I'm back!

Well, I went back to work this week! I work exactly four days and then I needed to be gone for an art teacher's conference. It was good timing because I was exhausted! The conference was held at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg, one of my favorite places in the world (Arrowmont.... Not Gainburg.)

I got to talk to other art teachers, check out new art materials, learn new techniques from well known artists......and (because of the baby) I got to pump and pump and pump.

My workshop was taught by Nan Jacobson, and was about bas relief tiles like the horse tile she designed.

I wanted to do something with a bee to represent our last name. I would also have liked to create an original design, but I was exhausted from returning to work and being up every night with the baby. So I found a picture that I liked on the Internet and recreated it in sculptural tile.

This is my background tile slab. I decided to add a honey comb pattern ( my one and only creative addition) by rolling a small cardboard shape into the clay over and over.

Next we added a second slab cut to the shape of our highest level, in mine it's the flower shape.

Then we just kept carving away and carving away to create areas of high relief and different textures.

At this point the background, petals, and the bee are basically done. I haven't really settled on the design for the center of the flower. I need to finish it soon, before it dries out. Lets see if I can get to it anytime soon.