Flora
Molds and Makings
My “Blue Ruins” mold has now been involuntarily retired after five casts. It was such a compromised mold that I am delighted to get any good casts from it! It tore today when I removed it from the second concrete cast (digital foil of the photo above right).
I have been working on several epoxy casts: a clear moon snail with some embedments (below right), another clear sleeper with an embedded face, and using the extra epoxy on each mix up to make smaller items. Some of these are shown below and above left. I have also used the clear epoxy to mount a small two piece residue resin cast from 1995: the kneeling figure above. I have a full 3-D cast of this, and a couple of half/relief casts, but this one was made with insufficient leftover resin, so the head & arms are incomplete. I find it quite interesting, so I kept it: apparently for this very piece of acrylic, test scratched as a plate for printing!
Revised Poem
Writing
A Challenge to Collage
The challenge was to create a collage piece with this tree print and these two leaves (drawings) and something to represent the seed: Parts & Ages of the tree/life.
These are digital works only: I adjusted the scale and modified the seeds drawing in various ways. It took several iterations to get this far, and I am not quite sure which I like best at this point.
Resin Casts Finish Work
I am plugging away on resin casts (both this “Ruins” and my Moon Snail. Somehow they just look naked when they emerge from the mold. At first the new cast delights me: if the casting is a success I have a new “baby”! But after a few days I find myself a bit less satisfied…
So that is when I start to play with the surface, brushing or rubbing on a little pigment. This helps to bring these casts into the real world, where uniformity and cleanliness are rare. I take photos and or scans along the way: this helps me see what is working (or not).
This version of the Ruins has four pigments rubbed on here and there, and a clear matte archival coat.
An Art Sale
Cast Resin Moon Snail SOLD
My second art sale for the Moon Snail!
I just SOLD this guy today! I expected to sell the concrete cast for outdoor display, but … the buyer fell in love with this resin yellow guy instead. So she has decided on a place to mount or hang her “chicken head” moon snail inside her house.
She was a friend, so I sold it pretty much at cost of materials. But I am fairly optimistic that I will be able sell another one or two of these Moon Snail casts for a bit more. I could use a bit of money, so that I can justify my obsession, and so can keep buying the supplies and tools for carving and making more molds, and … all that!
And after all this my most a popular image: I sold the original limestone carving very quickly, and for a very nice price!
I am quite delighted to know these are enjoyed!
Finish Work
Holiday Time
A few days ago the holiday season hit me, and yes, that is how it felt!
So I made myself a very personal holiday season “tree”, after realizing that my resin casts of a piece of coral would be great hanging ornaments! Yes, it looks a bit more like a menorah than a tree, but that is coincidence: the brass candlestick is just heavy enough to balance my chosen curly branch, and the design went from there based on just the right things coming to hand in my studio. Well I did spend an hour searching for the dried poppy heads after realizing the one at hand was so perfect!
I had already started on “Three Ships Come Sailing In” but only have two ships so far…