Material Suggestions
January 25, 2016
Inspirational Art
If you read Friday’s post about the fashion illustrators who used what we see around us every day to design their images of women’s clothing, then you might see the connecting thread to this week’s theme. I thought we’d explore the idea of the outcome of a technique suggesting the form and imagery of art work.
Crackle techniques and approaches to treating cracked clay have been rather popular the last few years, but they have been primarily used as surface texture in abstract and contemporary jewelry. I can almost see Silvia Ortiz de la Torre looking down at a conditioned sheet (you know how they get those cracked up edges after running it through the pasta machine) or one she created using a cracked clay technique, and with the sheets edge sitting horizontal on the work table, she saw the suggestion of a landscape. Or perhaps she saw crackle work created by other artists and she saw the landscape come out of those pieces. However it came to her, I think we are looking at an example of inspiration coming from the look of the material.
Just as we might look up at the sky and see animals in the clouds, we do also see imagery in what we are creating, unbidden and often unexpected, but it’s there. It’s hard for our minds not to try to create imagery in what it sees. The question is, do you let it guide your work? It is neither right or wrong to explore the imagery you see in the scraps before you or in the treated surface of the clay. It’s just another way to let the material guide what you create.
Silvia is definitely a texture enthusiast. These pieces are actually quite a departure from her bold and highly saturated colors. but the exploration of texture is certainly alive here. You can see more of her textural explorations and other ‘material suggestions’ on her Flickr photostream.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Take a look at something you worked on but didn’t complete or pull out some scrap and start playing with it. Don’t try too hard, just turn it this way and that and ask yourself what you see in it. Do you see faces, animals, objects, places, or patterns you hadn’t seen before? Find something intriguing and let it lead you in a little playtime or into working towards a finished piece.
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Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
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(Please Read) Ch-ch-changes … And a Chance to Win a Box of New Clays
May 29, 2014
Inspirational Art, The Polymer Arts magazine news
Some of you may have noticed that there have been some odd things going on with the blog posts lately, especially the email notifications. You may be receiving them much later than usual or they are not showing up at all. Yes, we are having technical issues over here … because the blog has just gotten too big! I actually saw this coming and started working on setting up new services for us a couple months ago but its been slow going. However, we are set now. I could just use your help …
Change Over And Win! … This is pretty simple and pretty fantastic for you … help me out as well as get in on a drawing for one of TWO different sampler boxes of New Clays or one of TWO $15 Gift Certificates for The Polymer Arts. All you need to do is sign up to get blog notifications with our new service.
To sign up for email notices and get in the drawing … just click on this link and sign up for email notifications for this blog. Signing up now will help us make a smooth transition for you and ensure your daily dose of inspiration gets to you!
http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheDailyPolymerArtsBlog
Avoid Double Notices … If you are presently getting notifications by email, you can take yourself off the old service right now so you don’t get two notifications each day over the next week while we switch it over. Just click the link you see at the top of an old email notice (this one if you are reading this by email) and select ‘Unsubscribe’.
Deadline for Drawing … Sign up for email notifications by Monday, June 2nd, to be entered to win! We’ll draw names on the 3rd and notify you by email and announce the winner on the blog on the 4th.
*The blog mailing list is not shared nor even used by TPA for any other mailings. You will get nothing but the blog notifications by signing up for email. I promise. 🙂
If you would like to switch to a Reader notification or update your RSS feed. You can do so here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheDailyPolymerArtsBlog
See You Monday … Because of the problems we’ve been having and to allow time to make the changes and updates needed, there may not be another blog post until Monday. I’m sorry for that. But I promise we will be back to our regularly scheduled postings and pretties next week!
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.
If you read Friday’s post about the fashion illustrators who used what we see around us every day to design their images of women’s clothing, then you might see the connecting thread to this week’s theme. I thought we’d explore the idea of the outcome of a technique suggesting the form and imagery of art work.
Crackle techniques and approaches to treating cracked clay have been rather popular the last few years, but they have been primarily used as surface texture in abstract and contemporary jewelry. I can almost see Silvia Ortiz de la Torre looking down at a conditioned sheet (you know how they get those cracked up edges after running it through the pasta machine) or one she created using a cracked clay technique, and with the sheets edge sitting horizontal on the work table, she saw the suggestion of a landscape. Or perhaps she saw crackle work created by other artists and she saw the landscape come out of those pieces. However it came to her, I think we are looking at an example of inspiration coming from the look of the material.
Just as we might look up at the sky and see animals in the clouds, we do also see imagery in what we are creating, unbidden and often unexpected, but it’s there. It’s hard for our minds not to try to create imagery in what it sees. The question is, do you let it guide your work? It is neither right or wrong to explore the imagery you see in the scraps before you or in the treated surface of the clay. It’s just another way to let the material guide what you create.
Silvia is definitely a texture enthusiast. These pieces are actually quite a departure from her bold and highly saturated colors. but the exploration of texture is certainly alive here. You can see more of her textural explorations and other ‘material suggestions’ on her Flickr photostream.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Take a look at something you worked on but didn’t complete or pull out some scrap and start playing with it. Don’t try too hard, just turn it this way and that and ask yourself what you see in it. Do you see faces, animals, objects, places, or patterns you hadn’t seen before? Find something intriguing and let it lead you in a little playtime or into working towards a finished piece.
___________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
___________________________________________
Read MoreSome of you may have noticed that there have been some odd things going on with the blog posts lately, especially the email notifications. You may be receiving them much later than usual or they are not showing up at all. Yes, we are having technical issues over here … because the blog has just gotten too big! I actually saw this coming and started working on setting up new services for us a couple months ago but its been slow going. However, we are set now. I could just use your help …
Change Over And Win! … This is pretty simple and pretty fantastic for you … help me out as well as get in on a drawing for one of TWO different sampler boxes of New Clays or one of TWO $15 Gift Certificates for The Polymer Arts. All you need to do is sign up to get blog notifications with our new service.
To sign up for email notices and get in the drawing … just click on this link and sign up for email notifications for this blog. Signing up now will help us make a smooth transition for you and ensure your daily dose of inspiration gets to you!
http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheDailyPolymerArtsBlog
Avoid Double Notices … If you are presently getting notifications by email, you can take yourself off the old service right now so you don’t get two notifications each day over the next week while we switch it over. Just click the link you see at the top of an old email notice (this one if you are reading this by email) and select ‘Unsubscribe’.
Deadline for Drawing … Sign up for email notifications by Monday, June 2nd, to be entered to win! We’ll draw names on the 3rd and notify you by email and announce the winner on the blog on the 4th.
*The blog mailing list is not shared nor even used by TPA for any other mailings. You will get nothing but the blog notifications by signing up for email. I promise. 🙂
If you would like to switch to a Reader notification or update your RSS feed. You can do so here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheDailyPolymerArtsBlog
See You Monday … Because of the problems we’ve been having and to allow time to make the changes and updates needed, there may not be another blog post until Monday. I’m sorry for that. But I promise we will be back to our regularly scheduled postings and pretties next week!
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.
