Music and Environment

It has been a while since I have documented my artistic activity as it has been fairly limited due to work commitments.

I had a great deal of trouble casting the bonsai trees at the beginning of my little experiment as the resin isn’t supposed to come into contact with any moisture and as you can probably guess there is still a fair amount of it in the roots of the little trees even though they are dead. This wouldn’t be much of a problem but when the resin does come into contact with moisture it a) gets very very hot when setting and b) creates cracks and ripples around the roots.

The outcome of this has been a prolonged period of trying to find something cheap to solve the problem because even though the effect the reaction of the resin has is quite cool it isn’t quite what I want.

Luckily for me I was at work the other day unpacking something and came across a little pack of silica gel which is supplied with some products to help keep the moisture out of them… and suddenly a light clicked on in my head and I realised I had found my solution quite by accident.

The silica gel packets have been a great success and I am now beginning to make sculptures far more frequently.

A few images are attached to this post and any comments or suggestions are much appreciated!

www.creepingdragon.com

Find me on Facebook @ ‘Creeping Dragon Art’

I have recently come across a pair of artists; Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison whose work I found is strongly linked in with my work around bonsai trees (which by the way will be starting to take shape in the near future).

The photography is very through provoking in its dystopian nature (something which appeals to me in a big way) and just isn’t something I personally have seen done before. The ‘Architect’s brother’ series is the one which I find most inspiring and I find are very sublime in their content; wide open vistas with visions of a created nature. It would be interesting to find out if the artists follow any religion or if they are just playing with the ideas of a great architect in the sky.

Their work can be found at

Charlotte Taylor

I have now officially ordered the resin for my first set of castings. As it costs so much for not a lot (£15 for 1kg of resin) I think I am going to have to adapt my ideas a little and fill the bottom of the vases with some form of stones or other decorative beads/objects.

I have had a lot of really positive feedback about the ideas and am getting really into the designing part of the project. Just getting a little frustrated waiting for resin as I want to play with that as well!

Oh and if anyone in the Norwich/Norfolk area has any dead bonsai trees or other small trees that haven’t survived for one reason or another I would be very happy to take them off your hands.

By the time i next post I am hoping to be a seasoned pro in the field of resin casting!

www.creepingdragon.com

So, I have my first exhibition outside of University life booked and waiting to happen.

It might end up being a bit of a leap forward (or possibly sideways, I’m not actually sure yet!) as I am branching into sculpture for the first time in I don’t know how many years.

It was a stroke of luck to be included in this exhibition (Music and Environment @ St Gregory’s Church in Norwich, created by a collection of students and ex-students from Norwich University College of the Arts) as I was a bit late making my interest known. As a result I wasn’t part of the process when it came to selecting a theme, which is why I think it is some form of fate that I have the perfect project for it which was just waiting for a reason to be created.

The project is going to be based around some dead bonsai trees I have been lucky enough to acquire and will involve me potting them in clear or semi-clear resin so the roots are still visible. Anything further along the process from this is yet to be decided but I have had some interesting input about creating reflections and exciting ways to display my little trees. Hopefully I am going to be able to give them a new lease of life!

That is all for now but I will keep you updated on my progress and any ideas and input are very welcome!

Charlotte