Having Fun
October 6, 2013
Ponderings
If you read this past week’s newsletter, you know I was traveling and spent a bit of time with the ever-entertaining and intelligent Christi Friesen. We got into some pretty deep conversations (regularly punctuated with laughter), but one of the more important ones was about not taking your clay too seriously. I may be guilty of that at times, but it is best kept in perspective. Because, as Einstein put it …
So don’t forget that what you are doing should be fun. Allow yourself to play as well as push through to meet those deadlines. There will be more on this (including a test to figure out what your goal should be with your claying) in the Winter 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts, due out late November.
If you like the fun drawing done with the quote above, a fellow artist, (ceramic) clayer, and Etsy seller Charity Hofert penciled the quote we see here and has this and other colorful prints in her Etsy shop.
And, in case you are not aware, twice a month we send out a newsletter with the latest updates on the magazine, community news and events, and at least one great tip for working and creating with polymer. If you haven’t signed up for it (and no, we do not access our newsletter list for anything but sending the newsletter and never, ever share it) you can do so on the left hand side of The Polymer Arts home page here.
Train the Mind to Create
June 2, 2013
Ponderings
Or, for the artist, your education is not the learning of skills, but the training of the mind to create.
When learning from a tutorial or class, getting down the skills being taught is important to your future success with the central techniques; but the most valuable take away will come when you ask why the technique is done the way it is done, and how you can integrate it into your present work or work you would like to explore more. It is the asking of questions, not just the absorption of steps that will bring you to create artwork, not just recreate craft.
If you read this past week’s newsletter, you know I was traveling and spent a bit of time with the ever-entertaining and intelligent Christi Friesen. We got into some pretty deep conversations (regularly punctuated with laughter), but one of the more important ones was about not taking your clay too seriously. I may be guilty of that at times, but it is best kept in perspective. Because, as Einstein put it …
So don’t forget that what you are doing should be fun. Allow yourself to play as well as push through to meet those deadlines. There will be more on this (including a test to figure out what your goal should be with your claying) in the Winter 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts, due out late November.
If you like the fun drawing done with the quote above, a fellow artist, (ceramic) clayer, and Etsy seller Charity Hofert penciled the quote we see here and has this and other colorful prints in her Etsy shop.
And, in case you are not aware, twice a month we send out a newsletter with the latest updates on the magazine, community news and events, and at least one great tip for working and creating with polymer. If you haven’t signed up for it (and no, we do not access our newsletter list for anything but sending the newsletter and never, ever share it) you can do so on the left hand side of The Polymer Arts home page here.
Read More
Or, for the artist, your education is not the learning of skills, but the training of the mind to create.
When learning from a tutorial or class, getting down the skills being taught is important to your future success with the central techniques; but the most valuable take away will come when you ask why the technique is done the way it is done, and how you can integrate it into your present work or work you would like to explore more. It is the asking of questions, not just the absorption of steps that will bring you to create artwork, not just recreate craft.
Read More