Uncovering The Greens
August 19, 2015 Inspirational Art
Since we started off the week looking at a piece that hinted at what might lie beneath the surface, I thought I’d see what else we could dig up along those lines. This certainly fills the bill! Its a vessel by London’s Olga Perova and has a fascinating surface of what I think must be randomly bunched up layers of clay. How big do you think this is? That could be a lot of clay and a lot of bunching! There are 10 more shots from every angle on her Flickr page if you want to ponder the mystery with me. But either way, it came out really cool looking and the color palette of purple and icy greens was an excellent set of choices to give this an austere beauty and a bit of energy as well.
Olga’s done this in a couple prior pieces she’s posted, but I think this is the most successful thus far, at least in the level of intrigue the application will likely inspire in any viewer. To see what else Olga has been ‘digging up’ lately, hop on over to her Flickr photostream and her Etsy shop.
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Drawn to the Drama
April 8, 2015 Inspirational Art
Shimmering and shiny or high contrast are not the only way to make a focal point stand out. Texture and lines can bring our focus to the prime point in a piece as quickly as anything else. In this very curious brooch/necklace piece, Russia’s Radada combines pieces of paua (abalone) shell and textured polymer in such a way that it’s hard to distinguish which is shell and which is polymer. But from the lines on the bordering form to the dense texture in the center, all the elements are drawing us to the large center piece.
This focal point is not a well-defined gem or form, but its lack of contrasting definition doesn’t work against it; quite the opposite. I think it will make most, if not all, viewers step in for a closer look. There is a lot going on here, and the more time you spend with it, the more you’ll see. The piece is very dramatic even without any heavy contrast. But, I think that is where the balance comes in. It feel so dramatic, but even more so for its bold form and heavy texture. The colors and the way the textures blend keep it from going overboard.
Radada’s LiveJournal photostream is full of these organic and amorphous forms. And felted bunnies among other curiosities. It’s a bit of a crazy mix, but a fun bit to explore.
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The Spark in a Heart
April 7, 2015 Inspirational Art
A focal point can pop without a lot of shimmer or shine. This poor, but beautiful, little heart looks like it’s been through a rough time or two or ten. But, it has this one bright spot on its battered surface–an off-white accent that almost glows against the deep, dark colors of the rest of the heart.
This kind of real world heart is the creation of Greece’s Helen P. of Eleins Kingdom on Etsy. It’s kind of difficult to pull our glance from the one light colored spot here, but there is also a bit of lovely filigree work to pull you to the left side with a network that includes some lighter showings within some canes. But still, that one spot, out in the open landscape of this heart, draws the eye back. Here it is the contrast in color and value situated in a relatively open space that makes this focal jump out. A simple technique, but a very effective one.
Helen has many more of these kinds of hearts, as well as other charming pieces to catch your eye in her Etsy shop.
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Well Gauged
December 23, 2014 Inspirational Art
I love creating polymer components, but I have never been that big on the stringing and adding findings and all that. I enjoy making something that didn’t exist before it came into my hands; although a couple store-bought ear wires can be integrated into a design, they are still not wholly mine. So I started making my own ear wires. Much better but not quite as much fun as polymer. Then I saw basic gauge earrings made from polymer on Etsy some years ago and thought … ah ha! No ear wires at all. You create a whole piece, and then it goes into your piercing. Cool. Let’s try that. And that is how gauge earrings ended up becoming my primary form sold through my Etsy shop.
I don’t get much studio time these days so I don’t create and sell gauges, but I occasionally stop and see what other people are doing with them now that polymer clay gauges have caught on. These have been my favorite by far. They are created by a pair of artists, the Ukraine’s Ira and Evgeniy Abramov, who run a shop on Etsy called RybaColnce. The concept is simple but wonderful. The traditional contrast of black and red with the beat of those repeated slices into the clay to reveal the hidden crimson inside covers some of my favorite approaches: contrast, repetition and things hidden. Plus they are both serious (like edgy serious) and fun at the same time. Yes, they might not be the most comfortable pair to put in, but they’d be worth it!
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.
Simple Interruptions
December 1, 2014 Inspirational Art
“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” You’ve probably all heard this adage and may even find yourself repeating it like a mantra as you sit at your studio table while tempted to add just one more color, one more accent or one more layer. Many, many times, you should really opt for the more simplistic approach. I want to focus on that this week. Let’s talk about simplicity as an approach and see just how beautiful simple can be.
This pendant is one in a series by Belgium’s NiQui that I think is very successful for it’s restraint. The mash of color within this monolithic black form is all about contrast and restriction, which makes what little color there is very strong. The stripes of marbled color break the line of the bar of black very suddenly and certainly, and then pulls your eye immediately to it. Depending on your view, or maybe even how your day is going, you can see that as lines breaking into the solid bar or as color being compressed to nearly nothing by the black. Either way, you probably sense that there is energy and some kind of relationship between the contrasts of no color to a mishmash of it, and the question of what that relationship might be is what holds you there. It may be simple, but it holds the potential for complex ideas.
Simplicity is Nicole’s (NiQui’s) hallmark. If you want to see a lot of exploration in this area, do take a look around her Flickr photostream.
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.
Outside Inspiration: Hidden Aesthetic
November 14, 2014 Inspirational Art
Most of what we see in nature has a very particular purpose or is an expected result of some process or circumstance. Something a person makes, well … it can be such a mystery! When something in nature opens up to reveal its treasure, usually it is something that has to do with its survival–seeds in a pod, a pearl in a oyster shell, the brightly colored interior and/or stamens in a flower. But, when man makes something that is opened to reveal something, it can be simply a show of that artist’s aesthetic, or it can be a statement.
Which do you think we have here? Andy Rogers is heavily influenced by nature, but he will mix up the components, so you have to stop and think about what it is he’s showing us. This form with its alien-looking exterior and mysterious red seeds feels like both his aesthetic and a statement about our curiosity. This is just one in a series, and one of the few whose seeds can be seen in the photographs. But, many of the other ones have truly hidden treasures stashed away where you have to be in its presence and take a peek inside to see what Andy has to show you.
Since we can’t see what he has inside from his photos, go ahead and jump over to his page and take guesses at what forms and colors might be the most eye-catching or surprising to find inside these forms. Would that get you thinking about what could be hiding in your own work? It’s kind of fun to consider! While you’re there, take a look at the rest of Andy’s gallery. I think his forms, colors and textures are particularly inspiring for the polymer artist, especially if your aesthetic leans towards the organic.
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.
A Sliver of Silver
November 11, 2014 Inspirational Art
As an illustration of how powerful the draw is when we catch just a mere glimpse, a hint, the sight of just a sliver of something, I thought I’d share this pin by Margaret Regan. This is not a new piece, but it has such a classic composition. And tell me that when you look at it, you aren’t drawn to the slim bit of silver shimmer in the center and find it really hard to look at the rest of the piece. That silver is barely there, just peeking out from between a simple textured side and a collection of cane slices on the other. The bit of silver is no more complex than the other sides, but it has three things going for it–it’s the center of the piece, it’s shiny, which will always catch our eye, and it’s recessed and slightly shadowed making it a harder surface to discern, making us want to look closer and clarify what we are seeing.
This whole piece is rather quiet and uncomplicated, but it’s gorgeous for it’s simplicity and eye-catching for using the barely-there sliver of silver. The fact is, when creating a piece with barely-there or peeking elements, simple is probably the best way to go. The mystery of what is in the shadows or recess will be the draw and can give it a quiet energy that doesn’t need to be complicated by a lot of other elements. Not that a more complex piece can’t be done well; you would just want to consider whether it would give it added impact or take away from the draw of the hidden element.
Margaret was one of the pioneers of polymer. Her website is sparse, but you can find little bits about her all over the Internet. Here is a nice article done on her work with a bit of her philosophy.
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.
Refined Depths
November 6, 2014 Inspirational Art
It would be hard to do a week on the illusion of depth without taking a look at one of our foremost masters in the category of mica shift. Dan Cormier and his uncompromising approach has given us some of the most beautiful examples of illusionary depth in polymer.
And here’s a treat, even for those of you quite familiar with his work. This black necklace hasn’t really made the rounds primarily because it was not in Dan’s possession very long, being sold off to a worthy student and artist shortly after its creation. The other half of this treat is that I got Dan’s thoughts on this piece and a little of its story in a recent email to add depth to our admiration of the work:
When working in a medium of infinite colour like polymer clay, sometimes it’s fun to turn the volume down a few notches. This monotone necklace is another example of my “Texture Without Texture” techniques. Like my Discovery Necklace, the impressions were made with custom-made polymer clay punches, bent wire, ball stylus tools, and also bits of patterned sheet metal. With the exception of actual holes in some of the bead veneers, the surfaces of these beads are all smooth.
The woman who owns this necklace is a very cool brain surgeon and potter from Victoria, BC . We met her when she signed up for one of our week-long retreats on Gabriola Island, BC … she confessed on Day 1 that, while she was comfortable as a crafts person in clay, she’d never even opened a package of polymer. Nevertheless, knowing her ‘day job,’ I was confident that my medium was in capable hands.
Dan and his partner Tracy also continue to innovate and develop new tools and techniques. They recently vastly expanded their die sets collection with a beautiful line of elongated shapes that came out this summer, and a new set based on the beauty of the insect world is about ready for shipping. Check out their new offerings and their classics on The Cutting Edge website.
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.
Would you call yourself a selfish person? I doubt very many of us would think that way about ourselves. Yet, as artists, we often find ourselves “stealing” time away from others or other things to do what we love, reveling in it when we have it. Is that selfish? I mean, it is more about us than anyone else, isn’t it?
Yes, it is about us, and that is as it should be. In the requested comments for last week’s giveaway (scroll down to see the winner and this week’s giveaway), participants mentioned some version of the “me time” aspect of getting to sit down and create more than anything else. I mean, I know we create because it is something we enjoy, regardless of what anyone else thinks, but I just love that so many people acknowledged and celebrated it. We should!
I strongly believe that everyone should have something of their own, something they can turn to in order to express themselves or at least put something out into the world that would not have existed without their desire to create it. The art we create gives us purpose, exercises a uniquely human part of our brains, and helps us to love ourselves. Not to mention that we deserve the joy we get from it!
But, by definition, that is selfish—doing something because it’s what we want. I wish our society would get over the idea that doing something for ourselves is bad. I think not doing things for yourself is self-negligence. Why is that not a commonly understood thing?
This also highlights the bigger, contradictory world that we inhabit. We live in such strange societies where selflessness and humility are expected or requested, and yet we are also pushed to strive for excellence in what we do. How do we reach excellence without focusing on ourselves? And then there is this silliness where we are not supposed to acknowledge when the work we do is good or that we’re proud of it. If we do, others may think we’re being arrogant or grandiose.
So, do we strive to be great and then pretend that we’re mediocre? We talk about contrast being good in art, but this is so not the right kind of contrast!
I’ve long found the dichotomy of these contradictory but societally prescribed behaviors beyond aggravating as well as having the potential to be debilitating. I think that is why it made me so happy to see so many people acknowledging their creative hours as me-time, self-care, and a time of wonderfully selfish joy. Keep it up, I say!
Now, let’s talk about the good kind of contrast in art.
Design Refresh
Let’s look at the beautiful brooch by Lyne Tilt that opened this post. What do you notice first about this? There’s a lot going on in this little space, isn’t there? What are the three things that jump out at you as far as design elements?
I’m going to say color, shape, and texture. Did you come up with the same three? There is also a lot going on with marks and size. So, any combination of those would be spot on.
How about design principles? What do you think is the number one principal used in this design? Sure, we could refer to scale and proportion considering all the different sizes of the layers, or we could talk about focal point or even just key in on the centered composition. But the one thing this has in spades is contrast.
Obviously, there is color contrast in all the major color characteristics—she has a vibrant trio of warm colors contrasting the cool of the blue and cyan; color values range from the dark blue and deep red to the moderate orange to the light yellow and pale polished silver; and, if you check your CMY color wheels, you’ll see that the color of the bottom layer is a blue-cyan whose complementary AND split complementaries are the yellow, orange, and red that you see in the upper layers.
But doesn’t a color palette have to have at least one common characteristic between all the colors? Well, ideally, yes, and this does. Here it’s saturation. These are not muted colors. The orange may be slightly tinted (has some white in it) but not enough to feel it’s gone off base from the saturated characteristic that ties them all together.
Now, look at the contrast in the textures. The top and bottom layers might have the same texture, but the rest are vastly different. There are even different materials—metal and clay. But they work together pretty well, don’t they? Why?
The textures work together in part because they are all drastically different—the wide variety is part of the charm of this piece. But, like color, they need something to tie them together.
Did you notice that the textures are applied to the entire layer from one edge to another? Thier differences are connected because the application on each layer is the same. That does seem to be enough to allow them to exist in the same piece and not have it feel completely chaotic.
The shapes, on the other hand, are not completely different but they are not the same either, right? They are all some version of a hand cut circle, but some of them are definitely more oval. I think pulling back on the amount of contrast between the shapes also helps to rein in the potential chaos all this dramatic contrast and color and texture could fall into. The centered composition also adds a bit of calm to the piece.
Let’s take this week to consider the design principle of contrast. Would your pieces benefit from more contrast, or do you need to rein some of that in? Remember, it all depends on your intention. There are no wrong levels of contrast, at least not in art.
Last Week’s Giveaway
Drum roll please…
This last week’s randomly chosen winner is Eloise B! I’ve spoken to her and her clay is already on the way. Congrats Eloise!
This Week’s Giveaway
Thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s giveaway through comments on the post. As mentioned above, it really made me happy to see all the fantastic, positive and self-caring observations. I also hope it gave you a moment to focus on and appreciate what you love so much about creating.
So, let’s do this again.
- This week I have a selection of Sculpey clays in 2 new Soufflé colors, 3 new Premo colors, and 2 big 8 oz. blocks of clay stash basics—Sculpey III in Pearl and Silver. That’s 26 ounces of fresh clay along with a three-piece set of Sculpey silkscreens.
- Or if outside the US, I have a $25 Tenth Muse certificate, since it would be such a gamble to ship clay outside the US.
How to Win:
- Put a comment in the blog comments* (below), telling me what type of contrast you enjoy creating most in your own work, or the type of contrast you wish you used more of. And, yes, if you want to share pictures, you can do so by including a link. Just don’t put more than one link in or it may spam filter the comment.
- Note: It can take some time for the comment to appear if you’ve not commented before since, due to annoying spamming, I have to approve it .
- Giveaway winners will be chosen by random—it will NOT be based on your answers. I do hope you’ll give it some thought anyway. The answers could be helpful to you as well as interesting for the rest of us.
- And let’s say you can only win once this month so we can spread the love around.
- Get your comments posted by Wednesday March 17th at midnight Pacific time to get in for the raffle.
- I’ll announce the winner here on the blog next weekend!
I’ll put together yet another pack of goodies for a giveaway in next weekend’s post, so stay tuned here!
You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…
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Last weekend I talked about contrast, a concept closely related to variety, which is the subject for this week. Understanding the difference between the two can avoid a lot of confusion so I’ll be referring to contrast a bit today as well. If you didn’t see the last post, give it a quick read here.
Now, what is variation?
Variation is the range or assortment of differences throughout a design. Now, didn’t contrast also speak to differences? Yes, but those differences were between similar types of elements while variation is the degree of difference between all of the elements, principles, and placement choices in your work. It is like contrast in that variation is also used to create interest or energy or to otherwise support your intention, however, while contrast is often the key to adjusting the level of variation, you can have a fair bit of variation with little or no contrast.
To put it succinctly, contrast is the difference between two or more related elements while variety is about the relationship between all the elements in a piece. So, let’s talk about those relationships and how they are used in design.
Picturing Variation
First of all, keep in mind that you can create variation with elements or principles or pretty much any visual or conceptual part of your work.
Take the gorgeous pendant that opened this post. Liz Sabol has variation in color, line, balance, repetition, rhythm and even types of composition. In fact, even though we can identify a use of the Rule of Thirds, a Golden Spiral, and use of the Focus to the Right principle, it’s the barely-there nod to centered composition, created by an implied line from the midpoint focused, and yet asymmetrical, balance of the bail to the centered tip at the bottom of the pendant, that is holding all the chaos at bay. This piece is an absolute celebration of variation.
Alternately, if you use a lot of the same elements or employ principles in the same way throughout a piece, then there would be little variation. You can see that in this simple but still striking little pendant by an undisclosed creative on VK.com. (If you know who made this, do let me know and I’ll update the post.) Here there is regular rhythm, an absolutely centered composition, and every shape is circular. The only variation is created by contrast in the value difference between the black and white and the textural difference between the smooth outer elements and the rough interior disc.
Now, looking at the two pendants, I’m sure you can see that there is a huge difference between the energy and feel of them, largely because of the level of variation.
It’s a Matter of Degrees
So, as you see, a piece can be interesting with little to no variation or contrast. These concepts add points and degrees of interest. It’s your intention that should determine what role they will play in your work.
Just think, if you want a piece to feel solemn and quiet, avoiding high contrast and keeping your variation quite subtle may be what you need. That calm could be very awe-inspiring in its subtlety. Alternately, you can have a piece with the points of contrast and variation ranging from subtle to obvious.
You see an example of moderation in contrast and variation in Amy Genser’s Eventide pictured here. Yes, the piece feels quite busy and has a lot of energy but the contrast and variation are not that dramatic. There’s a lot of texture but it’s all rough and predominantly created from the rolled-up paper elements. The rolled paper elements are all ovoid in shape but with variation in regard to the roundness and width. They also range in size and are very in color although, like the rest of the canvas, they are predominantly blue and cyan, keeping to the cool side of the color wheel. The canvas does open up into a brief mix of reds and yellows in the middle and the color values do range from a dark blue to white. But the variation is applied in a gradual and moderated way. Most of the energy comes from the texture, the repetition, and the sense of movement.
So, we see here that the degree of variation doesn’t have to be high to create energy or interest as other elements and principles can do that quite well. However, I do think in this case that the level of variation included boosts the energy of the texture and repetition. It’s a team effort.
So, unlike some other concepts, there is no way to really list the different types or degrees of contrast and variation and what they might mean for your particular piece. As you’ve seen, this is in large part due to how much these concepts depend on, and play off of, the other choices made in the design.
This is only a quick introduction to the subjects of contrast and variation but I’ll continue talking about them in many of my future posts. If you think about it, I’ve actually been talking about these ideas throughout the year as the differences in your choices for the various elements and principles is quite wrapped up in your decisions on how you’ll employ contrast and variation.
Some of your choices for contrast and variation will be made automatically if you make characteristic choices for your elements before specifically thinking about contrast or variation, like choosing just daisies for a flower necklace or choosing green and red as your color palette because it’s for Christmas. Repeated daisies will dictate rather low levels of variation because of the sameness of the primary motif so you’d have to work with contrast in things like value and size to take it up a notch. And Christmas colors are high contrast so it would be difficult to make the work also feel calm or serene starting from that color palette.
However, you might find it more advantageous to make choices about the degree of contrast and variation that would best suit the work and then make that happen through the characteristics you choose for your elements. In fact, knowing the degree of contrast and variation you want can help you make more confident and intentional choices for your elements, various principles, and composition. That’s how influential the concept of contrast and variation is in art.
Perhaps this talk of contrast and variety will get you jazzed to try out some variations on variety your own self. So, while the sun is shining and the muse is calling, do try to have a wonderful, safe, and creative week!
You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like, just …
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I think everyone knows Jeffrey Lloyd Dever‘s work but he’s not as prevalent on the social media networks as a lot of other polymer artists. So sometimes, when his work does pop up, it feels so entirely refreshing and new. And sometimes it doesn’t even seem like his work but he has such a definite signature, especially in his forms and the way he arranges them.
I remember talking to Jeff in Racine, Wisconsin at the Racine Art Museum’s In-Organic exhibition in 2014. His installation piece, Whence from a Darkling Heart, a jacket with black shapes arranged on it and below it, was front and center when you walked into the exhibition space. Jeff asked if I knew it was his work when I walked in. I said of course I knew and told him I would be surprised if not everyone else did too. He was surprised. He thought it was so different that people might have wondered whose it was. I think it’s hard, when looking at our own work, to see what our signature style is.
But here’s another piece of Jeff’s, absent his familiar combination of sunset colors or a dominance of blues, and it seems very obvious that this is his work. Or maybe you would see it and wonder if somebody was emulating his work. But no, this is all Jeffrey Dever and I would say it’s the shapes, the immaculate finish and his careful consideration of balance that makes it so obvious.
The thing about going predominantly monochrome like this is that you are challenged to set color side and heavily consider all the other design elements. The forms, the size, the juxtaposition and contrast of elements, and the way the work is finished become paramount considerations. These other design elements must be attended to with care to make it work. Not that those design elements should not always be attended to with care but sometimes, with color, you may be tempted to let the color carry a piece because a bold or well-chosen color palette will still result in a piece that people admire. It’s just that the work can generally be taken up a notch or two if the other design elements are deemed just as important and are given just as much consideration as color.
And this is why this piece works so well. There is contrast in the form of black shapes but the base shape is the same in each one so there is a connection between them all. The red ball adds the drama with his heavy contrast in color as well as surface treatment and shape. Still, the ball’s roundness is an echo of the curves in the pod shapes. Just imagine if the red element was a square. It would lose so much. But it could have been a triangle, with the points of the pods and the points of the triangles echoing each other, although it would’ve felt very different.
Jeff has some other very different forms he’s been working on which you’ll see more of when we get the Polymer Journeys book out in February. In the meantime, you can take a look at his website to see what he’s been up to over the past couple years.
Read MoreSarah Shriver is well known for her caning, so it is fun to see what she does when she branches out from canes.
These pendulum pendants put a spotlight on Sarah’s focus on color. It is a very different look and feel for her but if you look at the forms, she is still working in similar shapes but without the canes. There looks to be more freedom of form for her. Her canes are generally laid on flat or slightly domed surfaces whereas here, the forms bulge out from their silver bindings, washed with color around the edges to accentuate that roundness in the shapes.
The design may seem simple at first until you consider the components. There is a definite contrast going on here that may be hard to identify at first. The roundness and gradient wash of color are soft elements but the bulk terminating in an arrow-like point that drives inexorably downward gives them a definite boldness. This combination is at the root of the sophisticated feel of these uncluttered designs.
It looks like she has worked on these designs for about a year. You can see her progress and some of her other designs and work on her Instagram page and on her website. And if you are in Northern California next week, consider dropping by her open house in San Rafael on December 9.
Read MoreWe are going to be dropping in on some big names this week and next to see what they are up to and what they have to inspire us with.
First up: Bonnie Bishoff. Her focus on jewelry these last couple years has been a journey through a variety of styles as she moves from working primarily in veneers on furniture with her partner J.M. Syron to smaller and more intimate work. But regardless of the style, her quietly strong and confident sense of color and pattern mark each piece like a signature. These lovely earrings are paired almost solely by color scheme although they do work within a limited set of variations in composition, visual texture and shapes. Each variation relays a slightly different mood, adjusted through the level of contrast in value and hue. The subtlety of this communication is what really brings home how masterful her color work is.
You can see what I mean by looking at the body of her work. You can do so by jumping onto her Instagram page and the website she shares with J.M. Syron.
Read MoreTake an already enticing, beautiful organic texture like crackle and literally “bump” it up with a wonderfully organic bumpy texture and you’ve got a real powerhouse of a textural combination.
That’s basically what Shelley Atwood did with these otherwise simply designed earrings. You really wouldn’t want to do a lot more with this as you would risk making this overly busy. The simple round shape and the round negative space reflect the roundness in the bumps but then the crackle comes in with an edgy and erratic energy that contrasts nicely with the predominate soft forms and shapes. The choice of color also brings additional energy to this organic terrain, the reds and yellows playing nicely with this contrasting combination of textures.
Shelley has been playing with dots and bumps and other heavily textured surface applications and techniques for quite a while now. Her Flickr photostream looks like a massive sampler of textural surface design possibilities in polymer. Pop over there or peruse her portfolio on her website for all kinds of textural inspiration.
Read MoreFirst of all, don’t forget you have a couple more days to get in your pre-order for the new Polymer Art Projects—Organics book due out at the end of the month. Heavily discounted pre-sale pricing ends this Wednesday, October 10th. Go to our website here to reserve your copy with a pre-order.
I know I have done dot-themed weeks a couple of times before but hopefully you are tired of them because we are going to focus on another type of dot this week although this is really more about texture than dots. There has been so much popping up out there in terms of heavily textural dots and this bracelet and earrings set by Sylvie Peraud led the pack this last week.
Why is this so enticing? I mean, this type of texture is reminiscent of reptilian skin and, for those of us with stupidly sensitive skin, certain types of hives and other reactions that result in a bunch of bumpy dots that are none too pretty. And yet this texture is something most of us find almost irresistible to touch. Rubbing our fingers over a surface like this is a feast for our fingertips. There’s also a certain richness to the density of this type of texture. Sylvie has added to this enticement with a gorgeous gradation of fiery warm colors. But the organic-looking texture and varied coloration contrasts starkly with the sharp geometric angles of these forms. This kind of high contrast adds energy and strength to this design.
She’s created bracelets in black-and-white as well as played with other surface applications on this form for at least a couple of weeks now with stunning results. Take a look at her photos on Facebook and hop over to her website for more on Sylvie and her work.
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