The Blue Between the Buildings
May 13, 2016 Inspirational Art
Silvia Ortiz de la Torre offered up her vision of a sky on this Fimo 50 World Project tile as one familiar to many people–the small patch of sky seen through a crowding of city skyscrapers. Maybe this is not the sky you most often think of when you envision sky, but for many this is a very common daily view. There is certainly something about seeing that small patch of blue hanging there beyond the reach of these immensely tall buildings that attracts the eye.
As amazing and beautiful as the man-made structures can be, I think most all of us gravitate towards the natural world more strongly. The directional lines of the buildings Silvia outlines make that focus on the sky automatic. And her choice to make that sun both glow in the blue sky and come through the form of a building in a singular burst of red color makes that both the resting point, a place our eye does not feel like it has to bounce around as it is pushed by the strong lines of the buildings, and a focal point. It’s a beautiful and expert composition.
Interested in seeing all the tiles in the Fimo 50 World Project? You can casually go through the submission that were posted on the project’s Facebook page or on Cynthia Tinapple’s Instagram page she set up for it.
Inspiration Challenge of the Day: Create or design something that contrasts man-made with natural. What elements of each are you drawn to? Or consider a favorite natural object or form and recreate it with very clean and structured lines. Or take a man-made form and make it organic looking.
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Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
Painting with Edges
March 17, 2016 Inspirational Art
The wide open canvas idea that the Fimo 50 project brought up on Monday got me looking around at polymer painting. It is not an easy thing to literally paint with polymer, and sometimes I think that there isn’t really any advantage to painting in polymer other than to see if it can be done. I mean, if you are familiar with the wide world of acrylics, you know so much of what we do as painting with polymer can be done in acrylics. Thick dimensionality, rich color, marbling, layering, and even sculpting is possible with acrylic paint mediums. And you don’t have to cure it. But then you see a piece like this and yes, the rippling effect would be harder to achieve in polymer. It does have its place. It just depends on the hands it is in.
The hands this was in were Gloria Nilsson’s. She works almost exclusively in paint now, along with creating some jewelry, so I don’t have too much information on what she did here. This is from an old web page site on the piece:
“I developed this rolling wave technique in several of my polymer clay jewelry pieces first exhibited in September 2010 at the Killingworth Library. The process of painting with clay requires an artist to be open to the clay itself. The design of the wave is established, but the detail and the movement is dictated by the spontaneous color mixing process. No two will ever be alike.”
She goes on to say that she planned on exploring this further, but I could not find any other polymer paintings. It was certainly a beautiful start to this kind of ‘painting’, although it might more accurately be called construction or layering. But let’s forget categories and labels. When texture and imagery blend so well that you get a little lost as you look at it, you know the piece has transcended begin defined by its medium and any associated labels. I think this is one of those pieces.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Work with very, very thin sheets of clay and layer them so the edges form the lines, shapes, and texture of the piece you are creating. It is okay if this process leads you in another direction. Just follow your muse.
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Around the World, One Square at a Time
March 16, 2016 Inspirational Art
Have you been keeping track of the Fimo 50 World Project? Its been so cool to watch the tiles come in, posted to the Facebook group, and circulate around the web. We’ve seen some fabulous ones the last week or so. I picked a handful of them to brighten your Monday morning. We have, top left and going clockwise, tile contributions created by Cornelia Brockstedt, Page McNall, Julie Eakes, and Martina Buriánová. How incredibly different can you get? These all started out with the same simple instructions, but the results show very individual inspirations and styles. How wonderful.
If you aren’t too familiar with this project, it is Fimo’s 50th anniversary, and to celebrate they are gathering 10cm x 10cm (4″ x 4″) polymer tiles from polymer artists around the world. Anyone can participate. The submissions will be assembled into a globe that will represent polymer around the world, in a literal and symbolic fashion. Later, the tiles will be taken off and auctioned to raise funds for two of the community’s favorite charity projects, Dr. Ron Lehocky’s Kids Center for Pediatric Therapies and the Samunnat community in Nepal.
For all the specifics, go to the FIMO 50 World Project Facebook page or to the Staedtler website. If you are in the US, Cynthia Tinapple is helping out by allowing US artists to send their tiles to her instead of to Germany, then she will pack those up and send them to Staedtler at the end of April when all tiles are due for the project. US artists can send entries to: Cynthia Tinapple, 1 Hartford Court, Worthington, OH 43085. But remember to register your entry on the website first.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Make a 4×4 tile for the Fimo 50World project or just for yourself. The canvas of a simple, open, basically two-dimensional space without the engineering of jewelry or structure needed for sculpture can be a very freeing form to work on. Just give it a try assuming it will be not be shared so you really let go.
___________________________________________
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Silvia Ortiz de la Torre offered up her vision of a sky on this Fimo 50 World Project tile as one familiar to many people–the small patch of sky seen through a crowding of city skyscrapers. Maybe this is not the sky you most often think of when you envision sky, but for many this is a very common daily view. There is certainly something about seeing that small patch of blue hanging there beyond the reach of these immensely tall buildings that attracts the eye.
As amazing and beautiful as the man-made structures can be, I think most all of us gravitate towards the natural world more strongly. The directional lines of the buildings Silvia outlines make that focus on the sky automatic. And her choice to make that sun both glow in the blue sky and come through the form of a building in a singular burst of red color makes that both the resting point, a place our eye does not feel like it has to bounce around as it is pushed by the strong lines of the buildings, and a focal point. It’s a beautiful and expert composition.
Interested in seeing all the tiles in the Fimo 50 World Project? You can casually go through the submission that were posted on the project’s Facebook page or on Cynthia Tinapple’s Instagram page she set up for it.
Inspiration Challenge of the Day: Create or design something that contrasts man-made with natural. What elements of each are you drawn to? Or consider a favorite natural object or form and recreate it with very clean and structured lines. Or take a man-made form and make it organic looking.
________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
Read MoreThe wide open canvas idea that the Fimo 50 project brought up on Monday got me looking around at polymer painting. It is not an easy thing to literally paint with polymer, and sometimes I think that there isn’t really any advantage to painting in polymer other than to see if it can be done. I mean, if you are familiar with the wide world of acrylics, you know so much of what we do as painting with polymer can be done in acrylics. Thick dimensionality, rich color, marbling, layering, and even sculpting is possible with acrylic paint mediums. And you don’t have to cure it. But then you see a piece like this and yes, the rippling effect would be harder to achieve in polymer. It does have its place. It just depends on the hands it is in.
The hands this was in were Gloria Nilsson’s. She works almost exclusively in paint now, along with creating some jewelry, so I don’t have too much information on what she did here. This is from an old web page site on the piece:
“I developed this rolling wave technique in several of my polymer clay jewelry pieces first exhibited in September 2010 at the Killingworth Library. The process of painting with clay requires an artist to be open to the clay itself. The design of the wave is established, but the detail and the movement is dictated by the spontaneous color mixing process. No two will ever be alike.”
She goes on to say that she planned on exploring this further, but I could not find any other polymer paintings. It was certainly a beautiful start to this kind of ‘painting’, although it might more accurately be called construction or layering. But let’s forget categories and labels. When texture and imagery blend so well that you get a little lost as you look at it, you know the piece has transcended begin defined by its medium and any associated labels. I think this is one of those pieces.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Work with very, very thin sheets of clay and layer them so the edges form the lines, shapes, and texture of the piece you are creating. It is okay if this process leads you in another direction. Just follow your muse.
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
Read MoreHave you been keeping track of the Fimo 50 World Project? Its been so cool to watch the tiles come in, posted to the Facebook group, and circulate around the web. We’ve seen some fabulous ones the last week or so. I picked a handful of them to brighten your Monday morning. We have, top left and going clockwise, tile contributions created by Cornelia Brockstedt, Page McNall, Julie Eakes, and Martina Buriánová. How incredibly different can you get? These all started out with the same simple instructions, but the results show very individual inspirations and styles. How wonderful.
If you aren’t too familiar with this project, it is Fimo’s 50th anniversary, and to celebrate they are gathering 10cm x 10cm (4″ x 4″) polymer tiles from polymer artists around the world. Anyone can participate. The submissions will be assembled into a globe that will represent polymer around the world, in a literal and symbolic fashion. Later, the tiles will be taken off and auctioned to raise funds for two of the community’s favorite charity projects, Dr. Ron Lehocky’s Kids Center for Pediatric Therapies and the Samunnat community in Nepal.
For all the specifics, go to the FIMO 50 World Project Facebook page or to the Staedtler website. If you are in the US, Cynthia Tinapple is helping out by allowing US artists to send their tiles to her instead of to Germany, then she will pack those up and send them to Staedtler at the end of April when all tiles are due for the project. US artists can send entries to: Cynthia Tinapple, 1 Hartford Court, Worthington, OH 43085. But remember to register your entry on the website first.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Make a 4×4 tile for the Fimo 50World project or just for yourself. The canvas of a simple, open, basically two-dimensional space without the engineering of jewelry or structure needed for sculpture can be a very freeing form to work on. Just give it a try assuming it will be not be shared so you really let go.
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
Read More