Lyla Lillis is an artist with an eclectic soul. She is a mom, a wife, a potter and a hot rod mama.

Most days you can find her up to her elbows in clay in her Oak Harbor studio with her dog, Chevy, lying nearby.

Lillis creates whimsical pieces inspired by nature. She uses Whidbey clay whenever possible.

“You can find it in all different colors but all of them, when fired, turn a brown terra cotta color,” she said.

Lillis loves to use the island as inspiration. Sea stars now drip over edges of bowls and crabs crawl up the sides of vases. They are the work she creates in her aptly named Earth, Woman and Fire studio.

Last week, Lillis was busy earning another title: drum maker. Through the end of the month, people can see drums she’s created at Deception Pass Gallery.

The drums are but the latest experiment from this woman with a bohemian soul. Her 29-year-old son, David, and his participation in drum circles down in Astoria, Ore., inspired her to make drums.

“It’s really fun to watch and listen to,” she said. “It’s fascinating with all the different people and different drums.”

When a ceramic drum of David’s cracked, Lillis thought she could fix it. When it wasn’t repairable, she thought, why not make her own.

“It was hard to find information,” she said. “There was only a small section in a book about ceramic drums.”

Lillis admits her creations are more art than musically tuned, but that the drums should hit a note with art and music fans alike.

“They’re just fun,” she said.

The drums are but the latest way that Lillis has evolved herself as an artist, mom, wife, and hot rod mama.

Lillis regularly works in pottery, makes jewelry and uses clay to create beads to go along with those jewels. She has yet to meet an art in which she wouldn’t at least dabble.

Art has been in her life since she was a small child growing up in Anacortes.

“I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t doing something,” she said.

Her father, Lyle Underwood, built her an art bench when she was but a wee tot.

“I was so small I could barely get up on the bench but I loved it and kept it forever,” she said. “It had a place for pens and pencils and everything.”

Lillis became serious about pottery after the Christmas of 1999.

“My husband surprised me with a kiln and potter’s wheel,” she said.

When Lillis began working on that pottery wheel she admits it was a bit of trial by fire.

“There was a lot of heavy bottom pots,” she said.

But she kept working and has turned a casual hobby into a new passion.

Lillis was able to start selling her work at the Oak Harbor farmers market on a regular basis and make visits to other markets. She regularly shows at the Artworks Gallery at the Greenbank Farm and she is the featured artist for February at the Deception Pass Gallery.

Previously she spent years operating a floral business out of her Oak Harbor home, working with silk and dried floral design.

She has studied art, but not exclusively. She took time for a few classes in high school and college — other than that it’s all been trial and error on her own.

Back in high school she received the ultimate learning experience when her school’s art teacher fell ill.

“I wound up teaching art classes during my study halls,” she said.

Whether art is in her genes, Lillis is not sure. Her mother, Jean, was an avid gardener who grew lavish gardens and crafted garden containers from recycled materials before recycling was cool.

“She was amazing,” Lillis said.

Her father was an amateur woodworker who loved to share time with his daughter while working on projects.

And today, Lillis channels the inspiration of her parents, her upbringing in Anacortes, her 29 years on Whidbey and her family into her pieces.

Fish float across platters, and stars twinkle up the sides of vases. And one of these days there might even be a vintage hot rod revving its engine across a plate.

While Lillis is surrounded by gentle clays and flowing potter’s wheels, it’s really ‘57 Chevys that get her going. She and her husband, Archie, both show Chevys and share the fun of attending car shows together as members of the Whidbey Cruzers.

“It’s so much fun,” she said. “There’s just something about getting in there and working on the cars.”

What else would you expect from a mom, a wife, an artist and a hot rod mama?