Butterfly Koi Monarch Pond Carp Lily order Pool Original Wall Art Signed Wildlife Sculpture Japanese Garden Gazebo Palapa Goldfish Resin Art

This piece is approximately 14" across and 2-3" deep. The koi is of resin (how it's made below), the lily bloom and butterfly are of wood and epoxy, and the pad is luan (plywood, usually of poplar). It is hand painted, and finally coated with a durable table-top epoxy. This is an indoor ONLY piece. Avoid exposure to direct sunlight.

I begin by using clay to sculpt detailed pieces of art. I then make molds of those pieces and subsequently several castings, in resin, of each. I then use “A-B” epoxy to assemble the cast pieces into ensembles that I further manipulate by adding material in the form of epoxy clays, or by carving away material. I also use sand, shells, driftwood, old fence posts, gravel, and anything else I think will look good, to produce my art. While I do have a picture in mind when I start, and a general plan, where my materials and methods are concerned, anything goes! Therefore, I won't swear to exactly what materials went into any piece, but rest assured no two pieces of art are identical. I'm not purposely being vague, or misleading, it's just that I can't always remember what I did and may not be able to tell you for certain. I will, however, be glad to answer any questions about this, or any piece to the best of my memory.
If you're curious as to why I abandoned the saw for this mixed media method, my reasons were many, but the two main reasons were my carpal tunnel and anxiety. The first being obvious enough, let me elaborate a bit on the second. I constantly allowed my worry over meeting customer's expectations to cloud my better judgment. I'd put more time into pieces than was truly necessary and end up losing money as well as disappointing the very customers that I was trying to satisfy. The subsequent delays resulted in my perpetually over-booking that led to more delays, more missed deadlines and even more worry! I also have attention issues and a touch of OCD. I often got bored with projects before they were completed, inevitably resulting in subpar work which only exacerbated my afore mentioned customer-expectations-issues and (also previously alluded to) I tend to stay way too long on particular details. Therefore, I determined to make some changes to address these and other issues. Ultimately, order I decided to jump on the epoxy resin/epoxy clay bandwagon, but with my own unique twist. I use a combination of casting resins, sculpting with epoxy, and fine-tuning the finished piece by carving it further. The use of casting resins is probably my favorite part because it addresses both my OCD and my customer-expectation issues! I can now spend as much time adding minute details to the clay originals as I want (thus satisfying my OCD, and ensuring a quality finished product), without adding more cost than the piece will ultimately bring! You get detail that you'd never see in a unique, single-carved piece at this price, and yet it IS ultimately a UNIQUE, SINGLE-CARVED piece! I just take out a lot of rough-carving time by casting common parts. Since the pieces are essentially shaped, and of the proper proportions, from the start, I can spend far more time adding fine details, being creative with ensembles and painting. There are many other advantages concerning weight, packaging, shipping, and storage, but the important thing is that you get a product like no other, I enjoy my work more than ever and, God willing, I can do so for many more years. Thanks for considering my art! If God allows, I'm only getting started and have a lot more innovations that I want to roll out, so keep an eye out for it!

Kenneth Bradley Martin