll see how that goes. It's always interesting to see the new batch of my kids every year and see what challenges the job has in store. In many ways I get the same sort of thrill from teaching as from my art in terms of problem solving and approaching things with new angles.

Today we're about to go work out on one of our last days of summer laziness; the recharge has been very much needed. After that I'll be heading into the studio again to see if I can work more on Pinwheedle.


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