The Off-White Canvas
September 28, 2016
Inspirational Art
Let’s look at a little more off-white today. In general, off-whites on the warm side tend to look older or antiqued. This would be due to most whites aging warm, not cool. Hence the term ‘yellowing’ for aged white materials, because they take on a yellow cast which is a warm color.
This is something to keep in mind if you choose to create something in a warm off-white. There is a very good chance it will look aged which, if you are going for the look of faux bone, antique ivory or are pulling inspiration from an ancient society, is precisely what you want. This piece here is an example of using that warm off-white to give a piece an ancient look. In the piece seen here, Marina of Clay Carousel looks to be drawing on inspiration from the Mayan culture, with the art work titled “Mayan Princess”. She created a perfectly symmetrical but still energetic necklace with an off white canvas for all her accents and details. The dangles are what really make the design work with their strong directional downward lines and, of course, their actual swaying movement while on the wearer. Choosing the off-white background allows the lines and accents to take center stage as well as automatically giving us the impression of age even when we aren’t aware of what it has been titled.
The link on the image here goes to her second version of this necklace since the first, not surprisingly sold already in her LiveMaster shop but take a look at how she changed up the design. I think the way an artist alters a design can be so interesting and so telling of what they were after.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: If you don’t still have that cool and warm white clay from the last post’s challenge, create a couple more balls, one warm off-white and one cool. Then create the exact same design, one with the warm clay and one with the cool clay. Can you see how the color temperature changes the look of the piece? Cool whites look cleaner and brighter. Where would you want to use a cool off-white?
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Big and Bold Tribal
July 20, 2016
Inspirational Art
Here is the lovely Rebecca Thickbroom showing off her tribal-esque jewelry at the Eurosynergy gala event last week. She was sitting there signing copies of the Polymer Journeys book when I snapped this photo of her and this bold neck piece. Rebecca’s work, although it has a tribal look, is never quite as one would expect that look to be. She is not afraid to go big with her pieces and arranges elements in uncommonly complex compositions for ethnic influenced jewelry. She also uses bright saturated colors alongside muted and natural tones for interesting and eye-catching color contrast. The results are big and bold and quite enticing.
Rebecca was not the only one signing copies of Polymer Journeys last week. A number of attendees went about with their copies collecting signatures from the 25 artists that were at the event that are also in the book. I got two copies signed by all 25 artists which included the likes of Kathleen Dustin, Jeff Dever, Georg Dinkle, Maggie Maggio, Melanie Muir, Christi Friesen and more. One of those copies I donated to be auctioned off online by the IPCA. The auction is not yet up but I will share the link here when it’s announced so if you want to get your copy of this signed edition of Polymer Journeys, stay tuned!
In the meantime, getting a closer look at the variety of color and texture on this piece you see here along with other work by Rebecca on her website here.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
_________________________________________
Let’s look at a little more off-white today. In general, off-whites on the warm side tend to look older or antiqued. This would be due to most whites aging warm, not cool. Hence the term ‘yellowing’ for aged white materials, because they take on a yellow cast which is a warm color.
This is something to keep in mind if you choose to create something in a warm off-white. There is a very good chance it will look aged which, if you are going for the look of faux bone, antique ivory or are pulling inspiration from an ancient society, is precisely what you want. This piece here is an example of using that warm off-white to give a piece an ancient look. In the piece seen here, Marina of Clay Carousel looks to be drawing on inspiration from the Mayan culture, with the art work titled “Mayan Princess”. She created a perfectly symmetrical but still energetic necklace with an off white canvas for all her accents and details. The dangles are what really make the design work with their strong directional downward lines and, of course, their actual swaying movement while on the wearer. Choosing the off-white background allows the lines and accents to take center stage as well as automatically giving us the impression of age even when we aren’t aware of what it has been titled.
The link on the image here goes to her second version of this necklace since the first, not surprisingly sold already in her LiveMaster shop but take a look at how she changed up the design. I think the way an artist alters a design can be so interesting and so telling of what they were after.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: If you don’t still have that cool and warm white clay from the last post’s challenge, create a couple more balls, one warm off-white and one cool. Then create the exact same design, one with the warm clay and one with the cool clay. Can you see how the color temperature changes the look of the piece? Cool whites look cleaner and brighter. Where would you want to use a cool off-white?
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Read MoreHere is the lovely Rebecca Thickbroom showing off her tribal-esque jewelry at the Eurosynergy gala event last week. She was sitting there signing copies of the Polymer Journeys book when I snapped this photo of her and this bold neck piece. Rebecca’s work, although it has a tribal look, is never quite as one would expect that look to be. She is not afraid to go big with her pieces and arranges elements in uncommonly complex compositions for ethnic influenced jewelry. She also uses bright saturated colors alongside muted and natural tones for interesting and eye-catching color contrast. The results are big and bold and quite enticing.
Rebecca was not the only one signing copies of Polymer Journeys last week. A number of attendees went about with their copies collecting signatures from the 25 artists that were at the event that are also in the book. I got two copies signed by all 25 artists which included the likes of Kathleen Dustin, Jeff Dever, Georg Dinkle, Maggie Maggio, Melanie Muir, Christi Friesen and more. One of those copies I donated to be auctioned off online by the IPCA. The auction is not yet up but I will share the link here when it’s announced so if you want to get your copy of this signed edition of Polymer Journeys, stay tuned!
In the meantime, getting a closer look at the variety of color and texture on this piece you see here along with other work by Rebecca on her website here.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
_________________________________________
Read More