Have You Ever?...

Now I know I said I was going to get back to the subject of narrowing down artistic direction and I will, just wait. I just  have  to share my latest creation first.

Have you ever worked on something that refused to come together for a long time, but when it finally did it was not just finished but it sang to you?

This piece had flummoxed me for about two years(I guess). It was something of a series of experiments. First was the faux dichroic center. I had found some dichroic mica powder and started working with it. (I actually have blended my own color variations, but that is for another post.) Later when I was trying to figure out what I could do with a 1 1/4" domed textured piece of faux dichroic polymer clay, I came across the work of Cheryl Harris in a copy of Belle Armoire Jewelry. What she was doing there with using real dichroic glass cabs I could certainly do with my faux one. I gave it a try and really liked my result.

I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. Should it be a pendant? Should it become a broach? Because of the way I spaced out the elements I couldn't even come to a firm decision of what should be the top and bottom! Now don't misunderstand me, I am not habitually indecisive. I just could see too many different possibilities and really did not want to mess this up.

Well, along came wire sculpting. Now I knew what I wanted to do with it. It took a number of different tries to get something that I felt worked, but I perservered. I'm really glad I did.

In addition to the wire giving the pendant something to hang by, it really complements the piece. By following some of the original curves and adding a few more spiral flourishes I kept in line with the flow of the clay vines.

I will bring this back to narrowing down my artistic direction by saying that when I was finished I just could not stop looking at what I just did. I even said to myself that this was the kind of art I want to do. This pendant sang to me. I immediately began seeing new and different possibilities based on what I held in my hands. I knew that I had found the inspirational focus I had been looking for. To me this pendant has all of the top five elements that I identified that I want to have in my work.

Fantasy; Nature; Colorful; Magical; Earthy