Tuesday, January 11, 2011

New Work: A Surprise on Christmas Morning...

I'm a tactile kinesthetic learner, a doer. I work with my hands everyday either in sign language interpreting or in art. I experiment with different media to find the right one to express the concept I have in mind. Glass beadmaking is done by hand but you don't actually touch the media (hot glass) when you're sculpting it. Sometimes, I just want to get my hands on the media and lately, it's been polymer clay.

Christmas morning, I was surprised by a creative burst that felt new but was really an evolution. I started this polymer journey with the faux carved wood hearts.

I kept along that path exploring the texture, poking dots into the clay to make it look like aged wood. Where would it go next? I was following the texture and then I made this...

...a folk style bird. I made several of the birds and really liked how together with the hearts, it was a logical series.

Then, on Christmas morning, it evolved yet again and in an unexpected direction. I got up and knew I had to make lotus pods...



...why lotus pods? I'm not sure. I love the lotus as a symbol and incorporate it into my personal jewelry. According to the website, Exotic India Art, the red lotus signifies:


I made the red lotus pods with a passion that morning, furiously handcrafting a dozen before anyone else woke up. A special gift that's particularly appropriate to today's auspicious date of 1/11/11!
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12 comments:

  1. Davinia6:43 AM

    Oh I love these, especially the little birds. Wish I could get my clay to look like that. I'd keep practicing but it's just too hot to put the oven at the moment.

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  2. Cindy Gimbrone7:56 AM

    Thank, Davinia! I love them too!

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  3. Lynn7:59 AM

    Oh Cindy, these are fabulous. You are so talented! It is remarkable how they resemble wood.

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  4. Alice8:29 AM

    I love the hearts and the little folk art bird, but that lotus pod is just amazing! Of course I've always loved lotus pods--such interesting little works of nature.

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  5. Courtney Breul8:33 AM

    Beautiful! The little bird is great.

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  6. Cindy Gimbrone8:38 AM

    Thank you, Lynn! Funny, I didn't plan them to look like wood they just did! I'm very happy with how they turned out.

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  7. Cindy Gimbrone8:40 AM

    Thank you, Alice! I bought some real dried lotus pods thinking I would use them for texture stamps (which I still will do) and then I was like a woman possessed on Christmas morning, I had to make these. Funny how it hits you and if you have the opportunity to go right to it, what lovely things you can make!

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  8. Cindy Gimbrone8:40 AM

    Thank you Courtney!

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  9. EB Bead and Metal Works, LLC8:55 AM

    I am in love with your lotus pods - they are great! I also love the wood heart and the little bird.

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  10. mairedodd1:46 PM

    cindy, these are just stunning and i am so moved by the lotus pods - both aesthetically and symbolically... beautiful...

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  11. Cindy Gimbrone4:50 PM

    Thanks, EB - glad you like them (as I sit at the computer wearing the necklace with the lotus I bought from you! :-)

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  12. Cindy Gimbrone4:52 PM

    Thanks, Mary Jane. I feel they're special - they came to me out of the blue. I made them with no drawing or hesitation about what they should look like. What goddess what it that sprung from the head of Zeus? It felt like that.

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