Heart of the Tree

Sometimes if I don't know what I'm going to make, I pull out my sketch book and make a few drawings and then something always comes to me. That's what I did the other evening. The progression of my sketches was interesting to me, so I thought I'd post them for you to see.


I started out with trees in windows. You might recall the ceramic window I did last year. I intended to get back to making ceramic windows, but life got in the way. I still plan on making some in the future.


Next I made two more sketches of trees, one with three main branches. The one on the left looks like the torso of a person to me. The one on the right is starting to look suspiciously like a tree I made a couple of weeks ago.


Later I drew more sketches and started to develop the idea of making a triptych which on my to do list. Tree imagery keeps coming back to me again and again, like this tree sculpture which I made last year.


The last drawing I made is the one below. I liked this one the best. I think the triptych looks better with the two side panels smaller than the center one. I started to make this piece, but as you can see in the first photo, I didn't. I only made a single piece and it's round rather than squared off. I didn't have enough of this clay to make a triptych. I plan on making a triptych one of these days though.


I like how the tree branches look open and welcoming, like arms open and welcoming. The big knot in the right center looks like the 'heart of the tree', the heart of a welcoming person. The Jugtown Museum post will be next time instead.