A Week of Impact

November 4, 2013

We’re polishing up the next issue of The Polymer Arts, so my brain is hyper-focused on impactful art. With the limitations we have in periodicals, I never feel like we get to say everything I would like to get out to you readers, and I certainly don’t get to share all the great art I have seen that fits the theme. So, this week we’ll get in a few of those pieces that might have been great examples if we had the room, time or opportunity to contact the artist in order to include them. Now, let’s talk impact!

Impact in your art is about the degree to which you visually, conceptually or even tactilely affect the viewer or buyer of your piece. I know when I think  of the term, my mind immediately goes to high contrast and graphic work, which can be quite impactful, but that’s not the only way to strongly affect people when they see your work. If you saw Donna Greenberg’s piece on the cover image we sent out Friday, my guess is it turned your head, not because it has a lot of contrast or is graphically strong, but because the piece is so unusual and maybe also because the composition of the cover is a bit different. The impact here is about the unexpected. Impact is really just all about making people notice.

Although as I go on this week, I will feature techniques and artists that will be in the coming issue, today I just want to show you an example of a piece by Anita Lerner that I thought visually defined impact, mostly because it reminds me of a crash event or something similar. But there’s more to it than that.

il_570xN.183875668

There is one simple cane focal point and then a splash of aqua across a crackled gold and black background with beads matching the blue and the gold. If you look at the few elements that make up this piece, its not that complex, but it feels like it is. This is primarily due to a variety of contrasting elements that all have commonalities as well. That blue-green is in the slice, the splash, and the beads. The gold is in the slice, the crackling, and the strung beads. The colors are just blues and golds–but those two colors contrast; the smooth gradation of the cane slice contrasts with the heavy texture of the crackle; the evenly placed squares on the border of the cane contrast with the erratic radiating aqua in the splash of color; and the neatness and regularity of the strung beads contrasts with the off-kilter angles and hanging position of the pendant’s square shape. All this contrast make for a very interesting and visually active piece. That’s why it feels so complex.

Our feature article outlines the various types of contrast and how to use added contrast to increase interest and energy in a piece. We’ll hit on that at least once more this week because contrast is so incredibly important to consider in your work–not just highly varied contrast, but the choice to have only a small amount contrast as well. Your choice in contrast will alter the feel, message, or theme of a piece as much as your choice of imagery or form does.

So stay with us this week for more on these exciting subjects. Get your subscription or pre-order of the Winter issue in so you don’t miss out on getting it first. And if you enjoy Anita’s pendant, take a look at more of her work in her Etsy shop and on her website.

 

Impact for this Winter!

We interrupt this Friday’s usual fare to present the cover of the next issue of The Polymer Arts magazine and share our excitement about what we have coming in it.

This cover piece is by Donna Greenberg. It’s actually a bridal necklace that she was commissioned to make earlier this year. Donna has written a wonderfully in-depth and insightful article about taking on commissioned art, including how wonderful it is to be able to impact someone’s life or life event with your art but she also talks about how to handle the difficulties that come with working on a commissioned piece. She generously shares her own experiences, tricks, and even an agreement template you can use to establish the commission contract.

Cover 13-P4 web

In addition to Donna’s article we have a ton of interesting pieces that will get you creating and have you thinking as well as providing a lot of great eye candy:

  • Visual Impact: Mastering Contrast
  • Ancient Impact: Influenced by the Past
  • Handmade Impact: Pointed Tool Impressions
  • Brilliant Impact: Electroforming Polymer
  • Legal Impact: A Well Set-up Shop
  • Instructive Impact: Maximizing Your  Workshop Experience
  • Taking Control of Your Camera Settings
  • Create Polymer Toggle Clasps
  • Understanding Why You Play with Clay
  • …and much more!

Now, inserting the inevitable sales pitch here (because you do need to get this issue, right?!):

Don’t Miss an Issue … Subscribe or Renew!

If you haven’t already, snap up your subscription! Or for you dedicated go-getters, renew subscriptions at www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscription_ordering.html

Pre-orders of the Winter issue are also available online here:  http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Single_issues.html

Then come check in here tomorrow because I think I found it! Creepy and cute … wait until you see these!

Remember Why We Do What We Do

February 3, 2013

artist,arts,create,creative,illustrations,quotes,sayings-34278043a55ca7d3b938f51d319c1828_h_large

Publishing is a rough business. So is writing. And, as most of you know,  so is being an artist! In what I do, there are so many people I work with, have to contact daily and have to count on and I do it all from a home office with virtual staff  … it can make it very trying sometimes. But then I get some wonderful random email from someone saying “I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate what you are doing …” and suddenly everything is wonderful again because, first of all, someone took the time out of their busy lives to write me and secondly, I am reminded that what I do matters.

Its actually mind-blowing how often I get emails like that. What wonderful, thoughtful people there are out there in the world. I have not, I have to admit, been one of those who has done such things very often. Until the last couple years. All these kind, considerate people have gotten me to stop regularly and let others know that what they do matters. And when you work alone in the studio all day, or in solitary on your computer at home, editing photos,  listing work for sale, writing a blog, it can be hard to imagine that what you do matters to much of anyone else but you. But then you get a grateful note from a customer, an enthusiastic comments on your blog, or see someone singing your praises in a forum. That makes all the difference.

Since we work online so much now and aren’t in touch with people quite the way we used to be, we’re not getting or giving that kind of feedback as often as we used to since its much more automatic and expected when we are face to face. So I would like to make a suggestion … this week, every day, write one person, one business, one friend or relative and let them know how much what they do matters to you and/or to other people. Just a few lines can be immensely impactful for the person on the receiving end  and in this world, I think it tremendously important to encourage kind and truly meaningful things.

A Week of Impact

November 4, 2013
Posted in

We’re polishing up the next issue of The Polymer Arts, so my brain is hyper-focused on impactful art. With the limitations we have in periodicals, I never feel like we get to say everything I would like to get out to you readers, and I certainly don’t get to share all the great art I have seen that fits the theme. So, this week we’ll get in a few of those pieces that might have been great examples if we had the room, time or opportunity to contact the artist in order to include them. Now, let’s talk impact!

Impact in your art is about the degree to which you visually, conceptually or even tactilely affect the viewer or buyer of your piece. I know when I think  of the term, my mind immediately goes to high contrast and graphic work, which can be quite impactful, but that’s not the only way to strongly affect people when they see your work. If you saw Donna Greenberg’s piece on the cover image we sent out Friday, my guess is it turned your head, not because it has a lot of contrast or is graphically strong, but because the piece is so unusual and maybe also because the composition of the cover is a bit different. The impact here is about the unexpected. Impact is really just all about making people notice.

Although as I go on this week, I will feature techniques and artists that will be in the coming issue, today I just want to show you an example of a piece by Anita Lerner that I thought visually defined impact, mostly because it reminds me of a crash event or something similar. But there’s more to it than that.

il_570xN.183875668

There is one simple cane focal point and then a splash of aqua across a crackled gold and black background with beads matching the blue and the gold. If you look at the few elements that make up this piece, its not that complex, but it feels like it is. This is primarily due to a variety of contrasting elements that all have commonalities as well. That blue-green is in the slice, the splash, and the beads. The gold is in the slice, the crackling, and the strung beads. The colors are just blues and golds–but those two colors contrast; the smooth gradation of the cane slice contrasts with the heavy texture of the crackle; the evenly placed squares on the border of the cane contrast with the erratic radiating aqua in the splash of color; and the neatness and regularity of the strung beads contrasts with the off-kilter angles and hanging position of the pendant’s square shape. All this contrast make for a very interesting and visually active piece. That’s why it feels so complex.

Our feature article outlines the various types of contrast and how to use added contrast to increase interest and energy in a piece. We’ll hit on that at least once more this week because contrast is so incredibly important to consider in your work–not just highly varied contrast, but the choice to have only a small amount contrast as well. Your choice in contrast will alter the feel, message, or theme of a piece as much as your choice of imagery or form does.

So stay with us this week for more on these exciting subjects. Get your subscription or pre-order of the Winter issue in so you don’t miss out on getting it first. And if you enjoy Anita’s pendant, take a look at more of her work in her Etsy shop and on her website.

 

Read More

Impact for this Winter!

November 1, 2013
Posted in

We interrupt this Friday’s usual fare to present the cover of the next issue of The Polymer Arts magazine and share our excitement about what we have coming in it.

This cover piece is by Donna Greenberg. It’s actually a bridal necklace that she was commissioned to make earlier this year. Donna has written a wonderfully in-depth and insightful article about taking on commissioned art, including how wonderful it is to be able to impact someone’s life or life event with your art but she also talks about how to handle the difficulties that come with working on a commissioned piece. She generously shares her own experiences, tricks, and even an agreement template you can use to establish the commission contract.

Cover 13-P4 web

In addition to Donna’s article we have a ton of interesting pieces that will get you creating and have you thinking as well as providing a lot of great eye candy:

  • Visual Impact: Mastering Contrast
  • Ancient Impact: Influenced by the Past
  • Handmade Impact: Pointed Tool Impressions
  • Brilliant Impact: Electroforming Polymer
  • Legal Impact: A Well Set-up Shop
  • Instructive Impact: Maximizing Your  Workshop Experience
  • Taking Control of Your Camera Settings
  • Create Polymer Toggle Clasps
  • Understanding Why You Play with Clay
  • …and much more!

Now, inserting the inevitable sales pitch here (because you do need to get this issue, right?!):

Don’t Miss an Issue … Subscribe or Renew!

If you haven’t already, snap up your subscription! Or for you dedicated go-getters, renew subscriptions at www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscription_ordering.html

Pre-orders of the Winter issue are also available online here:  http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Single_issues.html

Then come check in here tomorrow because I think I found it! Creepy and cute … wait until you see these!

Read More

Remember Why We Do What We Do

February 3, 2013
Posted in

artist,arts,create,creative,illustrations,quotes,sayings-34278043a55ca7d3b938f51d319c1828_h_large

Publishing is a rough business. So is writing. And, as most of you know,  so is being an artist! In what I do, there are so many people I work with, have to contact daily and have to count on and I do it all from a home office with virtual staff  … it can make it very trying sometimes. But then I get some wonderful random email from someone saying “I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate what you are doing …” and suddenly everything is wonderful again because, first of all, someone took the time out of their busy lives to write me and secondly, I am reminded that what I do matters.

Its actually mind-blowing how often I get emails like that. What wonderful, thoughtful people there are out there in the world. I have not, I have to admit, been one of those who has done such things very often. Until the last couple years. All these kind, considerate people have gotten me to stop regularly and let others know that what they do matters. And when you work alone in the studio all day, or in solitary on your computer at home, editing photos,  listing work for sale, writing a blog, it can be hard to imagine that what you do matters to much of anyone else but you. But then you get a grateful note from a customer, an enthusiastic comments on your blog, or see someone singing your praises in a forum. That makes all the difference.

Since we work online so much now and aren’t in touch with people quite the way we used to be, we’re not getting or giving that kind of feedback as often as we used to since its much more automatic and expected when we are face to face. So I would like to make a suggestion … this week, every day, write one person, one business, one friend or relative and let them know how much what they do matters to you and/or to other people. Just a few lines can be immensely impactful for the person on the receiving end  and in this world, I think it tremendously important to encourage kind and truly meaningful things.

Read More
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