Joe’s Little World

August 1, 2018

Here is another unusual and fantastic use of polymer that Susan Lomuto, the blogger behind the Daily Art Muse blog, dug up back in 2014.

Talk about mixing media … Joe Fig’s very detailed miniature studios are created from polymer clay and myriad other materials and portray the work of a variety of artists. Not only do these works show the versatility of polymer but they show off the artwork of painters, printers and other artists using this medium that we love so much.

There is not much more to say, since his work says so much already, so I’m going to leave you to jump over to the blog post for this or to go see what Joe is up to these days by going to his website. You might also be interested in his books, where he interviews artists about their studio and how they work as artists. The 2009 book,  Inside the Painters Studio, includes all these dioramas he made. Enjoy!

 

 

Reality in Miniature

March 5, 2018

It’s been a week since the new Spring issue was released. Reports of print editions showing up in the mailboxes of subscribers in the western state are coming in as well as your comments. So it’s about time we squeeze in the last few bits of content that didn’t make it into our always filled-to-the-brim pages.

For instance, in the article on miniature hyper-realistic sculpting, we didn’t have room for Stephanie Kilgast to explain where her journey in tiny sculptures has taken her. If you have a copy of Polymer Journeys, you probably read a little about what she is doing with her honed skills as a miniaturist sculptor, presenting ideas about our food choices in her daily miniature veggie and fruit challenge, ending in 233 different kinds of miniature plant-based food sources. Seeing how she could present her ideas with her skills she has moved on to explore, in her words, ” celebrating the beauty of nature in a dialogue with humanity, questioning the lost balance between human activities and nature.

I love how her work shows that skills in one area can be used and transformed into something else, something more than one might expect. Her keen, observant eye and understanding of how to recreate natural textures is what has allowed her to express these abstract concepts and no-so abstract views of our world.

This has been the most commented-on article so far. Readers seem to be really diving into the exploration of the miniature and, hopefully, considering how to adapt it to their own unique work. To see more of what Stephanie does, go to her website and check out her online classes and YouTube videos.

 

Capturing Deepening Light

September 17, 2014

Angee Chase sunset farm painting

We have another scene picked by Ginger Davis Allman today, this one by miniature sculptor Angee Chase. This is actually an older piece but it was kind of hard to pass by for someone with a love of painting and light like myself.

If you’ve ever taken a painting class you probably heard a lot about capturing the quality of light?  Light is what visually defines everything we see but it has variable qualities, especially sunlight throughout the day. I found dawn and dusk to be two of the hardest but most interesting types of light to capture as you are working with growing or diminishing light coming from a low angle. The deepening shadows and richness of a darkening scene at sunset are well captured in Angee’s Sunset Farm Painting. This includes determining the right shades of color, choosing the right value for the background behind the foreground objects and varying the value of the layers of scenery. I’m not sure if the orb in the sky was intended as a sun or a moon but the lighting on the mountains are perfectly portrayed as a full moon rising on the tail end of sunset. And that is quite an inspiring scene if you’ve ever been able to see that over wide open country. This piece is only 3 .75″ x 4.25″ (95mm x 107mm) by the way. Great detail for something so small.

Angee is still doing scenes these days but the ones I found on her Etsy shop are 1″ (25mm) square. Now we’re talking tiny! Her newer shop is called WonderWorks and has a presence on Facebook as well. Her Flickr photostream displays her older pieces if you want ideas that are more like what you see here.

Ginger Davis Allman lives in Springfield, Missouri with her husband Gary, her three kids and her many craft obsessions. Subscribe to her blog and look around her website for her well-researched and in-depth posts and articles on polymer related subjects. Support her great information and research as well as treating yourself by getting yourself a tutorial or two from this talented lady.

 

 

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.

14-P3 Fall-Play cover Full sm   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-2   3d star ad  Polymania Advert 125  tpa-125x125-blog   Faux-Glass-Banner-1000px-600x476

A Stunning Face

October 3, 2013

Just look at this face. I feel like there’s nothing much more that I can say about this sculpture. It is all hand sculpted polymer. It’s actually that tiny. It’s incredible, isn’t it?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The artist of this beautiful face is Poland’s Tatiana Nagrebecka. Her dolls are created without molds, completely by hand in polymer clay, using Genesis paints for the lifelike skin tones and details. If you are entranced by this face, take some time to look over the many photos she’s taken of her works in progress and finished creations on her blog.

 

Resource for Inquiring Minds

September 29, 2013

I know I usually give you a few words of wisdom from great minds on Sundays, but we were short a day to honor our guys, so I thought today I would bring up a gentleman who was very influential for me. If you’ve seen Garie Sim’s work, you’ve probably seen his miniatures … his really teeny, tiny miniatures. Here is the world’s smallest minion!

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

Although I love his little mini sculptures, this is not why Garie influenced me so much. It was his crazy experiments. Well, some weren’t so crazy, but they were all quite thorough. His was the first strength test of clay brands I saw. He is also the first person I’ve seen who has tried microwaving polymer, frying it in oil, and cooking it in a pot. He’s worked out numerous ways to rejuvenate old clay (based on age, actual condition, and sometimes brand), distilled how to use a variety of glues with polymer, and has worked with and documented a multitude of ways to work with and cure liquid polymer. His crazy and varied experiments really pushed me to go ahead and try the many crazy things that came to mind, because if some guy in Singapore is willing to pan fry polymer, what could I possibly do that would be wackier?

Are you intrigued? Take a look at all his wild “what if?” experiments, tips, tricks, and, of course, his teeny, tiny creatures and food. Mind you, you might get lost on this very dense site, but it’s quite a fun and very informative trip.

 

pg collage 13-P3 Fall 2013

Joe’s Little World

August 1, 2018
Posted in

Here is another unusual and fantastic use of polymer that Susan Lomuto, the blogger behind the Daily Art Muse blog, dug up back in 2014.

Talk about mixing media … Joe Fig’s very detailed miniature studios are created from polymer clay and myriad other materials and portray the work of a variety of artists. Not only do these works show the versatility of polymer but they show off the artwork of painters, printers and other artists using this medium that we love so much.

There is not much more to say, since his work says so much already, so I’m going to leave you to jump over to the blog post for this or to go see what Joe is up to these days by going to his website. You might also be interested in his books, where he interviews artists about their studio and how they work as artists. The 2009 book,  Inside the Painters Studio, includes all these dioramas he made. Enjoy!

 

 

Read More

Reality in Miniature

March 5, 2018
Posted in

It’s been a week since the new Spring issue was released. Reports of print editions showing up in the mailboxes of subscribers in the western state are coming in as well as your comments. So it’s about time we squeeze in the last few bits of content that didn’t make it into our always filled-to-the-brim pages.

For instance, in the article on miniature hyper-realistic sculpting, we didn’t have room for Stephanie Kilgast to explain where her journey in tiny sculptures has taken her. If you have a copy of Polymer Journeys, you probably read a little about what she is doing with her honed skills as a miniaturist sculptor, presenting ideas about our food choices in her daily miniature veggie and fruit challenge, ending in 233 different kinds of miniature plant-based food sources. Seeing how she could present her ideas with her skills she has moved on to explore, in her words, ” celebrating the beauty of nature in a dialogue with humanity, questioning the lost balance between human activities and nature.

I love how her work shows that skills in one area can be used and transformed into something else, something more than one might expect. Her keen, observant eye and understanding of how to recreate natural textures is what has allowed her to express these abstract concepts and no-so abstract views of our world.

This has been the most commented-on article so far. Readers seem to be really diving into the exploration of the miniature and, hopefully, considering how to adapt it to their own unique work. To see more of what Stephanie does, go to her website and check out her online classes and YouTube videos.

 

Read More

Capturing Deepening Light

September 17, 2014
Posted in

Angee Chase sunset farm painting

We have another scene picked by Ginger Davis Allman today, this one by miniature sculptor Angee Chase. This is actually an older piece but it was kind of hard to pass by for someone with a love of painting and light like myself.

If you’ve ever taken a painting class you probably heard a lot about capturing the quality of light?  Light is what visually defines everything we see but it has variable qualities, especially sunlight throughout the day. I found dawn and dusk to be two of the hardest but most interesting types of light to capture as you are working with growing or diminishing light coming from a low angle. The deepening shadows and richness of a darkening scene at sunset are well captured in Angee’s Sunset Farm Painting. This includes determining the right shades of color, choosing the right value for the background behind the foreground objects and varying the value of the layers of scenery. I’m not sure if the orb in the sky was intended as a sun or a moon but the lighting on the mountains are perfectly portrayed as a full moon rising on the tail end of sunset. And that is quite an inspiring scene if you’ve ever been able to see that over wide open country. This piece is only 3 .75″ x 4.25″ (95mm x 107mm) by the way. Great detail for something so small.

Angee is still doing scenes these days but the ones I found on her Etsy shop are 1″ (25mm) square. Now we’re talking tiny! Her newer shop is called WonderWorks and has a presence on Facebook as well. Her Flickr photostream displays her older pieces if you want ideas that are more like what you see here.

Ginger Davis Allman lives in Springfield, Missouri with her husband Gary, her three kids and her many craft obsessions. Subscribe to her blog and look around her website for her well-researched and in-depth posts and articles on polymer related subjects. Support her great information and research as well as treating yourself by getting yourself a tutorial or two from this talented lady.

 

 

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.

14-P3 Fall-Play cover Full sm   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-2   3d star ad  Polymania Advert 125  tpa-125x125-blog   Faux-Glass-Banner-1000px-600x476

Read More

A Stunning Face

October 3, 2013
Posted in

Just look at this face. I feel like there’s nothing much more that I can say about this sculpture. It is all hand sculpted polymer. It’s actually that tiny. It’s incredible, isn’t it?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The artist of this beautiful face is Poland’s Tatiana Nagrebecka. Her dolls are created without molds, completely by hand in polymer clay, using Genesis paints for the lifelike skin tones and details. If you are entranced by this face, take some time to look over the many photos she’s taken of her works in progress and finished creations on her blog.

 

Read More

Resource for Inquiring Minds

September 29, 2013
Posted in

I know I usually give you a few words of wisdom from great minds on Sundays, but we were short a day to honor our guys, so I thought today I would bring up a gentleman who was very influential for me. If you’ve seen Garie Sim’s work, you’ve probably seen his miniatures … his really teeny, tiny miniatures. Here is the world’s smallest minion!

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

Although I love his little mini sculptures, this is not why Garie influenced me so much. It was his crazy experiments. Well, some weren’t so crazy, but they were all quite thorough. His was the first strength test of clay brands I saw. He is also the first person I’ve seen who has tried microwaving polymer, frying it in oil, and cooking it in a pot. He’s worked out numerous ways to rejuvenate old clay (based on age, actual condition, and sometimes brand), distilled how to use a variety of glues with polymer, and has worked with and documented a multitude of ways to work with and cure liquid polymer. His crazy and varied experiments really pushed me to go ahead and try the many crazy things that came to mind, because if some guy in Singapore is willing to pan fry polymer, what could I possibly do that would be wackier?

Are you intrigued? Take a look at all his wild “what if?” experiments, tips, tricks, and, of course, his teeny, tiny creatures and food. Mind you, you might get lost on this very dense site, but it’s quite a fun and very informative trip.

 

pg collage 13-P3 Fall 2013

Read More
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