Looking Back for Inspiration
March 30, 2016 Inspirational Art
A quick note on the Polymer Journey 2016 book … we’ve been able to extend the introductory sale through Friday, so if you haven’t reserved your copy or were waiting for payday, this is your chance! Go to the website today before the price goes up this weekend.
There are timeless techniques as well as timeless art. This easy but impressive looking technique, painting with mica powders on molded clay, was posted by Lilin in 2008. This particular construction harkens back to the art deco style with the enameled look of the butterfly wings against the stylized faces. It gives them an antique air. Lilin credits Donna Kato as her inspiration although she doesn’t say if that was from a book or class. But she gives her own brief instructions and tips, enough for you to get some ideas and run with a new design of your own.
The instructions for these are on this blog post. Lilin hasn’t posted since 2009 and I couldn’t find any reference to her moving her work to somewhere else. I am always curious how an artist progresses. It’s both encouraging and fascinating to see people improve their skills and to see what directions they chose. So I am curious. If anyone knows what Lilin is up to now, let me know and I’ll post an update here.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Find a new way to apply an old technique. Look through your older project books, back issues of magazines, or your favorite tutorial sites and find something you haven’t done in a while or never tried and use it with your present forms and color palettes. What do you do differently today that you didn’t when the tutorial was published or when you first used it? It’s interesting to see how your approach has shifted.
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Tracking Our History
March 27, 2016 Inspirational Art
Okay … a couple little notes first …
Thank you to all of you who jumped in and pre-ordered a Polymer Journeys book. It was very heartening to see how many people are interested in this kind of book and I so hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together. If you wanted to get in on the discounted pricing that we have through the 30th, just head over to the Polymer Journeys website.
For those of you who get this by email, you may have noticed a change in the look of your emails the last time or two. We moved to a new, more stable email service for you. You now have “like” buttons, so you can share it on 252 different social networks and online sharing services (Never knew there were so many!). Not all of them will transfer the image, if that is what you want to share, but you can click the post’s title in the email and it will take you to the post where you can share the URL address instead. If you have any questions or comments about the new format, just reply to the email and let us know!
This book has raised a number of discussions about looking at work retrospectively. I wanted to create Polymer Journeys as a series as a way to document what has been going on in polymer art as well as give us a more concrete way to understand where it’s going. The internet has endlessly muddled our sense of what is happening today because if something was posted anywhere at any point since the internet went public, it could pop up on someone’s screen for the first time, and it will seem like something new.
This mosaic is an example of something that came up while I was doing some research online that I had never seen before this past week. I thought it a beautiful example of how polymer can be used as a material for a traditional art form, giving the artist a bit more latitude and ease in creating the tiles for a traditional mosaic application. However, Geena Bregar, the creator of the mosaic, posted this some 13 years ago. I had never seen it and would have been at a loss as to guess its age if it weren’t for the dating of the blog post.
Of course, the question is, does it matter if we know when something was made? In many ways, no, it doesn’t. The strongest art continues to inspire, draw admiration, or causes someone to stop and ponder years, decades, or centuries after its creation. But I think the history of an art form, an artist, or even a piece of art itself has stories that we can learn quite a bit from or at least find wonder in them. I’ve been talking about how polymer has really reached out and touched so many other forms of art and is being used in conjunction with so many materials, but pieces like this are a good reminder that this influence and creative use of polymer is nothing new.
I think, really, polymer always been that kind of material. It’s just hard to get a good perspective on when and how this reach and influence occurred. If the Polymer Journeys books do well, perhaps we’ll be able to have a clear and educational perspective alongside a great collection of beautiful work to inspire us for years to come.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Look back at your oldest pieces in whatever medium you first created original works. Do you see new and inspiring elements even now? Take an element–a form, the way you used line, a technique, or color palette and combine it with your advanced knowledge and skill in a new design.
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New Book Cover and Very Special Pre-Sale Offer for You!
March 25, 2016 Inspirational Art, The Polymer Arts magazine news
We set aside our usual art discussions today to announce the first big book project for TPA and the associated book publishing arm, Tenth Muse Publications–Polymer Journeys 2016 is just about ready for you! The release is set for April 14th.
This retrospective and peek-behind-the-scenes book is in its last phase of preparation for printing! Now that we have a publication date, we are offering you very anxious and enthusiastic folks a steep discount and a bonus to thank you for your patience and to give you the opportunity to get your copy straight off the press and into the mail!
We have an exclusive pre-sale price for just this one week. If you purchase the book on our website by March 30th, you get 30% off the cover price of $22.95! That’s all of $15.95 plus shipping.
It is also available in a digital format, which will be $12.95, but this week you can reserve your copy for just $9.95.
But wait … there’s more! (I’ve always wanted to say that!) I also worked out a way to reward our most enthusiastic supporters … be one of the first 250 people to pre-order a print copy and get a companion digital copy for FREE! Just put both a print and digital copy into your cart, then use this code to discount the digital copy: 1st250. (You’ll know others beat you to it if you get a note saying the discount is no longer valid.)
Want more info on what this book is? Go to the website here. In the meantime, enjoy the gorgeous cover art by Kathleen Dustin (top) and Jon Stuart Anderson (bottom).
We’ll be here if you have any questions for us. Otherwise, have a beautiful Spring and Easter weekend!
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A Polymer Journey
November 30, 2015 Inspirational Art
There is a new series of books on the way which myself, as the editor, and the rest of the board involved are very excited about. Polymer Journeys is set to be an annual or bi-annual retrospective gallery style book that aims to present and record the best and most innovative work in polymer as well as take a look at polymer trends across the globe. We are doing this to record what is happening in polymer as well as, hopefully, impress the world with the variety and quality of polymer art and its artists. And, of course, it will be a beautiful and revealing book to peruse for all polymer and fine craft enthusiasts.
Did you receive an invitation? Invitation emails may have been spam filtered for some people or the board may not have the most recent contact information for all the artists they are hoping will contribute. So, if you have not seen an invitation but believe your work is important, innovative, or can help create a full and accurate picture of the impressive and wide-ranging talent in the world of polymer art in recent years, please check your spam folder or write to the board using the form on this page of the project’s website.
If all goes well, the book is due to come out in February. If you want to be notified of discounted pre-sale opportunities to buy the book and announcements about its publication, you can sign up for that on this page which describes the book in more detail.
While you are contemplating that news, or not, let’s look at some artwork that was deemed to be some of the best in the craft world, not just polymer. This piece, which looks so much like silver, is another all polymer piece by the amazing Wiwat Kamolpornwijit. Wiwat has been a Niche Awards winner or finalist for I don’t know how many years running. The Niche Awards celebrate the best in United States and Canadian fine craft in every major craft discipline and form. Polymer even has its own category, making this just one more place that recognizes polymer as a major player in the world of fine craft.
We hope to help keep that trend going. Hopefully Polymer Journeys will give it another good nudge in that direction. Let’s see what we can do.
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Have you ever walked outside and been assaulted by a cloud of butterflies? Sounds like something that might happen in a dream, right? But it actually is happening here in Southern California. The first wave came through a month ago as Painted Lady butterflies traveled north on their annual migration only this time there were many more than usual, supported by the crazy wildflower bloom that we have going on out here. Between a very heavy rainy season and all the fires around here, the ground has been very fertile and supportive of tons and tons of mustard flowers, orange poppies, and purple lupines. So now, the next generation of butterflies, laid here by the first migratory wave, have grown, transformed, and are continuing the migration, with streams of them cavorting down the hills, rolling through backyards, and, strangely enough, traveling in clouds down the streets, following the asphalt rivers
So, of course, I had to get out in it (and out of the house) yesterday and now my head is full of flowers and butterflies. Which is weird for me. Although I love these fascinating and colorful gems of nature, they aren’t usually the thing that I turned to, especially when it comes to artwork. But, with flowers on the mind, I sat down to drum up something lovely to show you this week and came up with all kinds of polymer flowers, but not quite what you’d expect.
Let’s look at how people are switching up this most common and enduring subject for artistic inspiration.
Flower Power
first of all, if you read last week’s blog, you know I wanted to focus on mica shift techniques on my own studio table this past week and challenged you all to try a little yourselves. Well, I did get started but it was a tough week for getting things done. However, that post initiated a number of experimentations in a slew of other artist’s studios as well. It does seem that a majority of people are still in the experimentation stage so I will hold off sharing any results until we all have something more complete.
What did happen though, was a lot of online conversations as people shared their work. One such online chat was with Kathy McCurry, one of our most creative floral polymer artists. I am really excited to see what she comes up within mica shift for her flowers as they are already so intriguing. Kathy creates pieces that could be nothing else but flowers yet they are like nothing you ever have, or ever well, see on this earth. They are eye-catching, colorful, shimmery, and crazy exotic looking, as you can see in her piece opening this post and the one below. Being Cinco de Mayo today, I thought these Fiesta flowers would be an apropos example.
It is always hard to pick just one or two pictures from a talented artist like this so please to click over to her website to see more of her work if you’ve not seen it before. You can also find her featured in Polymer Journeys 2019, and she’ll be in Issue #3 of The Polymer Studio. with a bit of a personal story. You can buy the book or subscribe to the magazine (Issue #2 was released last week and is ready to ship if you need a copy!) on the website.
Other creative and beautiful, yet not-found-in-nature flowers made in polymer can be found in the studio of Ann Duncan-Hlavach. Ann has a habit of making up her own patterns for petals from just about any source of inspiration besides actual flowers, resulting in some really delightful combinations.
Here is an ode to the Monarch butterfly (since butterflies started this, it seemed like I should bring them in here somewhere on this post), but in a rose shape. Don’t you love the translucent quality of the “wings”? The translucence glows when light hits it. This makes for truly stunning and unusual bouquets as you can see in a wedding set of hers that made it into Polymer Journeys 2019.
Just how else can you mix and match inspiration for flowers? Well, the possibilities are endless, and sometimes even frightening! But in a good way. There are few people who have taken the light and delicate nature of flowers and melded them with the far end of the spectrum quite like Anastasiya Khramina. Here carnivorous flora are at once beautiful and horrifying. I do have to wonder what inspired her to add vampiric teeth and a forceful tongue lolling out of her flowers’ centers. And yes, this is not a one-off thing for her. Most of her posted creations are sharp-teethed flowers. I posted one of her pieces a year or so ago and it was one of the most viewed post of that year. I guess us humans will always be drawn by beauty, especially when it is combined with what scares us.
Now, if you really would prefer to go the more traditional way and have realistic looking flowers for adornment, you can do so while still taking it up a notch and showing up mother nature herself. Just come up with a color combination and arrangement nature hasn’t quite gotten around to creating. See how Vera of Etsy’s Handmade Blossoms does it … in pastels or a full and bright rainbow.
But, perhaps you, like me, are not so much into the flowers but you do love the shapes and forms of them with their layers or rows of petals, and the balanced swirling repetition of their arrangement. Those formations do not only come in flowers. Albina Asadullina popped an extremely realistic succulent onto the focal point of the pendant instead of a flower as one might expect. It has a bit more substance and so is not quite as delicate looking as most flowers but it visually has the same effect for the piece.
Moving on From Flowers
To quickly wrap this up, I’m going to let you do further research as you are inspired. I am utterly exhausted by a long arduous week of decision-making, further house rearranging, and trying to keep the dust at bay. Here I am in the middle of what once was my kitchen, contemplating the problem plumbing which instigated this whole thing. I now spend my entire day in my studio (and my nights this week since I have to sleep here for the time being too!) which wouldn’t be that abnormal or too bad if the family didn’t all have to retreat here too when they are home as it’s still a bit nippy outside. We are making the most of it and looking on it as a challenging adventure. Now I just need to figure out how to get work done amidst this all!
The Polymer Studio, Issue #2 … click the image to see a sampler edition
Get oodles of inspiration and have fun with the many intriguing projects, artist interviews, studio tours and other tidbits in the latest issue of The Polymer Studio. Click here to see a sampler of it.
Looking for your already purchased copy?
If you are due a digital edition, the access emails went out on Tuesday but if you didn’t see yours, check your junk mail folders or go to your account where you can access it. You can also write Sydney, my keeper of lists, from there if you have questions.
Print editions of the new issue went to the post office Wednesday directly from the printer if you were subscribed or pre-ordered before April 22nd. My shipment has been delayed but I should have them Tuesday so recent orders will go out then from here.
I hope you all have a wonderful week full of flowers, butterflies, and lots of not-so-challenging adventures!
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As of Thursday, I will be out of the country, gallivanting about with my family in Europe for a couple of weeks. Per doctor’s orders, I am trying to completely unplug so I will post something for you Wednesday and then, after that, you’ll have the pleasure of hearing from a number of other well-respected and accomplished artists as they share work by some favorite artists of theirs. It should be a nice, refreshing, change of pace for a couple of weeks, for you and I.
While I am gone, my assistant, Sydney, will be will be working away on our upcoming books we officially announced last week. Her first order of business will be working on the invitation list for the 2018 edition of Polymer Journeys, slated to come out in October. Consideration for inclusion in the book is by invitation only and although we have quite the list going already, we want to make sure we don’t miss anybody because you don’t have the right email or we’re simply not aware of what you’re doing. If you think your work should be included, see the details below.
Sydney will also be orchestrating the continued work on our first Polymer Art Projects tutorial collection – Organics. We’ll share the cover and set you up for pre-sale opportunities soon after I get back in mid-July. But, in the meantime, I’m going to be a terrible person and tease you by sharing a couple of pieces you will be able to make from the upcoming Projects book. Not to get you overly excited too early but I’m excited and dying to share some of this with you.
Here are variations on a pendant necklace that Debbie Crothers will teach you how to make in her tutorial in the book. She shares a number of her lovely surface treatments as well as a creative polymer clasp and other wonderful accents and touches. I asked Debbie to be part of this book because of her colorful, well-designed, but loose-feeling approach to surface design. She shows you how to complete a version of one of these but you’ll be able to easily take from the skills she teaches and create unique pieces of your own.
If you don’t follow Debbie and her blog, you can do so here. She often throws out little freebie tutorials as well as selling her fun and engaging video tutorials on her site here.
Polymer Journeys Invitations: If you were invited to participate in Polymer Journeys last time, you will be in the pool for the initial rounds to choose who gets invitations but please update us with your most recent email if it has changed since then. If you have not been previously invited but would like to be because your work represents some of the best that polymer has to offer and/or are contributing to the polymer community in unique or significantly supportive ways, you can request consideration for an invitation.
To be considered, fill out an invitation request here. Note that making a request does not guarantee an invitation as we are limited to 250 invitations and so we will narrow down the list in the first round before invitations are even sent out. Invitations go out mid-July. Submissions of work completed between 2016 and 2018 will be due in early September. If you have questions while I’m out, you can write Sydney at connect[at]thepolymerarts.com.
Read MoreMy apologies for not getting the blog out yesterday. It is a whirlwind over here as we get the next issue ready and deal with some ongoing technical and third-party service issues in other areas.
But here you go. Your sneak peek at the Winter 2017 – Line issue whose cover will be graced with the beautiful work of Emily Squires Levine who is the featured artist interviewed in this issue. This great end of the year issue will come out third week of November.
Along with that must-read article, you can also look forward to …
- Design with Line
- The Art of Emily Squires Levine
- Creative Extruding
- More Tools from Other Trades
- Etched Impression Plates
- Simulation in Soutache
- Color Spotlight: Sabine Spiesser
- Getting into Galleries
- Jewelry Styles for Men
- Growing Your Guild
- Russian Polymer Quilt Project
- … and much more!
To ensure you don’t miss out, go here for subscriptions and renewals.
And … we are working on the next couple projects so we thought we’d keep working on making room and this time, we’ve got Polymer Journeys on sale for a straight 50% off for print editions, 15% off digital editions, and if you buy both, you can get the digital edition for only $5! You can grab this deal on our website as well.
There is also news about changes in our subscription and ordering process which was run through a service that has, unfortunately not provided consistent service and has frustrated more than a few readers, and we just can’t have that. So this is all back in-house where we can monitor every single order ourselves. We do lose the online portal for you to check on your subscription and change your address but we’ll be able to offer more discounts and specials as well as having a cleaner and easier ordering system.
Get all this news in our newsletter which you can find online here. If you would like to sign up to receive our twice monthly newsletter, just drop your email into the form on our home page.
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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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