Shifting Styles
January 1, 2015
Inspirational Art
This suggestion is not going to be for everyone but for those of you who haven’t found a personal style or feel the one they have been working with has become stale. This might be the year to try to define or change up your style. Understanding what your style is and what about it is recognizable to others can be a bit tricky, but you can help yourself to see your voice (its essence, at least) by taking a class, following a tutorial or trying something you’ve never done before and seeing if there aren’t certain elements you just can’t help working with or find yourself constantly drawn to. If you can define those elements, try working with them in various ways, and then follow what you find most interesting. If you feel the need to change up your style, don’t just try and do something completely different, but use what you find most essential in your present style, and use it with new techniques, color palettes, forms or other mediums.
Here is a polymer artist whose work I find wholly recognizable, even though much what she posts online is very different. There is a sweetness and a calm, simplistic approach to her sculptural forms and imagery that is combined in such a way as to be very unique to her. I am partial to Afsaneh Tajvidi‘s snails. I don’t have any particular affinity to snails myself, but the perky stance and cute little faces make these little guys rather irresistible. Take a look through her Flickr albums and see if you can identify what makes her work so cohesive in its style.
These cute pieces may not be in themselves inspirational if you work in edgy or organic shapes, for instance, but trying to define Tajvidi’s style can help you find yours. You can do this with your favorite artist’s work as well, whether they work in polymer or other materials. It’s discovering what is uniquely individual in a body of work that will make it easier to see it in your own.
On that note, a very, very happy New Year and all the best to you and yours as you embark on another wonderful year of creativity and discovery.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Don’t Worry about Trying Something New
January 5, 2014
Ponderings
Trying a technique, pushing your work in a new direction or starting a new business can all give you reasons to worry. The problem is, worrying doesn’t do you a bit of good. It will keep you from doing things you want to try but it will never help you accomplish a thing.
If you worry a lot, you probably have quite the imagination as worrying requires all kinds of creative forethought to imagine all the possible and dreadful outcomes you might have to face. But do yourself a big favor … as you face this new year, use that creative mind to imagine all the wonderful things you can accomplish. There is a good chance you won’t do everything you imagine while other things will simply not come out the way you planned but some things will succeed and then there is all the wonderful discoveries along the way.
Let’s jump into this New Year with exciting ideas and new directions and see what we come up with!
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.
This suggestion is not going to be for everyone but for those of you who haven’t found a personal style or feel the one they have been working with has become stale. This might be the year to try to define or change up your style. Understanding what your style is and what about it is recognizable to others can be a bit tricky, but you can help yourself to see your voice (its essence, at least) by taking a class, following a tutorial or trying something you’ve never done before and seeing if there aren’t certain elements you just can’t help working with or find yourself constantly drawn to. If you can define those elements, try working with them in various ways, and then follow what you find most interesting. If you feel the need to change up your style, don’t just try and do something completely different, but use what you find most essential in your present style, and use it with new techniques, color palettes, forms or other mediums.
Here is a polymer artist whose work I find wholly recognizable, even though much what she posts online is very different. There is a sweetness and a calm, simplistic approach to her sculptural forms and imagery that is combined in such a way as to be very unique to her. I am partial to Afsaneh Tajvidi‘s snails. I don’t have any particular affinity to snails myself, but the perky stance and cute little faces make these little guys rather irresistible. Take a look through her Flickr albums and see if you can identify what makes her work so cohesive in its style.
These cute pieces may not be in themselves inspirational if you work in edgy or organic shapes, for instance, but trying to define Tajvidi’s style can help you find yours. You can do this with your favorite artist’s work as well, whether they work in polymer or other materials. It’s discovering what is uniquely individual in a body of work that will make it easier to see it in your own.
On that note, a very, very happy New Year and all the best to you and yours as you embark on another wonderful year of creativity and discovery.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Trying a technique, pushing your work in a new direction or starting a new business can all give you reasons to worry. The problem is, worrying doesn’t do you a bit of good. It will keep you from doing things you want to try but it will never help you accomplish a thing.
If you worry a lot, you probably have quite the imagination as worrying requires all kinds of creative forethought to imagine all the possible and dreadful outcomes you might have to face. But do yourself a big favor … as you face this new year, use that creative mind to imagine all the wonderful things you can accomplish. There is a good chance you won’t do everything you imagine while other things will simply not come out the way you planned but some things will succeed and then there is all the wonderful discoveries along the way.
Let’s jump into this New Year with exciting ideas and new directions and see what we come up with!
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.
