“I noticed nature subtly dictating my brush strokes…” Excerpt from Nature Families Essay
Recently, I was surprised at how starkly cold the decorated
surface of my pottery was. Black and
grey silhouettes of birds and tree skeletons graced my forms. It was February and a cold and lingering
winter in Utah. I was working daily in the studio, and it was not till I looked
back at the photographs from the year that I noticed the extremely strong
connection between the seasons and the way I decorated my work. It was as if nature was subtly dictating my
brush strokes season by season.
In the spring, my art echoed the marshes that grace Cache
Valley. Light blues and chartreuse
circles with brush work of birds and reeds, brought a serene quality, full of
new life to the pots.
Later,
as summer sat heavily upon us, reds and oranges emerged with Red-winged Blackbirds
and Poppy’s smothering the surface.
And as autumn seeped into the mountains, I was drawn to a
simplistic branch and berry design, leaving expanses of open space.
This new awareness of how deeply my creativity
is connected to the natural world’s cycles, has brought me a sense of settled
balance and belonging to my home.
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