The Hatchling (in progress)...

It was coming on 11PM and I was still not finished with work for the day.  The previous day's frustrations had delayed my progress.  I was fully prepared to get my second... no, third... no, fourth wind and buckle down for a few more hours of work. I use the word "work" interchangeably to refer to tasks that need to get done that I am not particularly fond of.  PaperWORK is at the top of that list.  It seems like there is a never ending pile that multiples with wild abandon.  If they were dollar bills, I'd be a millionaire!

Next to the keyboard was a blob of polymer clay.  Cat hair was sticking to it and I'm sure there was a seed bead or two stuck in the surface.  I had a few leftover chunks laying around from my last Inspired by Reading creation and some molds that I had carved.  And there was temptation.  I had hours of work still to do, but there were these pieces of clay looking at me... begging me to pick them up.

I had no plan.  I just picked one of them up and started conditioning it while I worked on some emails.  And then... the Hatchling was born.  It wasn't as quick as all that, but I kept adding to it and adding to it.

Here is the front and back of the Hatchling.  It's constructed from polymer clay with a wire armature and a few screws and some vintage glass pearls for the eyes.

Before I knew it, the sun was coming up.  There was a strange satisfaction in the piece that I made.  There wasn't a purpose or a reason.  I just made it because I wanted to.  In between the multiple baking times and the cooling down, I did a little work, but I was happily creating and nothing else mattered.

Here are the side views of the Hatchling.  I looked at pictures of baby birds of prey and reptiles.  In all of the pictures, the feet always seemed impossibly big and the eyes incredibly round.  The wide foot stance definitely helps distribute the weight and for a piece that's composed of polymer clay.
 

I still have a lot to do before it's finished.  I have to prime and paint the sculpture and coat the eyes.  The vintage glass pearls started to bubble after the sixth baking.  While they seem large and vacuous, I didn't want them to chip or off-gas and distort the clay.  Once the piece is painted, I'll perhaps pour a light coating of resin to make the eyes really pop and shine.

It felt good again to just make something that wasn't for something else.  I create scenarios for myself where I have to create things on a regular basis to keep the creative juices flowing, but sometimes it's just better to let things develop as they would naturally.  Sometimes it's good to let ideas hatch.