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A new series….maybe?
Photo by Daniel Krucoff

Hello 2014!  You might ask, where I have been?  Well, after a very busy end of 2013, I decided I needed to take some time at the beginning of this year and refuel.  I needed to rest, relax and revitalize.  Plus, my studio had to be cleared and decluttered to allow new works to flourish.

Now I am back at the bench and this is one of the results.  It is something that is building a bit on my Treescape series….perhaps the evolution of that series.  If it starts to qualify as a new series, I may call it The Oaks of Righteousness, from Isaiah 61:3.  Something I heard this weekend and it resonated with me.

Last weekend I worked on reticulation again.  I love that process of the metal starting to wrinkle and fold on itself.  Those of you familiar with metalwork can spot the reticulation in this piece.  There was so  much movement in the patterns within this stone that I knew I needed to surround it with reticulated silver.  I kept seeing this beautiful waterfall on the right side of the stone and I wanted the churning waters to carry through not only to the reticulation, but the bezel too.

The stone is Variscite, the most unusual I have ever seen.  I bought this from Gary B Wilson at last year’s Gem & Mineral Show in Denver.  Gary said it was part of his secret stash, but he knew how much I liked Variscite so he brought this stone and others for me.

As I worked on the design, nothing was really solid in my mind, except for the shape of the backplate.  Eventually I added the wire frames that are somewhat of a signature in my Treescapes…but it needed more.  As everything came together during the fabrication, I decided that an acid etched bail would be a nice compliment to the liquid flow of the stone and reticulation.

I think this entire piece just evolved as I found things that worked.  No specific design, just having fun being creative with it.

The final touch was the addition of the copper leaves.   They added to the organic look and feel I wanted.  I used Prismacolor pencils to add a bit of green to the leaves and all has been preserved with a matte lacquer.

There are more little bits of inspiration setting on my bench.  I have a feeling that 2014 will be filled with lots of new growth.  How exciting!

Until next time, aspire to be more as an artist and a person.