mmmmm.. doesn't this look good? Just a pan full of wax scrapings, but beautiful enough to frame. At least I think so. Love the many shades of ivory and those delicate petal-like folds -

Another workday of many different projects. But I like moving between pieces and explorations. When one piece is drying or setting (or cooling down after the torch!) I can pull out another to work on. Keeps me busy and is a nice way to stave off the sort of blockage/inertia that comes up when I'm feeling stuck and without direction.

No clay-play today. Instead, I worked two-dimensionally in a three-dimensional way. That is to say, I did a lot with texture (inspired after looking at all those great Cousins pieces). Started several pieces (one panel and two canvasses) with a thick layer of modeling paste, then tried different ways of creating texture. At one point I was having a lot of success using a dried leaf as a 'paintbrush'. I've never much liked working with paintbrushes. Don't like the marks they leave. It seems that most of the work I do with brushes involves trying to hide all the brushmarks! Maybe I just need to get over it. Or maybe that's just how I work? Anyway, here's one of the texture pieces I worked on today --

Am I creating art? I don't know. That's not the goal anyway. Am I having fun and enjoying the materials and explorations? Most definitely yes! Here's yours truly, holding up the paste/pumice panel in one of it's incarnations today. This was after scraping (and then melting) off most of the wax I'd put on the other day --

Below is what it looked like by the end of the day. Put some layers of oil glaze on, though I have a feeling that might be a no-no on top of wax like this. I guess I'll find out soon enough --