Simplicity

It seems I have a strange internal drive to use the most complicated approach to most things. It appears that my studio life experiences this phenomenon regularly and sometimes to crippling effect, whether in process or in overthinking.

Coming back to the studio after nearly a year away from regularly creating due to illness has been and continues to be a slow process. My determination is to identify where my tendency to overthink and complicate things is interfering with my progress.

I have to identify where I am and where I want to go. Sounds so simple.

Currently I’m determined to pursue sculpting and have been exploring a few different media (fine silver metal clay has been delightful!), looking for ease and simplicity is the process. If a thing feels natural and enjoyable during the process I am far more likely to pursue it.

For larger pieces, at the moment I’m leaning toward air dry clay rather than ceramic for the simple reason that the process of firing, adding underglaze and then glaze firing pieces again is intimidating and time intensive. I need a workshop or two to answer my questions and develop some confidence.

Thus, seeking simplicity in my studio looks like air dry clay.

Air dry clay, on the other hand, satisfies my need for detail, ease of use without requiring kiln or oven and I can still make molds and cast it in a varies of media.

Bronze cast sculpture has been a goal of mine since I was a child. Well, I’ve bought myself some sand casting equipment as well as a bit of bronze for casting. Hopefully this summer will see some very interesting projects take shape! I am super excited!

I’m also beginning to explore lost wax casting and have ordered some jeweller’s wax blocks to begin the journey of learning this process.

I’m so excited! I hope you’ll follow along!