Dark Beauty Descending

October 26, 2018

Dark and creepy can be so astonishingly beautiful, as evidenced by this amazing piece by Forest Rogers.

This polymer and epoxy sculpture, Octopoid Descending, recently won the Chesley Award, a recognition of the best work in the realm of Fantasy and Science Fiction, for best three-dimensional work in 2018. I got my start selling polymer art in this market so I keep a fond eye on it.  After years of seeing the work created in this genre, I am still constantly floored by the imagination and creativity of these artists. Being so wholly unlimited in what one can create, without the boundaries of real world visuals or expectations, can certainly free the imagination!

Forest’s sculptures are intensely dynamic and visually kinetic. This suspended sense of movement is one of the signature characteristics of her work and probably the primary thing that makes you stop and stare. Then once you get beyond that, you can get lost in all the details of her work. It looks like every millimeter was given serious and careful consideration. You can admire that kind of dedication to the quality of the work, even if tentacles kind of creep you out.

See more of Forest’s breathtaking work on her website and follow her on Facebook to see her work-in-progress.

The Energy of Passion

February 8, 2016

I only now realized that this week ends with Valentine’s day and I had to stop and contemplate whether I should do a theme.  Last year’s personal love stories just can’t be topped, though, so let’s dial it back to the essence of what Valentine’s day represents. Or try. What it represents is rather personal though, isn’t it? I know for most people it represents romantic love, but I like to think of it as being about passion. And that passion can be towards anyone or anything that you feel intensely about. It’s definitely a more all-inclusive day if it is a holiday in which we can celebrate all the things we love so dearly as we all have someone or something that is lucky enough to get so much of our passion.

It is hard to say what passion looks like in art, but I think we all know it when we see it. High energy and maybe even a little tension works. A dash of red doesn’t hurt either. So, today I am sharing something I shared a while back on my personal Facebook page because it is so amazing and embodies what I see as a multi-faceted sense of passion.

This polymer and mixed media sculptural work is by the amazing Forest Rogers.  The energy in this piece is so intense, it’s rather mesmerizing. The energy is in the heavy directional lines of the torn fabric, the horizontal arms, the flung back wings of the crow, and the slant of the weaponry on the ground. To really bring it home, there is that streak of blood-red streaming behind the figure whose implacable sense of forward motion seems to be leaving everything behind. Forest did not leave a lot of breathing room here, but we aren’t distressed by it because we recognize the emotion. It’s a full and intense passion, maybe sheathed in fury or defiance, but passion nonetheless for whatever cause this creature is flinging herself into.

I think this also embodies Forest’s passion for her work. All of her pieces have an unearthly energy to them, an energy that comes not just from her skill as an artist, but from a real sense of how fully invested she is in her craft and her vision. I feel this in that spot right below the ribcage when I get lost in my work, when the art just seems to spill from my fingertips. It seems most present when I am just creating without purpose or caring what anyone else will think of it. A passion for one’s art comes from simply needing to do it, from letting it become instead of struggling to create. I don’t know if that makes sense to all of you, but this piece very much calls to mind that truly intense passion for creating. If you have had that feeling for your creative work, then I feel sure you can see it too.

 

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Use high energy directional lines to design or create an energetic or passionate piece. You can use Forest’s example to inspire your energetic lines or look to other work that you think is particularly energetic and passionate. See if you can discern the lines in the work that help relay this and try to recreate that energy in an original design of your own.

___________________________________________

Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:

   

  

___________________________________________

Heralding in the Holiday

December 25, 2014

Forest Rogers fairy-herald

 

Today’s piece celebrates both the holiday and my love of this incredibly talented sculptor. Forest Rogers imbues her work with some of the most fluid, dynamic and ethereal choices of form and detail. Her work can be equally ethereal and disturbing, but her pieces are never anything less than wondrous. This is all my humble opinion of course, but I think many people agree.

For today, just enjoy the faerie herald here, and when you have a quiet moment between festivities, do go visit her blog and website for sculpture that just pulls at the soul.

For those of you that celebrate the Christmas holiday, a very Merry Christmas to you all. To all my readers, regardless of what this day means to you, thank you so much for joining me so often and allowing me to share the many beautiful things I find in my searches. Being able to do this is the best gift, and I am gifted with this every day! How wonderful.

 

 

 

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.

businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front      TPA Blog Newsletter Ad  ShadesofClay 1014 v2  lpedit  

Figurative Inspiration

June 10, 2013

(Because a couple people were concerned about the appropriateness of nudity in a piece I presented in a post last year, I am giving fair warning that the sculpture here is topless, although without any easily discernible details. I cannot eliminate artwork that includes tasteful nudity from the examples here if this blog is to fairly represent the breadth of our art form, but I do understand some people aren’t comfortable with it, so I will give a heads up when present.)

We have spent a lot of time on jewelry the last couple weeks so I thought we’d switch it up and focus on another popular polymer form: sculpture. A lot of you will think, oh, this isn’t going to apply to what I do. But if there is any form of polymer art that can be said to apply to the broadest spectrum of polymer clayers, it would be sculptural work.

We work with a sculptural material. Our initial manipulation of polymer will be sculptural, if only at the most base level of creating and cutting, punching or otherwise changing a smooth thin sheet of clay. It is still three-dimensional manipulation of a material and therefore sculptural. The tools used in figurative sculpture, consideration for how to handle the clay, textures, development of forms and mixing of color are applicable to nearly all other type of polymer artwork.

The first idea I wanted to chat about is the figurative element in sculpture — the beauty and inspiration you can take from the human form. The components of the human body come in such a variety of shapes, textures, colors, and structures; and because we are working in a material particularly suited to recreating whatever the imagination can think up, we aren’t really restricted to even the wide myriad of choices we have in reality.

Forest Rogers‘ voice in sculpture, especially as it is in our medium, is so vibrant, dynamic and unique, and her work plays almost exclusively off the human form. The breezy, almost organic transformation of this figure’s legs in this piece, Sea Maid’s Music,  echos the movement of flying, merging the human figure with the feel of wind (a visual metaphor for the music alluded to in the title, I would presume).

d_sea_maids_music_wb

 

Even if you don’t create sculpture, the gradation of colors, the textures in the wings and the sea creature’s scales, and the patterning on the base are inspirational and translatable into any type of polymer work. And if you sculpt but tend to be more literal, does this not give you ideas about pushing representational work a bit beyond reality, or adding more motifs and movement to  your work?

Although I don’t create a lot of sculpture, I do return regularly to Forest’s pages for inspiration as well as a good heavy dose of amazement and beauty. She has a new page up, with some of her most recent work ready to click through on the right hand side. Enjoy a little time with her work and the constant question that will undoubtedly arise: “Where did the idea for that come from?”

Just Stunning

November 1, 2012

What is there to say about a piece like the one below? The highly skilled craftsmanship is striking, the arrangement of elements is wonderfully composed, the posture and gestures are quite emotive and knowing that it is polymer clay … well … it’s just stunning.

Forest Rogers creates sculpture primarily of myth and fantasy. Take a moment to peruse her website and her blog where she often shows her works in progress, which, even though incomplete, are often as beautiful as her finished work. Look at this Octopoid sculpture she posted about in August.

Okay, I’ll shush up now so you can enjoy.

Dark Beauty Descending

October 26, 2018
Posted in

Dark and creepy can be so astonishingly beautiful, as evidenced by this amazing piece by Forest Rogers.

This polymer and epoxy sculpture, Octopoid Descending, recently won the Chesley Award, a recognition of the best work in the realm of Fantasy and Science Fiction, for best three-dimensional work in 2018. I got my start selling polymer art in this market so I keep a fond eye on it.  After years of seeing the work created in this genre, I am still constantly floored by the imagination and creativity of these artists. Being so wholly unlimited in what one can create, without the boundaries of real world visuals or expectations, can certainly free the imagination!

Forest’s sculptures are intensely dynamic and visually kinetic. This suspended sense of movement is one of the signature characteristics of her work and probably the primary thing that makes you stop and stare. Then once you get beyond that, you can get lost in all the details of her work. It looks like every millimeter was given serious and careful consideration. You can admire that kind of dedication to the quality of the work, even if tentacles kind of creep you out.

See more of Forest’s breathtaking work on her website and follow her on Facebook to see her work-in-progress.

Read More

The Energy of Passion

February 8, 2016
Posted in

I only now realized that this week ends with Valentine’s day and I had to stop and contemplate whether I should do a theme.  Last year’s personal love stories just can’t be topped, though, so let’s dial it back to the essence of what Valentine’s day represents. Or try. What it represents is rather personal though, isn’t it? I know for most people it represents romantic love, but I like to think of it as being about passion. And that passion can be towards anyone or anything that you feel intensely about. It’s definitely a more all-inclusive day if it is a holiday in which we can celebrate all the things we love so dearly as we all have someone or something that is lucky enough to get so much of our passion.

It is hard to say what passion looks like in art, but I think we all know it when we see it. High energy and maybe even a little tension works. A dash of red doesn’t hurt either. So, today I am sharing something I shared a while back on my personal Facebook page because it is so amazing and embodies what I see as a multi-faceted sense of passion.

This polymer and mixed media sculptural work is by the amazing Forest Rogers.  The energy in this piece is so intense, it’s rather mesmerizing. The energy is in the heavy directional lines of the torn fabric, the horizontal arms, the flung back wings of the crow, and the slant of the weaponry on the ground. To really bring it home, there is that streak of blood-red streaming behind the figure whose implacable sense of forward motion seems to be leaving everything behind. Forest did not leave a lot of breathing room here, but we aren’t distressed by it because we recognize the emotion. It’s a full and intense passion, maybe sheathed in fury or defiance, but passion nonetheless for whatever cause this creature is flinging herself into.

I think this also embodies Forest’s passion for her work. All of her pieces have an unearthly energy to them, an energy that comes not just from her skill as an artist, but from a real sense of how fully invested she is in her craft and her vision. I feel this in that spot right below the ribcage when I get lost in my work, when the art just seems to spill from my fingertips. It seems most present when I am just creating without purpose or caring what anyone else will think of it. A passion for one’s art comes from simply needing to do it, from letting it become instead of struggling to create. I don’t know if that makes sense to all of you, but this piece very much calls to mind that truly intense passion for creating. If you have had that feeling for your creative work, then I feel sure you can see it too.

 

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Use high energy directional lines to design or create an energetic or passionate piece. You can use Forest’s example to inspire your energetic lines or look to other work that you think is particularly energetic and passionate. See if you can discern the lines in the work that help relay this and try to recreate that energy in an original design of your own.

___________________________________________

Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:

   

  

___________________________________________

Read More

Heralding in the Holiday

December 25, 2014
Posted in

Forest Rogers fairy-herald

 

Today’s piece celebrates both the holiday and my love of this incredibly talented sculptor. Forest Rogers imbues her work with some of the most fluid, dynamic and ethereal choices of form and detail. Her work can be equally ethereal and disturbing, but her pieces are never anything less than wondrous. This is all my humble opinion of course, but I think many people agree.

For today, just enjoy the faerie herald here, and when you have a quiet moment between festivities, do go visit her blog and website for sculpture that just pulls at the soul.

For those of you that celebrate the Christmas holiday, a very Merry Christmas to you all. To all my readers, regardless of what this day means to you, thank you so much for joining me so often and allowing me to share the many beautiful things I find in my searches. Being able to do this is the best gift, and I am gifted with this every day! How wonderful.

 

 

 

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.

businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front      TPA Blog Newsletter Ad  ShadesofClay 1014 v2  lpedit  

Read More

Figurative Inspiration

June 10, 2013
Posted in

(Because a couple people were concerned about the appropriateness of nudity in a piece I presented in a post last year, I am giving fair warning that the sculpture here is topless, although without any easily discernible details. I cannot eliminate artwork that includes tasteful nudity from the examples here if this blog is to fairly represent the breadth of our art form, but I do understand some people aren’t comfortable with it, so I will give a heads up when present.)

We have spent a lot of time on jewelry the last couple weeks so I thought we’d switch it up and focus on another popular polymer form: sculpture. A lot of you will think, oh, this isn’t going to apply to what I do. But if there is any form of polymer art that can be said to apply to the broadest spectrum of polymer clayers, it would be sculptural work.

We work with a sculptural material. Our initial manipulation of polymer will be sculptural, if only at the most base level of creating and cutting, punching or otherwise changing a smooth thin sheet of clay. It is still three-dimensional manipulation of a material and therefore sculptural. The tools used in figurative sculpture, consideration for how to handle the clay, textures, development of forms and mixing of color are applicable to nearly all other type of polymer artwork.

The first idea I wanted to chat about is the figurative element in sculpture — the beauty and inspiration you can take from the human form. The components of the human body come in such a variety of shapes, textures, colors, and structures; and because we are working in a material particularly suited to recreating whatever the imagination can think up, we aren’t really restricted to even the wide myriad of choices we have in reality.

Forest Rogers‘ voice in sculpture, especially as it is in our medium, is so vibrant, dynamic and unique, and her work plays almost exclusively off the human form. The breezy, almost organic transformation of this figure’s legs in this piece, Sea Maid’s Music,  echos the movement of flying, merging the human figure with the feel of wind (a visual metaphor for the music alluded to in the title, I would presume).

d_sea_maids_music_wb

 

Even if you don’t create sculpture, the gradation of colors, the textures in the wings and the sea creature’s scales, and the patterning on the base are inspirational and translatable into any type of polymer work. And if you sculpt but tend to be more literal, does this not give you ideas about pushing representational work a bit beyond reality, or adding more motifs and movement to  your work?

Although I don’t create a lot of sculpture, I do return regularly to Forest’s pages for inspiration as well as a good heavy dose of amazement and beauty. She has a new page up, with some of her most recent work ready to click through on the right hand side. Enjoy a little time with her work and the constant question that will undoubtedly arise: “Where did the idea for that come from?”

Read More

Just Stunning

November 1, 2012
Posted in

What is there to say about a piece like the one below? The highly skilled craftsmanship is striking, the arrangement of elements is wonderfully composed, the posture and gestures are quite emotive and knowing that it is polymer clay … well … it’s just stunning.

Forest Rogers creates sculpture primarily of myth and fantasy. Take a moment to peruse her website and her blog where she often shows her works in progress, which, even though incomplete, are often as beautiful as her finished work. Look at this Octopoid sculpture she posted about in August.

Okay, I’ll shush up now so you can enjoy.

Read More
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