Rippling Wings
January 12, 2017 Inspirational Art
Apparently I am not the only one who likes moths! The first post this week knocked the meter off the scale and was shared, liked and viewed thousands of times. We also got our answer as to who the artist was–Darya Telegina of Balambeshka on www.vk.com. I’ve added it to the post which you can see here. (Thank you to Sherrie Brittig, Conny Brockstedt, and Natalya Aleksandrova for figuring it out and sending the links!)
So how about a few more moths this week? This beautiful fluttering thing is the creation of Iryna Limanska who makes all kinds of flora and fauna inspired wearable pieces.
The attraction here is partly the delicate colors but mostly the rippling edges of the moth wings which gives it a lively and energetic look. Those ripples are a bit of artistic license, however, as the moth she refers to in the listing–the Actias Luna moth–doesn’t ripple like this or have colored edging. I don’t think there are any moths with this kind of rippled edge to its wings, none I could find. But as artists, this is exactly what I think we should be doing–creating something not seen before.
Not that it is inartistic to recreate nature in exact detail but since we can alter what nature has already shown us, why would we not? This is where self-expression has a chance to come out in quiet but insistent ways. It is an opportunity to show others how we interpret what we see or how we’d like to see it.
Irvna does a lot of this altering nature in small ways in her work. Check out the flower petal skirts on her ballerina silhouettes and her succulent boutonnieres, all listed in her Etsy shop.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Patterned Perfection
April 27, 2016 Inspirational Art
I saw a piece of Jon Stuart Anderson’s, before I even knew what polymer clay was, in a gift shop in the Denver airport. It was a frog so beautifully patterned in a material I didn’t know and since it was nothing I could afford that was as far as my admiration was able to go. It wasn’t until several years later when I was starting the magazine that I found Jon’s work again. We were compiling our resource list of artists and my assistant found his work and couldn’t stop gushing over it. Then he saw Jon’s work in that same gift shop and called me quite excited about seeing it in person and it clicked into place that I had seen this work in person myself.
I got to interview Jon, the first person he ever agreed to do that for, a year later. In a phone call from Bali, I got to know Jon a bit and was even more impressed by his kindness and joyful nature not to mention his complete immersion and dedication to his craft. He is certainly one of brightest gems and it’s no surprise that the board found him to have some of the best work of the last couple years.
Although Jon creates a lot more than animals, those are his best known pieces. I was going to pull out one of his sculptures or laminated guitars for you but these fish heads were too beautiful and fun and I don’t think they’ve really gotten around the web like his other creatures. The canes on top along with the varied texture of their underbellies show his wide range of fine caning skills and his brilliant use of color.
Images are really not enough to convey the vibrant colors and the flawless finish of Jon’s work. His work is in galleries and gift shops all over the world so keep your eye out for his work or see if you can nab some gorgeous piece from his retailer directly. In the meantime, you can discover more of his pieces on his website and for your tea or coffee break, I suggest sitting down to watch his videos on how he makes his canes. It’s a treat to watch a master at work!
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Make the theme of your next piece ‘pattern’. Create small patterns, textural or visual, that are repeated over and over lining up to emphasize form or create the feel of movement. You could create with canes but you can also use handmade stamps, hand-tooled marks, or tiny tiles or shapes punched out of textured sheets of clay.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
_________________________________________
Apparently I am not the only one who likes moths! The first post this week knocked the meter off the scale and was shared, liked and viewed thousands of times. We also got our answer as to who the artist was–Darya Telegina of Balambeshka on www.vk.com. I’ve added it to the post which you can see here. (Thank you to Sherrie Brittig, Conny Brockstedt, and Natalya Aleksandrova for figuring it out and sending the links!)
So how about a few more moths this week? This beautiful fluttering thing is the creation of Iryna Limanska who makes all kinds of flora and fauna inspired wearable pieces.
The attraction here is partly the delicate colors but mostly the rippling edges of the moth wings which gives it a lively and energetic look. Those ripples are a bit of artistic license, however, as the moth she refers to in the listing–the Actias Luna moth–doesn’t ripple like this or have colored edging. I don’t think there are any moths with this kind of rippled edge to its wings, none I could find. But as artists, this is exactly what I think we should be doing–creating something not seen before.
Not that it is inartistic to recreate nature in exact detail but since we can alter what nature has already shown us, why would we not? This is where self-expression has a chance to come out in quiet but insistent ways. It is an opportunity to show others how we interpret what we see or how we’d like to see it.
Irvna does a lot of this altering nature in small ways in her work. Check out the flower petal skirts on her ballerina silhouettes and her succulent boutonnieres, all listed in her Etsy shop.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Read MoreI saw a piece of Jon Stuart Anderson’s, before I even knew what polymer clay was, in a gift shop in the Denver airport. It was a frog so beautifully patterned in a material I didn’t know and since it was nothing I could afford that was as far as my admiration was able to go. It wasn’t until several years later when I was starting the magazine that I found Jon’s work again. We were compiling our resource list of artists and my assistant found his work and couldn’t stop gushing over it. Then he saw Jon’s work in that same gift shop and called me quite excited about seeing it in person and it clicked into place that I had seen this work in person myself.
I got to interview Jon, the first person he ever agreed to do that for, a year later. In a phone call from Bali, I got to know Jon a bit and was even more impressed by his kindness and joyful nature not to mention his complete immersion and dedication to his craft. He is certainly one of brightest gems and it’s no surprise that the board found him to have some of the best work of the last couple years.
Although Jon creates a lot more than animals, those are his best known pieces. I was going to pull out one of his sculptures or laminated guitars for you but these fish heads were too beautiful and fun and I don’t think they’ve really gotten around the web like his other creatures. The canes on top along with the varied texture of their underbellies show his wide range of fine caning skills and his brilliant use of color.
Images are really not enough to convey the vibrant colors and the flawless finish of Jon’s work. His work is in galleries and gift shops all over the world so keep your eye out for his work or see if you can nab some gorgeous piece from his retailer directly. In the meantime, you can discover more of his pieces on his website and for your tea or coffee break, I suggest sitting down to watch his videos on how he makes his canes. It’s a treat to watch a master at work!
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Make the theme of your next piece ‘pattern’. Create small patterns, textural or visual, that are repeated over and over lining up to emphasize form or create the feel of movement. You could create with canes but you can also use handmade stamps, hand-tooled marks, or tiny tiles or shapes punched out of textured sheets of clay.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
_________________________________________
Read More