In a rich and rambling post Laurie Mika fills us in on her rich and rambling art adventures. She’s been both a teacher and a student over the summer. And she’s been getting ready for fall shaows and a workshop in Mexico.

On her blog she shows how she used bright scrap clay as the base for this piece. Her photos are large and if you click on them you can take a close look at the recycled jewels, milagros, mirrors, beads and baubles buried in her polymer.

Her nichos and altars are full of scavenged items and bric-a-brac. Monarch butterflies inspired one piece in which she embedded butterfly wings.

“In Mexico, it was believed that the monarchs represented the souls of the departed,” she explains. “All along the forest path leading up to where the millions of butterflies cluster in the trees, one can see butterfly wings lining the paths like orange and black jewels.”

“The world is one gigantic panorama of possibility. Really taking the time to look and to grab onto that which speaks to your core and fills you with wonder is at the heart of inspiration,” she concludes. Track Laurie’s schedule on her site and keep up with her on Facebook.