When I first started sculpting, I focused on art dolls. Someone at school showed me one and I knew this was what I had to do. Never mind that I hardly knew what clay looked like.
“All heroism is due to lack of reflection,” someone famous and probably smart once said and although I wouldn’t call myself brave… let’s just say I am known to take a leap of faith at times, because I forgot that I was standing on a rooftop. So I picked up my shaper and my loop tool and plunged into the heart of the unknown!
Art dolls are pretty, it was fun making them and my business was starting to take off. And yet… After a while I got bored. Felt constricted. In the end, every figure is created in the same exact same way. It got too repetitive, I thought. I needed to try something else completely.
That’s how ‘Snatch’ came to be. That sculpture allowed me think three-dimensionally. See how anatomy worked. And it was a completely different creature! With eight arms, a gazillion suckers that all need to be sculpted and polished for months and o-my-lord-what-have-I-wrought-let’s-not-do-that-again.
Currently, I’m working on my newest project. I hope it’s going to be good, but I won’t know for sure until I’m able put the entire sculpture together. It’s made of seven individual parts and I haven’t finished them yet. One thing I can tell you: It’s about butterflies. Dozens and dozens of butterflies that I will have to sculpt and polish for months and…
Don’t know about you, but I’m starting to notice a pattern. Turns out, it wasn’t the repetition that drove me away from dolls. I simply needed a different kind of challenge.
Looking back, I didn’t know exactly what I was missing when working on dolls. I just knew I was missing something. If I were smart, I’d suck it up. After all, I was making money. But then again, financial gain has never been my primary motivation. And so I jumped off a cliff once more.
I wouldn’t advice anyone to do what I did. It’s smart to go for safety. Money is a great thing to have! But for me, it was the right path to take and since I’m on my own, it’s relatively risk-free. I’m challenging myself and learning so much. And who knows? Perhaps Fortune favors the Fool. If not, there’s always a different road to take.
