Every month we like to spread the love by sending a 1 gallon kit to a couple of artists who have tagged us on Instagram ... and then we share their work with the world!
Congratulations to artist Penny Heather ... our first lucky winner of 2020!
Penny is a full time artist based in New Brunswick. Having studied fine art at Bishops University, she turned her passion for creating soulful pieces of art into a successful business.
Every now and again, we come across an Instagram post that makes us stop in our tracks: such was the case when we saw Penny Heather's incredible resin sculptures. Commissioned by Big Brothers and Big Sisters to award community youth mentors, each piece is a labour of love.
"I was approached by BBBS when they were looking for an artist to create awards to give their recipients that would be something unique, and more meaningful to their good deeds than a traditional plaque. I knew they wanted an artwork, but a painting just didn’t feel right to me for the occasion. All I had was a whisper of an idea for a type of sculpture I'd never made before. They agreed, and the rest was history."
To make these sculptures, Penny first creates a large, custom made mold into which she embeds a large piece of locally sourced silver maple into ArtResin that she pours into the mold layer by layer. Once fully cured, Penny cracks the mold and cuts the large casting down into smaller, individual pieces.
Watch the video below to see Penny unmolding her cured casting:
Penny cuts the casting based on the pattern compositions within the piece, choosing shapes to compliment each sculpture's individual features.
Next, with a lot of sanding, Penny refines each piece into smooth, organic shapes until they become something otherworldly.
Last, Penny restores the resin's transparency revealing secret, hidden worlds within. The fluidity of the resin allows for ethereal patterns to form as it cures, juxtaposing the ruggedness of the raw wood. Standing approximately 6" x 14" tall and weighing about 5 lbs, each sculpture presents a uniquely beautiful shape, wood grain and colour.
Penny says: "I love creating them because they have a mind of their own: they decide what they want to look like and I have to surrender, which is sort of the opposite of when I paint. I could never recreate it exactly, even if I tried.
"From the very first series of sculptures I made, creating these has excited me for their possibilities and nuances, they terrify me for all that can (very expensively) go wrong during the creation process, but most of all they just fascinate me. They’re just kind of a lovely, nerve-wracking, mad science experiment every time and I absolutely love making them."
Penny says: "I am inspired by my impressions of nature & landscapes, and how these impressions allow me to connect with others who share similar experiences. Creating art is a meditation; a compass to navigate my subconscious thoughts, where recurring patterns become apparent in a visual way that I can share for others to interpret on their own. For me, art is an energy transfer between the artist and the viewer. I hope that my work can take the viewer somewhere peaceful in their mind; a feeling, a memory, even a dream."
Penny discovered ArtResin a couple of years ago as a way of finishing a jellyfish painting, the resin providing a finish that echoed the aquatic theme of the painting.
"The resin enriched and deepened the colours and, to my surprise, really brought out the wood grain of the paintings background, which is one of the distinctive features of my work. I was hooked!"
"As I became more experienced in using resin I also became curious about how far I could take the medium. Since then I have had many triumphs and failures as I experiment in my work, resin has helped me expand my confidence in exploring new mediums."
Congratulations on your win, Penny!
To see more of Penny's beautiful work:
visit her website: pennyheatherart.com
follow her on Instagram: @penaynayjane
like her Facebook page: @pennyheatherart
Don't forget ... tag YOUR ArtResin work with @art_resin on Instagram, and YOU could be our next monthly winner!!!
