Patterned Perfection

April 27, 2016

JSAnderson fish heads

I saw a piece of Jon Stuart Anderson’s, before I even knew what polymer clay was, in a gift shop in the Denver airport. It was a frog so beautifully patterned in a material I didn’t know and since it was nothing I could afford that was as far as my admiration was able to go. It wasn’t until several years later when I was starting the magazine that I found Jon’s work again. We were compiling our resource list of artists and my assistant found his work and couldn’t stop gushing over it. Then he saw Jon’s work in that same gift shop and called me quite excited about seeing it in person and it clicked into place that I had seen this work in person myself.

I got to interview Jon, the first person he ever agreed to do that for, a year later. In a phone call from Bali, I got to know Jon a bit and was even more impressed by his kindness and joyful nature not to mention his complete immersion and dedication to his craft. He is certainly one of brightest gems and it’s no surprise that the board found him to have some of the best work of the last couple years.  

Although Jon creates a lot more than animals, those are his best known pieces. I was going to pull out one of his sculptures or laminated guitars for you but these fish heads were too beautiful and fun and I don’t think they’ve really gotten around the web like his other creatures. The canes on top along with the varied texture of their underbellies show his wide range of fine caning skills and his brilliant use of color. 

Images are really not enough to convey the vibrant colors and the flawless finish of Jon’s work. His work is in galleries and gift shops all over the world so keep your eye out for his work or see if you can nab some gorgeous piece from his retailer directly. In the meantime, you can discover more of his pieces on his website and for your tea or coffee break, I suggest sitting down to watch his videos on how he makes his canes. It’s a treat to watch a master at work!

 

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Make the theme of your next piece ‘pattern’. Create small patterns, textural or visual, that are repeated over and over lining up to emphasize form or create the feel of movement.  You could create with canes but you can also use handmade stamps, hand-tooled marks, or tiny tiles or shapes punched out of textured sheets of clay.  

_________________________________________

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

PCTV March 2016 Blog never knead -july-2015c-125 Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog

Tavoos Blog Apr 2016 The Great Create Sept 15 blog TPA_McGuire_blog ad

_________________________________________

Outside Inspiration: Fractals and Random Paths

March 14, 2014

I don’t remember the actual moment I discovered fractals, just that my mind was blown and I became lost in searching them out on the Internet, in books and even going so far as to look at software that can be used to create these amazing designs. They look so complex but when you get down to it, they have a very simple base. They can be made to appear rather random and intricate but the truth is, everything in the design is a version of a single shape or motif repeated over and over in different sizes and sometimes varying colors.

How is this relevant to the polymer artist? Well, besides often embodying fantastic and inspiring color palettes, what fractal artists do with their design is only a few steps away from concepts used in kaleidoscope and similarly built polymer canes. Starting with a single pattern, immensely complex canes can be created by using multiple stacks and mirrored versions of the same design not unlike how fractal art is designed.

Also, consider the complexity that can be accomplished on a cane covered piece using the same cane design but in a wide range of reduced sizes. Making a pattern of the canes in the same basic design as the base pattern of your cane the way they do with fractals and you could end up with some mind-blowing and very intricate pieces. Look very close at all the tiny detail in this fractal and you’ll see that the ‘lines’ of the larger swirls are actually flowing rows of the same swirl. Amazing!

joyous-by-shadoweddancer

This fractal graphic is a piece called “Joyous” by a graphic artist named Cyd who lists art on DeviantArt as ShadowedDancer. Heading to her page will only be the start of what could be a very long journey through the world of fractals on the internet. If you want to get lost, let me suggest you start with this amazing fractal artist Cory Ench (my personal favorite) as well as just Googling fractals on Google images. Be careful you don’t lose the whole day doing so!

 

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.

14P1 cover Fnl   PCW blue string art cane   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-2

Art & Health

What are your goals for this New Year? Improve your skills as an artist? How about improve your health? How about doing them both together?

I think we can all agree that good health certainly helps us in creating art. It’s hard to create when we don’t feel good. So, our friends over at Crafty Link (same gals that run Polymer Clay Productions) decided to help artists get healthier. They have a 12 week course titled The Art of Healthy Living that is “designed to teach real-world, healthy lifestyle choices while using art as a means to work through the thoughts and emotions that accompany weight loss.” Sounds rather intriguing.

I do have a few holiday pounds to lose myself. I am also working on reducing stress and having more time to laugh …

happy-good-for-my-health-voltaire

I had to share this image … it has fractals on it! I’m a bit nutty about fractals. They are all around us in nature but can also be created using math. Crazy pretty stuff.

 

 

Patterned Perfection

April 27, 2016
Posted in

JSAnderson fish heads

I saw a piece of Jon Stuart Anderson’s, before I even knew what polymer clay was, in a gift shop in the Denver airport. It was a frog so beautifully patterned in a material I didn’t know and since it was nothing I could afford that was as far as my admiration was able to go. It wasn’t until several years later when I was starting the magazine that I found Jon’s work again. We were compiling our resource list of artists and my assistant found his work and couldn’t stop gushing over it. Then he saw Jon’s work in that same gift shop and called me quite excited about seeing it in person and it clicked into place that I had seen this work in person myself.

I got to interview Jon, the first person he ever agreed to do that for, a year later. In a phone call from Bali, I got to know Jon a bit and was even more impressed by his kindness and joyful nature not to mention his complete immersion and dedication to his craft. He is certainly one of brightest gems and it’s no surprise that the board found him to have some of the best work of the last couple years.  

Although Jon creates a lot more than animals, those are his best known pieces. I was going to pull out one of his sculptures or laminated guitars for you but these fish heads were too beautiful and fun and I don’t think they’ve really gotten around the web like his other creatures. The canes on top along with the varied texture of their underbellies show his wide range of fine caning skills and his brilliant use of color. 

Images are really not enough to convey the vibrant colors and the flawless finish of Jon’s work. His work is in galleries and gift shops all over the world so keep your eye out for his work or see if you can nab some gorgeous piece from his retailer directly. In the meantime, you can discover more of his pieces on his website and for your tea or coffee break, I suggest sitting down to watch his videos on how he makes his canes. It’s a treat to watch a master at work!

 

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Make the theme of your next piece ‘pattern’. Create small patterns, textural or visual, that are repeated over and over lining up to emphasize form or create the feel of movement.  You could create with canes but you can also use handmade stamps, hand-tooled marks, or tiny tiles or shapes punched out of textured sheets of clay.  

_________________________________________

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

PCTV March 2016 Blog never knead -july-2015c-125 Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog

Tavoos Blog Apr 2016 The Great Create Sept 15 blog TPA_McGuire_blog ad

_________________________________________

Read More

Outside Inspiration: Fractals and Random Paths

March 14, 2014
Posted in

I don’t remember the actual moment I discovered fractals, just that my mind was blown and I became lost in searching them out on the Internet, in books and even going so far as to look at software that can be used to create these amazing designs. They look so complex but when you get down to it, they have a very simple base. They can be made to appear rather random and intricate but the truth is, everything in the design is a version of a single shape or motif repeated over and over in different sizes and sometimes varying colors.

How is this relevant to the polymer artist? Well, besides often embodying fantastic and inspiring color palettes, what fractal artists do with their design is only a few steps away from concepts used in kaleidoscope and similarly built polymer canes. Starting with a single pattern, immensely complex canes can be created by using multiple stacks and mirrored versions of the same design not unlike how fractal art is designed.

Also, consider the complexity that can be accomplished on a cane covered piece using the same cane design but in a wide range of reduced sizes. Making a pattern of the canes in the same basic design as the base pattern of your cane the way they do with fractals and you could end up with some mind-blowing and very intricate pieces. Look very close at all the tiny detail in this fractal and you’ll see that the ‘lines’ of the larger swirls are actually flowing rows of the same swirl. Amazing!

joyous-by-shadoweddancer

This fractal graphic is a piece called “Joyous” by a graphic artist named Cyd who lists art on DeviantArt as ShadowedDancer. Heading to her page will only be the start of what could be a very long journey through the world of fractals on the internet. If you want to get lost, let me suggest you start with this amazing fractal artist Cory Ench (my personal favorite) as well as just Googling fractals on Google images. Be careful you don’t lose the whole day doing so!

 

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.

14P1 cover Fnl   PCW blue string art cane   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-2

Read More

Art & Health

January 6, 2013
Posted in ,

What are your goals for this New Year? Improve your skills as an artist? How about improve your health? How about doing them both together?

I think we can all agree that good health certainly helps us in creating art. It’s hard to create when we don’t feel good. So, our friends over at Crafty Link (same gals that run Polymer Clay Productions) decided to help artists get healthier. They have a 12 week course titled The Art of Healthy Living that is “designed to teach real-world, healthy lifestyle choices while using art as a means to work through the thoughts and emotions that accompany weight loss.” Sounds rather intriguing.

I do have a few holiday pounds to lose myself. I am also working on reducing stress and having more time to laugh …

happy-good-for-my-health-voltaire

I had to share this image … it has fractals on it! I’m a bit nutty about fractals. They are all around us in nature but can also be created using math. Crazy pretty stuff.

 

 

Read More
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