I'm So Ready 2016!

Yay! My last little baby started school today, and while I'm a little sad, the excitement of a fresh new year of creating ahead of me has me very excited!

I have product ideas in the pipeline, SO many painting ideas and a whole lot of motivation to see lots of projects through to fruition.

Lately I have been dreaming about 3D sculpture in plaster and clay.

And when the inspiration strikes, you need to take advantage of that and make the time to do these things.

I started off playing around with plaster. It's cheap, accessible and you don't need any fancy equipment to get started. I made three shapes by scrunching up newspaper and wrapping around them with masking tape. I then used plaster bandages that you soak in water and layer on your form. Kind of like paper mache. I then finished with a direct plaster method to smooth out all the bumps from my wonky work underneath. I don't know why but I just loooove the texture of plaster. The smooth bits, the rough bits, the subtle faceted parts and it's matte finish. Love love love. You can see in the second photo I have started to paint one. I'm just making it up as I go, and the paint sinks into the plaster a bit so it has this aged appearance to it.

Just look at that texture! *Swoon*. I'd love to get plaster and just trowel it on to all of my house walls and go nuts with paint effects!

(Speaking of which, I have nearly finished a wall mural- will show that soon.)

And here's a clay sculpture I have started. I am so drawn to clay as well, although I'm not sure if I'm disciplined enough to finish a whole project before it's half dry. I have left it to dry a bit so I can work on it when it's in it's leathery stage, I just need to make sure I do it before it gets too dry! I haven't used clay for years so this all feels pretty new to me. I would love to do a short ceramics course one day. (I can picture husband rolling his eyes right now!)

Just thought I'd check in and let you know that I have big plans for this year, so expect to see more of me! I hope you are feeling as excited and motivated for the fresh new year ahead as I am.

Jules :)