Jewel Carnival again! The path to my art!

Well, I do apologize for being late with my blog. We are hosting, at our home, a part of the El Dorado County's Annual Artist's Studio Tour. As I mentioned in a previous blog, there is a painter a potter and me. It started yesterday from 10 am to 5 pm and then I was featured at a Placerville gallery from 5pm to 9pm.

Whew!

Does everyone start their path by drawing on rubber sheets as a toddler .... or on the walls with crayons? Well, if so, I am very typical. My dad must have leaned over my crib to give me a kiss and his ball point pen, prophetically, fell out of his pocket into my world. This may sound silly, but do some drawing on a piece of rubber... It is glorious. The ink just flows so smoothly, the images hint of a future Picasso.... only kidding. THAT was my start.

My mother played with ceramics when I was a bitty bit. And she let me play with some too. She let me glaze the work between the firing process... This image is of the only artwork I have from my childhood. I kinda threw everything else away. I like it because there was no religion in our family... parents were from extreme opposites. They opted for my sis and I to choose for ourselves. Where the praying priest came from I do not know. I do know that I did this when I could barely write... maybe second grade. I signed it:

Lorre
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I do like his smile and tiny feet... I guess I didn't know what to do with the toes... heh, heh.

Mom urged my visual and theatrical art all through school. I drew a woman, with a cigarette in her hand in second or third grade... she was quite glamorous.... teacher made me scratch the cigarette out. My medium at that time was crayons. My mother chewed out the teacher for changing my interpretation of what I saw in the world.

You Go Mom!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks...

From then on it was high school art then college. I was a drama major and an art minor. Didn't finish because I didn't want to struggle nor did I want to teach. Well what am I doing Now? Teaching. Too funny. But, hey! I do get to be the star of the classroom now, don't I?
No comment.

Mom.... my sweet one. She loved fabulous jewelry and she instilled a love of it for me. I worked in my dads machine shop in my early 20's: lathe work, arc welding and that gave me an appreciation of working with the ferrous metals.... Then of course was the jewelry class in college.

After marriage my husband and I got very involved with the metaphysical movement in the '80s and I started wrapping crystals and then soldering sterling and silver with a creme brulee torch. That led to my going back to school, Revere Academy, in 1988 and that let to us using my goldsmithing talents by our opening a gallery of jewelry and fine art, and that led to classes in polymer and metal clay in our gallery studio.

Whew! Again!

Since 2000, I have been wholly involved with my two media: Polymer and metal clay. During the eleven years we had the gallery I totally burned out of metalsmithing. When you have everyone telling you what stones to set, what metal to use and hurry, hurry I need it yesterday... well the passion for goldsmithing left. But the creativity and designing was still there.

Now I love making fused glass too. The colors I can add with the glass and enamelling and the entire world of being a maker of what I want to do.... whether it sells or not... I do not care.

And during this period of creativity I have performed in many dramas, comedies, musicals and have directed one mystery, one comedy, one dramedy and one musical.

As the cast sings in "Candide", I have the best of all possible, possible worlds...".

Images: Metal clay and fused glass...... polymer cane I designed and diamond.

Do visit these wonderful artist's below and see what they have written about during their "path to their art".

Lora Hart
Elaine Luther
Angela Baduel-Crispin
Marco Fleseri
Tonya Davidson

I will have to read later. The Studio tour starts again in 30 minutes and I am not set up.