Riotous Floral
October 11, 2017
Inspirational Art
A meadow full of spring blooms or a wall adorned with thousands of roses becomes a thing of beauty, quite beyond what any one flower could create. Using many small flowers tightly set on a piece of jewelry also moves it beyond just being flowers. The texture and variation in the surface creates energy even among the tranquility so often associated with flowers.
Irina Dzhalilova who watermarks her photos with the online name Zafirka favors this effect in almost all her work. Working in variations on a floral theme, she creates very romantic yet energized pieces. It is the small but crowded compositions that allow for this. I chose this piece as an example because the colors are subdued and not commonly associated with flowers so you can see, even without the colorful presentation we usually see in florals, the gathering of so many small petals creates an inviting and relatively riotous texture.
If you are up for more riotous floral, you can find Irina all over the web from Twitter to Facebook to Vkontakte but you can also simply start on her website and follow links from there.
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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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Emerging Explorer
September 6, 2017
Inspirational Art
Ah, some things never change. Debbie never does something just once. Instead, she does it over and over until she has extracted all the secrets and possibilities of a technique. Here is a post from March 3rd, 2012:
“My Aussie friend Debbie Crothers has been going flower crazy for the past month. This pic in particular is mesmerizing–blow it up so you can see the detail. And check out her Flickr page of pretties: http://www.flickr.com/…/…/72157629312332777/with/6874124869/”
Today Deb has technique after technique she has thoroughly explored and lucky us, she shares all over and most generously. She will be teaching in the US in October so if you can make the Clay Carnival in Las Vegas or will be in Denver in mid-October, you can enjoy her enthusiasm and joy in what she does in person. Her website will give you all the details as well as being the place to follow her and all her many adventures and experiments!
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Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Organic Support
July 19, 2017
Inspirational Art
Fantastical and fun as well as fundraising, this amazing polymer bra was Randee Ketzel‘s entry into the annual Art Bra event in Austin, Texas. The chosen pieces are showcased during a one-night event by local models, all of whom are breast cancer survivors. The huge event raises money for the Breast Cancer Resource Center which assists Central Texans affected by breast cancer in overcoming obstacles related to accessing treatment and confronting the issues that affect quality of life, all for free. What a cool event!
And what a beautiful piece Randee created for this very noble cause. The composition, with the leaves coming up to cradle the mix of flowers as they flutter off towards the straps, is nicely balanced by the composite cane flower beads that ground the upward sweeping cups on their centered, drop placement.
For more on Randee and her other work, go to her Flickr photostream or her Etsy shop. For more on the organization and event this was made for, go to the Art Bra event site.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Organic Waves
July 17, 2017
Inspirational Art
With all the hot weather we’ve been having lately, I’ve been staying in my cool home a lot more than usual. Missing my time wandering around the property looking at all the cool and unusual plants, I found myself drawn to our organic brethren in polymer as I rummaged through images online and gathered a bouquet of curious and cool pieces that should pique the interest of many a nature lover.
Here we have quite a fantastical interpretation of nature’s forms, colors, and textures. The waves atop the petals would certainly make one want to reach out and run fingers across it, then down through the hanging strings as well. The combination of the old standard primaries is an interesting color palette choice. It gives it a carnival feel. That and the directional lines from the wavy texture and the yellow strings makes this feels like it is on the edge of some riotous dancing.
This is just one of several recent works by Kathy McCurry where she creates her own version of flowers. This looks to be the most ambitious piece so far, taking 40 hours and 8 curing sessions in the oven. As hard as these kinds of pieces can be to create, I think it’s just wonderful when an artist takes a risk, investing so much time in one piece. But what a reward we have in store for us when we spend a lot of time on one piece and have something so wonderful to show for it at the end.
You can see images of her recent work on Kathy’s Facebook page and on her website.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
A meadow full of spring blooms or a wall adorned with thousands of roses becomes a thing of beauty, quite beyond what any one flower could create. Using many small flowers tightly set on a piece of jewelry also moves it beyond just being flowers. The texture and variation in the surface creates energy even among the tranquility so often associated with flowers.
Irina Dzhalilova who watermarks her photos with the online name Zafirka favors this effect in almost all her work. Working in variations on a floral theme, she creates very romantic yet energized pieces. It is the small but crowded compositions that allow for this. I chose this piece as an example because the colors are subdued and not commonly associated with flowers so you can see, even without the colorful presentation we usually see in florals, the gathering of so many small petals creates an inviting and relatively riotous texture.
If you are up for more riotous floral, you can find Irina all over the web from Twitter to Facebook to Vkontakte but you can also simply start on her website and follow links from there.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Read MoreAh, some things never change. Debbie never does something just once. Instead, she does it over and over until she has extracted all the secrets and possibilities of a technique. Here is a post from March 3rd, 2012:
“My Aussie friend Debbie Crothers has been going flower crazy for the past month. This pic in particular is mesmerizing–blow it up so you can see the detail. And check out her Flickr page of pretties: http://www.flickr.com/…/…/72157629312332777/with/6874124869/”
Today Deb has technique after technique she has thoroughly explored and lucky us, she shares all over and most generously. She will be teaching in the US in October so if you can make the Clay Carnival in Las Vegas or will be in Denver in mid-October, you can enjoy her enthusiasm and joy in what she does in person. Her website will give you all the details as well as being the place to follow her and all her many adventures and experiments!
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Read MoreFantastical and fun as well as fundraising, this amazing polymer bra was Randee Ketzel‘s entry into the annual Art Bra event in Austin, Texas. The chosen pieces are showcased during a one-night event by local models, all of whom are breast cancer survivors. The huge event raises money for the Breast Cancer Resource Center which assists Central Texans affected by breast cancer in overcoming obstacles related to accessing treatment and confronting the issues that affect quality of life, all for free. What a cool event!
And what a beautiful piece Randee created for this very noble cause. The composition, with the leaves coming up to cradle the mix of flowers as they flutter off towards the straps, is nicely balanced by the composite cane flower beads that ground the upward sweeping cups on their centered, drop placement.
For more on Randee and her other work, go to her Flickr photostream or her Etsy shop. For more on the organization and event this was made for, go to the Art Bra event site.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Read MoreWith all the hot weather we’ve been having lately, I’ve been staying in my cool home a lot more than usual. Missing my time wandering around the property looking at all the cool and unusual plants, I found myself drawn to our organic brethren in polymer as I rummaged through images online and gathered a bouquet of curious and cool pieces that should pique the interest of many a nature lover.
Here we have quite a fantastical interpretation of nature’s forms, colors, and textures. The waves atop the petals would certainly make one want to reach out and run fingers across it, then down through the hanging strings as well. The combination of the old standard primaries is an interesting color palette choice. It gives it a carnival feel. That and the directional lines from the wavy texture and the yellow strings makes this feels like it is on the edge of some riotous dancing.
This is just one of several recent works by Kathy McCurry where she creates her own version of flowers. This looks to be the most ambitious piece so far, taking 40 hours and 8 curing sessions in the oven. As hard as these kinds of pieces can be to create, I think it’s just wonderful when an artist takes a risk, investing so much time in one piece. But what a reward we have in store for us when we spend a lot of time on one piece and have something so wonderful to show for it at the end.
You can see images of her recent work on Kathy’s Facebook page and on her website.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Read More