My First Art blog

Well, I have succumbed to the www way of advertising and made my first blog. I have been journalling but this is going to be better I think, with all that you can add in one place, mighty handy!

I should be sharing here I guess how I came to start in this new adventure in using the medium of polymer clay with organic botanicals.

It all started last year when I discovered something called a CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture. I have always had an interest in healthy living and eating, preferring nutrition to drugs to keep the body at its optimum, the way it was created to be. I had been incorporating more and more organic products into my grocery list and finding this out was a blessing. The farm I was lead to was organic, in fact it was on leased land from one of Americas foremost and leading advocate for regenerative, sustainable agriculture and organic foods, The Rodale Institute®.

The first year was a whirlwind of enjoying the weekly pick-up of the weeks share of vegetables that the earth had brought forth. Also of the fun of picking our own strawberries, tomatoes, edamame, sweet peas, green beans, bouquets of flowers and a variety of herbs.

At the time I was not doing much with my art, but early this year I recalled one of the first things I loved using to impress the clay was things from nature. I don't know why it didn't hit me sooner except for the fact I discovered mid-season last year I have CD, and spent much time on learning about that and adjusting my diet greatly. So this year when the farm opened, soon after when picking in the fields I was doing what I usually do when outside, admiring the beauty in the simplest form.

I think the first thing that really attracted me was the herbs. A few years ago I had a sage plant over the summer which I had potted up into a hanging basket and it did quite well over the winter. In fact it grew some huge leaves, and I thought the best was to preserve this was to immortalize it in clay, which I did. The leave was about 5" long and 2" wide. If you have ever seen sage grow, you will know that is more than double the normal size! Previously I had taken some other leaves, like a wild arugula leaf and embedded it in a earth colored clay, and after firing, I painted it with watercolors and sealed it. It came out rather well and I loved looking at it, enjoying the beautiful veining.

So one day at the farm it hit me, here was all this wonderful produce, flowers, herbs, growing naturally with all it's components, a plethora of material to use to make wonderful things with! Polymer clay is a wonderful medium that has the ability to capture the most intricate of details and many polymer clay artists take advantage of that, impressing all kinds of things in it, from fabric to sandpaper and beyond.

As I started to work with the different leaves, and fruits, stems and seeds, I realized that so much more was revealed of the plant when impressed into the clay, much more than the naked eye could see. This excited me greatly and ever since I have pushed to explore all the wonders each plant has to offer.

Now the farm is closed, the fresh produce is gone, but I was wise, I stored up for the winter, and while the produce came in the share and there were things to pick in the fields, I gathered all parts and made dozens and dozens of molds which I can't wait to experiment with.

I have found an amazement of patterns and shapes, both intricate and intriguing and look forward to discovering more. My art pieces reflect this study , which I hope will find an audience to enjoy this journey of exploration with me, as I don't believe there is anything more beautiful than the creation, I can only hope to emphasize some of it for the appreciation it deserves.

I look forward to sharing my discoveries with you in thought, word and pictures and hope you will share with me your feelings on this subject that is close to all our hearts, food of life.