Colors of the Subtropics
March 12, 2018
Inspirational Art
Creating variations on a theme is one very good way to really understand and perfect a design, plus you often end up with a lot of work to sell!
This set was one I was actually going to talk about the week before last, as another example of how to work paint into polymer in a way that polymer alone can’t accomplish. Yes, Genevieve Williamson uses an antiquing process but instead of just trying to give the work an antique look, the technique really feels like it is more about softening the colors and bringing out the scratched up surfaces that are her signature texture.
The look is a bit grungy but definitely sophisticated. The effect transcends the materials used so that the look is all about the color and style and what they are made of is of no consequence. The quiet affinity Genevieve shows for the organic is rather remarkable in that all that her shapes are primarily geometric, however loosely cut and carved. Her colors are usually more subdued as well but these subtropical colors are a pleasant departure, still keeping all her signature marks and shapes but giving the work a sunny and fun look and creating variation within her own style as well as this line of subtropic earrings.
Genevieve’s style is unique as is how much she shares about her life and process online. If you read her blog, you do really feel like you know and understand where her work is coming from. It’s a pleasure to read her posts, however few and far between they are. You can find those posts and a gallery of her work on her website as well as work for sale in her Etsy shop.
Painterly Sticks
February 21, 2018
Inspirational Art
I thought these pieces were a good reminder that adding paint to a carved or textured piece doesn’t mean antiquing or otherwise pressing paint into the recesses, something we see a lot of and for good reason. It does create a wonderful effect. But paint can be added to the raised areas as well. This will highlight (in a more dramatic fashion than the way the favored mica powders can always accomplish) the pattern or imagery, as Pati Bannister does here.
Pati calls these “Fish Sticks”. Pretty cute name to go with the fun, loose, painterly feel of these earrings. The polymer tiles are apparently very small as well—all of 1 5/8 (40mm) long so the paint is able to jazz up a tiny space quite a lot with its varied color while adding a subtle texture.
Pati uses paint quite regularly on polymer as well as creating paintings on more traditional painting surfaces. Pati also stays busy with a well-rounded online presence on Instagram, Facebook, and Flickr along with selling her work on Etsy.
Childlike Abandon
April 11, 2017
Inspirational Art
I don’t have a theme set for this week but I thought I’d just pull the first thing that grabbed me when opening Pinterest today and see where we go from there. It wasn’t a huge surprise that I grabbed this fun and colorful piece by Lyn Tremblay. This is really the antithesis of things I am entrenched in right now but my mind is definitely storing up lots of information on color as our next issue’s theme is “Color!” and it is shaping up to be more than just another great issue but rather an indispensable reference on color in polymer design. It’s really exciting and I can’t wait to share with you the amazing articles our contributors are whipping into shape right now. But good things come to those that wait. Be sure you have your subscription up to date and keep checking in here to see the cover and get the release date.
In the meantime, let’s see what besides all the color grabs one’s attention in Lyn’s piece here. Fun is definitely a theme, not just in the colors but the playful forms and the perfectly imperfect placement of dots and spirals. There is a childlike quality in just about every aspect here yet it is well-balanced, with just enough contrast in color, texture, and form to keep it interesting while still establishing a relationship between all the disparate parts.
Do you notice how everything is of, or bows to, the circle form without being obvious because it is shown in so many widely varied ways? That’s the overriding relationship between the parts which allows us to take in its joy and the childlike abandon without it running all helter skelter over us. It just invites you to settle in and enjoy its playtime.
Lyn Tremblay’s primary outlet for showing her work looks to be her Facebook page where you can enjoy pieces that range from colorful to tribal to organic without leaving behind that sense of joy and exploration so well represented here.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Halloween Calls for Fun
October 31, 2016
Inspirational Art
I love Halloween. So much of it is about imagination and creativity in how we celebrate it. I also like that there is a day we recognize what scares us and face the darker things in life because the shadows in our world are what makes us see the bright times for the blessings that they are. And Halloween is just so darn fun!
So is this guy: Rich Webber. I need to thank Anke Humpert for bringing his work to my attention. I am not sure most or any of his work is created in polymer clay but it really doesn’t matter. It’s the artist’s imagination and humor that makes the colorful clay come alive. Enjoy this collection of his playful and sometimes morbid creatures but do jump over to his Instagram page or watch some Shaun the Sheep TV shows or the movies to see his directorial work or DC’s Worlds Funnest episodes for which he was the creator.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Go enjoy the holiday. Do something fun and silly and enjoy your child side!
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
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.
Creating variations on a theme is one very good way to really understand and perfect a design, plus you often end up with a lot of work to sell!
This set was one I was actually going to talk about the week before last, as another example of how to work paint into polymer in a way that polymer alone can’t accomplish. Yes, Genevieve Williamson uses an antiquing process but instead of just trying to give the work an antique look, the technique really feels like it is more about softening the colors and bringing out the scratched up surfaces that are her signature texture.
The look is a bit grungy but definitely sophisticated. The effect transcends the materials used so that the look is all about the color and style and what they are made of is of no consequence. The quiet affinity Genevieve shows for the organic is rather remarkable in that all that her shapes are primarily geometric, however loosely cut and carved. Her colors are usually more subdued as well but these subtropical colors are a pleasant departure, still keeping all her signature marks and shapes but giving the work a sunny and fun look and creating variation within her own style as well as this line of subtropic earrings.
Genevieve’s style is unique as is how much she shares about her life and process online. If you read her blog, you do really feel like you know and understand where her work is coming from. It’s a pleasure to read her posts, however few and far between they are. You can find those posts and a gallery of her work on her website as well as work for sale in her Etsy shop.
Read MoreI thought these pieces were a good reminder that adding paint to a carved or textured piece doesn’t mean antiquing or otherwise pressing paint into the recesses, something we see a lot of and for good reason. It does create a wonderful effect. But paint can be added to the raised areas as well. This will highlight (in a more dramatic fashion than the way the favored mica powders can always accomplish) the pattern or imagery, as Pati Bannister does here.
Pati calls these “Fish Sticks”. Pretty cute name to go with the fun, loose, painterly feel of these earrings. The polymer tiles are apparently very small as well—all of 1 5/8 (40mm) long so the paint is able to jazz up a tiny space quite a lot with its varied color while adding a subtle texture.
Pati uses paint quite regularly on polymer as well as creating paintings on more traditional painting surfaces. Pati also stays busy with a well-rounded online presence on Instagram, Facebook, and Flickr along with selling her work on Etsy.
Read More
I don’t have a theme set for this week but I thought I’d just pull the first thing that grabbed me when opening Pinterest today and see where we go from there. It wasn’t a huge surprise that I grabbed this fun and colorful piece by Lyn Tremblay. This is really the antithesis of things I am entrenched in right now but my mind is definitely storing up lots of information on color as our next issue’s theme is “Color!” and it is shaping up to be more than just another great issue but rather an indispensable reference on color in polymer design. It’s really exciting and I can’t wait to share with you the amazing articles our contributors are whipping into shape right now. But good things come to those that wait. Be sure you have your subscription up to date and keep checking in here to see the cover and get the release date.
In the meantime, let’s see what besides all the color grabs one’s attention in Lyn’s piece here. Fun is definitely a theme, not just in the colors but the playful forms and the perfectly imperfect placement of dots and spirals. There is a childlike quality in just about every aspect here yet it is well-balanced, with just enough contrast in color, texture, and form to keep it interesting while still establishing a relationship between all the disparate parts.
Do you notice how everything is of, or bows to, the circle form without being obvious because it is shown in so many widely varied ways? That’s the overriding relationship between the parts which allows us to take in its joy and the childlike abandon without it running all helter skelter over us. It just invites you to settle in and enjoy its playtime.
Lyn Tremblay’s primary outlet for showing her work looks to be her Facebook page where you can enjoy pieces that range from colorful to tribal to organic without leaving behind that sense of joy and exploration so well represented here.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Read MoreI love Halloween. So much of it is about imagination and creativity in how we celebrate it. I also like that there is a day we recognize what scares us and face the darker things in life because the shadows in our world are what makes us see the bright times for the blessings that they are. And Halloween is just so darn fun!
So is this guy: Rich Webber. I need to thank Anke Humpert for bringing his work to my attention. I am not sure most or any of his work is created in polymer clay but it really doesn’t matter. It’s the artist’s imagination and humor that makes the colorful clay come alive. Enjoy this collection of his playful and sometimes morbid creatures but do jump over to his Instagram page or watch some Shaun the Sheep TV shows or the movies to see his directorial work or DC’s Worlds Funnest episodes for which he was the creator.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Go enjoy the holiday. Do something fun and silly and enjoy your child side!
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Read MoreIf 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