A Passion Story

June 9, 2019

My apologies for the lateness of this post. Nothing has quite worked out the way I had planned this week. From yet a new plumbing problem and further demolition being planned to the sad yet exciting news that my assistant and keeper of lists, Sydney, is moving on to work with a business helping people with eating disorders to the graduation of our teen, setting up for the next issue and our vacation preparations, it has been beyond busy here. I wrote this on a plane to Australia and still am not sure when I’ll get to post it.

The craziness of this week, has, however, had its moments of clarity and calm, at least enough to have a couple of conversations on a subject that is very dear to me … passion. So I thought I’d share my thoughts and, perhaps, get you thinking about your passions and your voice. But, alas, I can’t do the usual research in my present situation, so I am going to tell you some stories about me instead, just a little view of a life driven by my passions and need to be creative and expressive. My apologies for the lack of photos. I’ll make up for it in the coming weeks.

This text is actually from a talk I gave with Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes at Eurosynergy in Malta in 2014 titled Finding your Artistic Voice. My story isn’t purely about polymer art though as writing has been the larger part of my creative journey.

My journey as a writer started when I was very young. I was writing stories in my head from the time I had language enough to do so. I wrote my first book at age 9 and, encouraged by an insightful teacher who saw something in this fearful, quiet, and intensely shy child, I became determined to be a writer. I was lucky to find a passion as a child as my voice developed at an age when I did not think about having to please anyone besides myself or follow what others did. I still try to return to a childlike state in my mind as much as I can—the child mind is so unencumbered with little or no critic, less of a need to ‘fix’ what they are doing, and seeing the world as still new and intensely interesting.

Because of that, my journey as a writer has been very organic and relatively unencumbered. But it did have its challenges. My undergraduate college work was in art but I went back for my Master’s in Writing in San Francisco, the birthplace of beatnik poetry and a lot of great but very edgy & alternative writing. I concentrated on poetry but I wrote for the average person. I wrote about normal things—nature, everyday struggles, and just things I saw out my window or on a walk.

I was heavily criticized by the other students for not doing something “different”. Sure, most all my subjects have been written about thousands of times but they were not written by me and they were not filtered through my eyes. Back then, it never occurred to me to give in to criticism because my writing was so ingrained in me and I grew up just writing what I wanted and didn’t question my subject choices. As a result, I think my work had a recognized honesty and my writing was well received by my professors and department heads. I was nominated for a number of awards and I continuously published for nearly 5 years. Half the other students in my master’s program couldn’t say that.

Eventually, and somewhat ironically, I stopped publishing because I ended up spending more time at readings and shows than writing and I wanted to focus on the writing more. Although the creative writing efforts didn’t go where I had hoped, that focus allowed me to build a career in writing as a freelancer, although it was non-fiction magazine articles and training materials. But in these, I found my passion for teaching and sharing knowledge with others.

Visual art, although an intense passion now, was a long time developing. I actually didn’t see myself as a visual artist at all until I was in my late teens when I accidentally ended up in an advanced Life Drawing class and couldn’t get out of it right away. However, being forced to do the initial assignments, I found that visual arts came quite naturally to me. But with writing being my “thing”, I just thought of art as something fun to do. I was eventually convinced by two different professors to change my major from writing to art, my eventual reason being that I felt I had a lot more to learn about art than writing.

In art school, I was still able to draw on my childlike wonder and sense of exploration, probably because I had kept it alive in my writing all through my younger years. After art school, I worked in charcoal and fiber as well as mixed-media but wasn’t driven to make a career of art until polymer found me nearly 18 years after art school. My polymer journey was quite different than my previous creative treks. I found that I had lost a lot of my childlike tendencies and was out of practice having taken years off my creative endeavors to work and take care of family. But, like many of you, when I found polymer, I became obsessed. I quit my writing career so I could be a full-time artist and so, obviously, I geared what I did to make a living but that gave me a very different focus to start with than I had when I started writing or when I started art school.

My dual drive—to make a living as well as explore this fascinating medium—pushed me to learn as much as I could in 4 months and then I started doing shows, so from the start, my polymer art was about selling it. Although I was initially making art that made me happy, it was not long before I was making art according to what I thought would sell. That resulted in some gimmicky things that were more for and about the market than me. I sold well enough for a while but I slowly began to dislike my work and when that happened, coincidence or not, my sales started to slow.

Eventually, I went back to freelance writing part-time in order to allow myself to start making what I wanted. Not having to count on my art alone to pay my bills was very freeing. Strange thing though … I sold a lot more for better prices when I just did what I wanted.

What happened? For one, I think I was happier with my work, finding so much more joy in what I was doing, and I think it showed it came through in the work, making the art more desirable. I returned to combining other mediums in my work which allowed me really explore the medium in ways I had not done before. I was back to selling out at nearly every show, was invited to teach classes and spoke at shows in rooms so packed that I was often moved me to bigger rooms to accommodate. I believe my success at that time was due largely to my passion showing rather than external pressures driving what I did.

Eventually, though, my passions changed (they will do that!) as I was missing the broad sharing of knowledge that writing allowed, so I started a magazine, thinking it would give me time to develop my art in new directions. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of time for my art since then but only because the magazine was such a success. I am still pondering my passions though and what I’ll do next. That’s part of what I want to do on this trip. Consider where my passions truly lie these days and decide if the changes I’ve made recently are feeding them or might there be more changes in the near future?

I’ll talk more about this in the coming weeks and I’ll get photos up then too. Thanks for being patient with me while I travel and think about your passions and what you are doing in the meantime identify what you love most about what you do and whether or not you are feeding your true passions.

(Apologies for typos and odd grammar. I’m not going to have time to proof this very well and my dyslexia is out and causing havoc with this jetlag! I hope you enjoy my story nonetheless.)

Fond Goodbyes to Winter

I was traveling this past week, otherwise I would have posted earlier about the passing of our iconic Elise Winters. I’m sure you have heard the news through other avenues that her battle with cancer ended on New Year’s day but I wanted to post a farewell here.

Although I did not know her well, we did talk and in our few conversations, I found we had some differing views but the details mattered little as we were on the same team, wanting to promote and raise the view of polymer to the level of a fine art wherever we could. My efforts have been tiny ripples to her tremendous waves, however. Elise is the reason we have polymer art in so many museums and, especially, holding its own at the esteemed Racine Art Museum in Wisconsin where polymer is one of the six categories of craft that the museum has placed its focus on. We have so much to thank her for.

Elise’s work is readily recognizable and has never been well replicated. Her combination of Skinner blends and crazed acrylic stripes were coaxed into some of the most unusual and unexpected shapes and forms. Although her ruffled and pillow forms were some of her most widely known pieces, I have always thought the piece you see here was one of her best. It’s a brooch from 2006 called Skinner Inner Brooch. This has a much more direct and grounded energy than her well-known ruffles and its inner reveal of a bull’s-eye cane gives it another dimension, bringing us to consider what is underneath, beyond the beautiful surface.

Movement and energy of this kind were paramount in her artwork and, as we have seen, also in her passion and drive to make polymer a recognized fine art material. I hope there are enough of us to amass a similarly zealous energy to continue the work for which she paved such an integral path for our craft. Thank you, Elise.

For a look back at this legendary artist, jewelry designer, and polymer art advocate you can visit her website here.

From Winter into Spring …

I would also like to put out a reminder that the first issue of The Polymer Studio is set to go to print at the end of this week. If you would like to get the first print copies straight from the printer, be sure to purchase your subscription or single issue pre-order by this Wednesday, January 9th, to get on the direct mail list we give to the printer. The issue will be released on January 19th in digital.

You can look forward to …

Tutorials

  • Kitchen Sink Imprint Mokume by Julie Picarello
  • Magical Phoenix Feather by Christi Friesen
  • Martian Footprints Necklace by Anna Malnaya
  • Swoop Pendant by Beatrice Picq
  • More is More Fimo Bracelet by Jeannette Froese LeBlanc
  • Mosaic Stained Glass Canes by Linda Leach
  • Shimmering Scenery Pendant by Sage Bray

Tips

  • Mix a Near and Far Color Palette with Tracy Holmes
  • Mix it Up with Embossing Powders with Debbie Crothers
  • Creative Studio Organization Ideas by our Staff

Inspiration

  • Studio Tour: Small Spaces in Germany with Anke Humpert
  • In-Depth Artist Profile: Julie Picarello
  • Uncommon Clay Artist Profile: Travis Suda

… and much more!

Get your subscription here at www.ThePolymerStudio.com or www.TenthMuseArts.com.

 

Almost Late to Class

September 12, 2018

You know those times when you’re so busy that, although you sense something exciting is going on around you, you don’t stop to check it out until it’s too late? That was me these last few weeks. I knew that Dan Cormier’s and Tracy Holmes’ Bioforming class was coming up, but not that registration was nearing its end. Then, in my weekly search for cool polymer goodies to share with you this past weekend, I found this refreshing brooch by Dan and realized I didn’t know what was going on with their class. And guess what? It looked like registration for the class may have come and gone. Could this be true?

Not that I would have time to take it, much less sleep much, this year.  If you read Monday’s news, you know about the new Polymer Art Projects – Organics book for which pre-sales started at a discount price on Monday, and you probably know about our new magazine, The Polymer Studio, coming in January, and you may also have heard that the next Polymer Journeys book will be on its way in November, so you know I’m beyond busy! But I wished I’d managed to make the time to tell you about this great new class before it was too late.

But then I thought, maybe it’s not! And a couple emails later and I have for you … drumroll please … a secret back door into a few extra spots Dan and Tracy have kindly opened just for you, my readers!

So, if you’re interested, jump over to this link to sign up for their in-depth Bioforming class.  This secret back door will only be ope through this Friday so don’t wait as it is probably your last chance to get in on this.

Even if you can’t make the class, be sure to sign up for their newsletter so you’re one of the first to know when their next fantastic class is available.

In the meantime, here’s a bit of Dan’s latest work. The sophistication and mastery that underlies his approach to form, finishes, and design is all here but the little bouncing balls of color and the fun cactus form gives a humorous edge that is not as common in Dan’s work although, if you know him, is a big part of his personality.

For more on Dan’s work and on the classes Dan and Tracy have been teaching, go to their primary website here.

The Summer Cover … Thank you Mr. Anderson

Today, I just want to share the newest cover of The Polymer Arts. We are so very lucky to have Jon Stuart Anderson gracing the cover with a wonderful close up of his Raging Bull sculpture. The article on Jon’s art and life is alone worth getting this issue for.

Jon had previously not talked much about his work and yet it is absolutely unforgettable. His process, his thoughts on creating, on color, and on living as an artist are from the heart and he minces no words. The interview conducted, and article written by, the equally amazing Ron Lehocky was a dream for us. Ron had so much material, there really could have been a book. Ron was just the person to pull from Jon the stories and details that allow us a rich and colorful glimpse of the man and his work like we’ve never seen it before. I am so thrilled about this issue. Can you tell?

 The whole Summer 2017- Color issue will be a great reference for color exploration now and in the future with the talent and knowledge of some of our best artists including Tracy Holmes, Christine Dumont, Lindly Haunani, Meg Newberg, and Anke Humpert, along with Ron and Jon.  Here’s some of the articles you can look forward to:

  • Color Theory – Simplified!
  • Creating Relatable Color Palettes
  • Fixing our Brains’ Flawed Color Perception
  • The Wild & Colorful World of Jon Anderson
  • Dramatic Color Blends for Canes
  • Painting with Polymer clay
  • Color Guided Necklace Designs
  • Re-Thinking Your Artistic Identity
  • Funding a Guild or Group
  • Color Spotlight on Christine Dumont
  • New Ways with the New Liquid Clays

… and much more!

​Don’t miss out on this essential issue. Be sure your subscription is up to date by going to your account page or start your new subscription. It’s easy … just click here!

If you are jonesing to see more of Jon’s work or want to purchase his work, you can find it on his website.

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Outside Inspiration: Burning Up and Looking Through

January 22, 2016

paper-cutout-art-fashion-dresses-edgar-artis-47__700These little unexpected beauties are brought to us by Debbie Crothers who just dropped them onto my Facebook page last week. These were created by Armenian fashion illustrator Edgar Artis who uses common objects and scenes to take some basic fashion concepts beyond the ordinary. The matches dress illustration is so simple, but between the heavily directional lines and the ‘hot’ implication of the material, it is a rather arresting image. The cut-outs, however, are simply a fantastic way to test out color and texture. Edgar was not the first to do this, so to give credit where credit is due, you’d want to also check out Shamekh Bluwi, an architect and fashion illustrator living in Jordan, who shows off the potential for women’s dresses with his very intricate cut-outs.

But besides these just being a fun bit of illustration to admire, I was thinking the cut-out-and-view-through process could be an excellent springboard or tool set to help you work out your own polymer designs. You can take sketches you have (or make copies of them) and cut out the essential mass of the design, then hold it up to various colors and textures.  I just got my pack of Tracy Holmes’ Colour Cards today and placing a cut-out over selected solid-colored cards would be so much more telling than just holding them up to a sketch. Don’t you think?

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Trace a favorite form or shape, cut it out so you have a stencil, then take it on a walk with a camera of some kind. Hold it up to various colors, textures, patterns, etc. as you go. Take photos of what you find. Go home and put those photos up on a bigger screen and save or print out the ones you really like. Now … can you create artwork from what you found in that empty space in the stencil?

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Colour Breakthrough – Throwing Out the Wheel

June 10, 2015

colour dipticOne of our most unusual articles in the summer issue, the one we definitely spent the most time on getting just right for you all, is Tracy Holmes’ “Color Connections”. This is a color lesson and color mixing tutorial that throws out the color wheel and works with mixing and matching in three dimensions. The exercises are easy and fun, and you end up with a reusable and expandable color mixing cube. It will teach you the basics that will allow you to eventually move onto using Tracy’s soon-to-be-available color cards that will expand your potential palette to hundreds of easily mixed and matched colors.

The thing we didn’t have a lot of room for in the article was expanding on how to use it to choose colors, not just mix them. So here is a quick visual tutorial on how using this system works for creating color palettes.

Tracy’s partner, Dan Cormier, had made a ‘blurred lines’ blended veneer. He wanted to find an accent color, so he looked through Tracy’s cards, first to find colors that were in the blend, and then to find a complement color for one of those colors. He used the codes to find the yellow that was the exact opposite of the purple. Then he mixed clay to match that color and made a sheet to dieform through the hole in the baked blend veneer. The purple become another accent within the accent at the center of the bead.

Sounds easy, right? Well, it sounds like it could be easy if you understand the system. That’s what the article helps you understand—how colors are connected, not just by mapping them on a two-dimensional wheel, but through other colors as well, which is why understanding how color are truly related takes a three-dimensional model. Go ahead and go through the steps in the article for an easy first look at this idea, as well as getting a primer on a new way to look at color that can encompass our digital, printing and artistic color mixing worlds.

Tracy is not the only one out there promoting these new base color ideas, and you are likely to see this kind of color approach coming to you from a number of arenas. Right now Tracy’s Colour Cards are the only method I know of that will allow an artist to work with this newer approach to color mixing and matching in an easy and accessible way. To be one of the first to get the new cards when they arrive, sign up for Tracy’s newsletter, so you can get on the Kickstarter program, which will be your first and best chance to pre-order your own BreakThroughColour Colour Cards and Cubes. It’s not just exclusive to Kickstarter, but there are special ‘Project Backer’ prices for supporters.

Full details about limited edition packages and early bird deals will go out first to the new BreakThroughColour mailing list, so hop on over and take a second to sign up for the BreakThroughColour mailing list. And to get your Summer 2015 issue of The Polymer Arts, go to our website at www.thepolymerarts.com.

 

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.

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Summer is Coming! Peek at the Cover of the Upcoming Issue.

So, we start out the month of May with a sneak peek at the cover of the upcoming issue of The Polymer Arts, the Summer 2015 – Connections issue. On the cover, we have a fabulous variation of Izabela Nowak‘s Polymer Origami technique–and yes, she generously shares her polymer origami techniques and tips with us in this issue!

As has been the recent trend, this issue is filled to the brim with new ideas, techniques, lessons and tips along with lots and lots of eye candy by some really huge and inspiring artists. You can look forward to articles such as:

–Create Polymer Origami Beads by Izabela Nowak

–Moving Magnetic Focals by Helen Breil

–Connected Color: Throwing out the Wheel by Tracy Holmes

–Connecting to Inspiration Beyond Polymer by Donna Greenberg

–Visual Unity: Designing the Big Picture

–Polymer Jeweler’s Workbench: Cold Connections

–Rivets: Attachments & Accents for Polymer

–Simple Cold Water Transfers

–Mind Mapping: Creative Visual Brainstorming

–Of Drawing, Doodles & Design: The Role of Sketching

… and much more.

The issue is due out at the end of the month. We don’t have pre-orders for individual issues up just yet, but we’ll let you know when the website is updated for that. You can, however, subscribe to be certain you’ll be getting every great new issue when it comes out. www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html

As mentioned in the blog post yesterday, we’ll be trimming down the number of posts for the month of May, and I’ll start that by taking tomorrow off from the blog to work on other needed items to get this great issue out ASAP! We will see you here on Monday, though. Have a beautiful weekend!

 

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.

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Guest Post: Radiate!

May 9, 2013

My dear and darling friends Tracy Holmes and Dan Cormier are helping out a tired and worn out publisher this week by guest posting for me today. I wanted to write up something about their color projects for our color theme this week but Tracy graciously took the writing upon herself and Dan put together the fun image of the cubed color project they conducted for Synergy 3 (they are such incredible idea people!) So go ahead  and ‘radiate’ with them …

When I invited artists to participate in a project that combined the diversity of polymer clay with the almost uncountable possible configurations of a Rubik’s Cube, I gave them a few guidelines. While each artist was welcome and encouraged to showcase their own skillset and sing in their own creative voice, this was, primarily, a project about colour. “Please,” I suggested, “Keep each of your six sides within a clearly identifiable Pentaradial Palette.”

what?

Through this project, and through my workshop and seminars at the recent Synergy3 Conference in Atlanta in March, I introduced a new approach to colour that I’ve being playing around with; a new way to explore and understand it, in theory and practice. In my world, a ‘Pentaradial Palette’ is a group of colours that radiate from a single, central place to create a cohesive collection of related hues. Basically, it’s taking a standard ‘Colour Wheel’ colour and, rather than chasing it around in circles as one of six, moving it into the middle to become a single ‘Hub’ for the other five. Whether you start with RYB or CMY (that’s another discussion), for this discussion, can we all agree that Green is a Secondary colour? Good. So, here’s what my PC3 artists got as their ‘Pentaradial Palette’ grid guide for the Green side:

Pentaradial Palette

With the right recipe (concept + clay + courage), mixing custom colours is easier than you think. But having said that, if you’re not quite ready to go DIY with the CMY, there are plenty of prêt à porter spokes already on the pre-packaged polymer clay colour wheel. Starting as recommended, with the purest and simplest of Hubs, here’s what nine of my PC3 artists did with their Greens:

cubed

As a polymer clay artist and teacher, I think it’s best to work towards work that features a personal palette, rather than one that relies on colors that are right out of the package. And, as my color-courageous Cubists discovered, it’s amazing how quickly adding just a little of ‘this’ to a package of ‘that’ will shift the starting hue away from something everyone recognizes, to something that is so much more ‘palettably personal.’

So, whether you’re going Green, mellowing Yellow, seeing Red, feeling Blue, shifting Cyan or mixin’ it up with Magenta, stop spinning your wheels. Grab a color, start there … and radiate!

Follow Tracy & Dan’s color adventure on their Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/TheCuttingEdgePolymerClay

 

The Journey of The Broken Telephone

For those of you who followed the blogging I did from Synergy, you may remember Dan Cormier’s Broken Telephone Project. We couldn’t reveal much then because Dan and partner Tracy were going to roll out the series on The Cutting Edge Facebook page and who was I to spoil the surprise.

Well Dan has now revealed all the beautiful brooches, their creators and his thoughts on the project and related subjects. The conversation he’s started on his wrap-up post (posted on both Facebook and Flickr) is very important and I would encourage you all to take a minute to read it.

While there, take a look at all the gorgeous pieces that came out of the project.

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I was lucky enough to get a close-up look of each of these brooches as I helped pin them on Tracy who became a walking exhibition on the last night of Synergy 3. I’ve held back photos of this unique exhibit until the roll-out was complete. Tracy was easily the best adorned lady of the evening!

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A Passion Story

June 9, 2019
Posted in

My apologies for the lateness of this post. Nothing has quite worked out the way I had planned this week. From yet a new plumbing problem and further demolition being planned to the sad yet exciting news that my assistant and keeper of lists, Sydney, is moving on to work with a business helping people with eating disorders to the graduation of our teen, setting up for the next issue and our vacation preparations, it has been beyond busy here. I wrote this on a plane to Australia and still am not sure when I’ll get to post it.

The craziness of this week, has, however, had its moments of clarity and calm, at least enough to have a couple of conversations on a subject that is very dear to me … passion. So I thought I’d share my thoughts and, perhaps, get you thinking about your passions and your voice. But, alas, I can’t do the usual research in my present situation, so I am going to tell you some stories about me instead, just a little view of a life driven by my passions and need to be creative and expressive. My apologies for the lack of photos. I’ll make up for it in the coming weeks.

This text is actually from a talk I gave with Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes at Eurosynergy in Malta in 2014 titled Finding your Artistic Voice. My story isn’t purely about polymer art though as writing has been the larger part of my creative journey.

My journey as a writer started when I was very young. I was writing stories in my head from the time I had language enough to do so. I wrote my first book at age 9 and, encouraged by an insightful teacher who saw something in this fearful, quiet, and intensely shy child, I became determined to be a writer. I was lucky to find a passion as a child as my voice developed at an age when I did not think about having to please anyone besides myself or follow what others did. I still try to return to a childlike state in my mind as much as I can—the child mind is so unencumbered with little or no critic, less of a need to ‘fix’ what they are doing, and seeing the world as still new and intensely interesting.

Because of that, my journey as a writer has been very organic and relatively unencumbered. But it did have its challenges. My undergraduate college work was in art but I went back for my Master’s in Writing in San Francisco, the birthplace of beatnik poetry and a lot of great but very edgy & alternative writing. I concentrated on poetry but I wrote for the average person. I wrote about normal things—nature, everyday struggles, and just things I saw out my window or on a walk.

I was heavily criticized by the other students for not doing something “different”. Sure, most all my subjects have been written about thousands of times but they were not written by me and they were not filtered through my eyes. Back then, it never occurred to me to give in to criticism because my writing was so ingrained in me and I grew up just writing what I wanted and didn’t question my subject choices. As a result, I think my work had a recognized honesty and my writing was well received by my professors and department heads. I was nominated for a number of awards and I continuously published for nearly 5 years. Half the other students in my master’s program couldn’t say that.

Eventually, and somewhat ironically, I stopped publishing because I ended up spending more time at readings and shows than writing and I wanted to focus on the writing more. Although the creative writing efforts didn’t go where I had hoped, that focus allowed me to build a career in writing as a freelancer, although it was non-fiction magazine articles and training materials. But in these, I found my passion for teaching and sharing knowledge with others.

Visual art, although an intense passion now, was a long time developing. I actually didn’t see myself as a visual artist at all until I was in my late teens when I accidentally ended up in an advanced Life Drawing class and couldn’t get out of it right away. However, being forced to do the initial assignments, I found that visual arts came quite naturally to me. But with writing being my “thing”, I just thought of art as something fun to do. I was eventually convinced by two different professors to change my major from writing to art, my eventual reason being that I felt I had a lot more to learn about art than writing.

In art school, I was still able to draw on my childlike wonder and sense of exploration, probably because I had kept it alive in my writing all through my younger years. After art school, I worked in charcoal and fiber as well as mixed-media but wasn’t driven to make a career of art until polymer found me nearly 18 years after art school. My polymer journey was quite different than my previous creative treks. I found that I had lost a lot of my childlike tendencies and was out of practice having taken years off my creative endeavors to work and take care of family. But, like many of you, when I found polymer, I became obsessed. I quit my writing career so I could be a full-time artist and so, obviously, I geared what I did to make a living but that gave me a very different focus to start with than I had when I started writing or when I started art school.

My dual drive—to make a living as well as explore this fascinating medium—pushed me to learn as much as I could in 4 months and then I started doing shows, so from the start, my polymer art was about selling it. Although I was initially making art that made me happy, it was not long before I was making art according to what I thought would sell. That resulted in some gimmicky things that were more for and about the market than me. I sold well enough for a while but I slowly began to dislike my work and when that happened, coincidence or not, my sales started to slow.

Eventually, I went back to freelance writing part-time in order to allow myself to start making what I wanted. Not having to count on my art alone to pay my bills was very freeing. Strange thing though … I sold a lot more for better prices when I just did what I wanted.

What happened? For one, I think I was happier with my work, finding so much more joy in what I was doing, and I think it showed it came through in the work, making the art more desirable. I returned to combining other mediums in my work which allowed me really explore the medium in ways I had not done before. I was back to selling out at nearly every show, was invited to teach classes and spoke at shows in rooms so packed that I was often moved me to bigger rooms to accommodate. I believe my success at that time was due largely to my passion showing rather than external pressures driving what I did.

Eventually, though, my passions changed (they will do that!) as I was missing the broad sharing of knowledge that writing allowed, so I started a magazine, thinking it would give me time to develop my art in new directions. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of time for my art since then but only because the magazine was such a success. I am still pondering my passions though and what I’ll do next. That’s part of what I want to do on this trip. Consider where my passions truly lie these days and decide if the changes I’ve made recently are feeding them or might there be more changes in the near future?

I’ll talk more about this in the coming weeks and I’ll get photos up then too. Thanks for being patient with me while I travel and think about your passions and what you are doing in the meantime identify what you love most about what you do and whether or not you are feeding your true passions.

(Apologies for typos and odd grammar. I’m not going to have time to proof this very well and my dyslexia is out and causing havoc with this jetlag! I hope you enjoy my story nonetheless.)

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Fond Goodbyes to Winter

January 7, 2019
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I was traveling this past week, otherwise I would have posted earlier about the passing of our iconic Elise Winters. I’m sure you have heard the news through other avenues that her battle with cancer ended on New Year’s day but I wanted to post a farewell here.

Although I did not know her well, we did talk and in our few conversations, I found we had some differing views but the details mattered little as we were on the same team, wanting to promote and raise the view of polymer to the level of a fine art wherever we could. My efforts have been tiny ripples to her tremendous waves, however. Elise is the reason we have polymer art in so many museums and, especially, holding its own at the esteemed Racine Art Museum in Wisconsin where polymer is one of the six categories of craft that the museum has placed its focus on. We have so much to thank her for.

Elise’s work is readily recognizable and has never been well replicated. Her combination of Skinner blends and crazed acrylic stripes were coaxed into some of the most unusual and unexpected shapes and forms. Although her ruffled and pillow forms were some of her most widely known pieces, I have always thought the piece you see here was one of her best. It’s a brooch from 2006 called Skinner Inner Brooch. This has a much more direct and grounded energy than her well-known ruffles and its inner reveal of a bull’s-eye cane gives it another dimension, bringing us to consider what is underneath, beyond the beautiful surface.

Movement and energy of this kind were paramount in her artwork and, as we have seen, also in her passion and drive to make polymer a recognized fine art material. I hope there are enough of us to amass a similarly zealous energy to continue the work for which she paved such an integral path for our craft. Thank you, Elise.

For a look back at this legendary artist, jewelry designer, and polymer art advocate you can visit her website here.

From Winter into Spring …

I would also like to put out a reminder that the first issue of The Polymer Studio is set to go to print at the end of this week. If you would like to get the first print copies straight from the printer, be sure to purchase your subscription or single issue pre-order by this Wednesday, January 9th, to get on the direct mail list we give to the printer. The issue will be released on January 19th in digital.

You can look forward to …

Tutorials

  • Kitchen Sink Imprint Mokume by Julie Picarello
  • Magical Phoenix Feather by Christi Friesen
  • Martian Footprints Necklace by Anna Malnaya
  • Swoop Pendant by Beatrice Picq
  • More is More Fimo Bracelet by Jeannette Froese LeBlanc
  • Mosaic Stained Glass Canes by Linda Leach
  • Shimmering Scenery Pendant by Sage Bray

Tips

  • Mix a Near and Far Color Palette with Tracy Holmes
  • Mix it Up with Embossing Powders with Debbie Crothers
  • Creative Studio Organization Ideas by our Staff

Inspiration

  • Studio Tour: Small Spaces in Germany with Anke Humpert
  • In-Depth Artist Profile: Julie Picarello
  • Uncommon Clay Artist Profile: Travis Suda

… and much more!

Get your subscription here at www.ThePolymerStudio.com or www.TenthMuseArts.com.

 

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Almost Late to Class

September 12, 2018
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You know those times when you’re so busy that, although you sense something exciting is going on around you, you don’t stop to check it out until it’s too late? That was me these last few weeks. I knew that Dan Cormier’s and Tracy Holmes’ Bioforming class was coming up, but not that registration was nearing its end. Then, in my weekly search for cool polymer goodies to share with you this past weekend, I found this refreshing brooch by Dan and realized I didn’t know what was going on with their class. And guess what? It looked like registration for the class may have come and gone. Could this be true?

Not that I would have time to take it, much less sleep much, this year.  If you read Monday’s news, you know about the new Polymer Art Projects – Organics book for which pre-sales started at a discount price on Monday, and you probably know about our new magazine, The Polymer Studio, coming in January, and you may also have heard that the next Polymer Journeys book will be on its way in November, so you know I’m beyond busy! But I wished I’d managed to make the time to tell you about this great new class before it was too late.

But then I thought, maybe it’s not! And a couple emails later and I have for you … drumroll please … a secret back door into a few extra spots Dan and Tracy have kindly opened just for you, my readers!

So, if you’re interested, jump over to this link to sign up for their in-depth Bioforming class.  This secret back door will only be ope through this Friday so don’t wait as it is probably your last chance to get in on this.

Even if you can’t make the class, be sure to sign up for their newsletter so you’re one of the first to know when their next fantastic class is available.

In the meantime, here’s a bit of Dan’s latest work. The sophistication and mastery that underlies his approach to form, finishes, and design is all here but the little bouncing balls of color and the fun cactus form gives a humorous edge that is not as common in Dan’s work although, if you know him, is a big part of his personality.

For more on Dan’s work and on the classes Dan and Tracy have been teaching, go to their primary website here.

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The Summer Cover … Thank you Mr. Anderson

May 9, 2017
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Today, I just want to share the newest cover of The Polymer Arts. We are so very lucky to have Jon Stuart Anderson gracing the cover with a wonderful close up of his Raging Bull sculpture. The article on Jon’s art and life is alone worth getting this issue for.

Jon had previously not talked much about his work and yet it is absolutely unforgettable. His process, his thoughts on creating, on color, and on living as an artist are from the heart and he minces no words. The interview conducted, and article written by, the equally amazing Ron Lehocky was a dream for us. Ron had so much material, there really could have been a book. Ron was just the person to pull from Jon the stories and details that allow us a rich and colorful glimpse of the man and his work like we’ve never seen it before. I am so thrilled about this issue. Can you tell?

 The whole Summer 2017- Color issue will be a great reference for color exploration now and in the future with the talent and knowledge of some of our best artists including Tracy Holmes, Christine Dumont, Lindly Haunani, Meg Newberg, and Anke Humpert, along with Ron and Jon.  Here’s some of the articles you can look forward to:

  • Color Theory – Simplified!
  • Creating Relatable Color Palettes
  • Fixing our Brains’ Flawed Color Perception
  • The Wild & Colorful World of Jon Anderson
  • Dramatic Color Blends for Canes
  • Painting with Polymer clay
  • Color Guided Necklace Designs
  • Re-Thinking Your Artistic Identity
  • Funding a Guild or Group
  • Color Spotlight on Christine Dumont
  • New Ways with the New Liquid Clays

… and much more!

​Don’t miss out on this essential issue. Be sure your subscription is up to date by going to your account page or start your new subscription. It’s easy … just click here!

If you are jonesing to see more of Jon’s work or want to purchase his work, you can find it on his website.

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Outside Inspiration: Burning Up and Looking Through

January 22, 2016
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paper-cutout-art-fashion-dresses-edgar-artis-47__700These little unexpected beauties are brought to us by Debbie Crothers who just dropped them onto my Facebook page last week. These were created by Armenian fashion illustrator Edgar Artis who uses common objects and scenes to take some basic fashion concepts beyond the ordinary. The matches dress illustration is so simple, but between the heavily directional lines and the ‘hot’ implication of the material, it is a rather arresting image. The cut-outs, however, are simply a fantastic way to test out color and texture. Edgar was not the first to do this, so to give credit where credit is due, you’d want to also check out Shamekh Bluwi, an architect and fashion illustrator living in Jordan, who shows off the potential for women’s dresses with his very intricate cut-outs.

But besides these just being a fun bit of illustration to admire, I was thinking the cut-out-and-view-through process could be an excellent springboard or tool set to help you work out your own polymer designs. You can take sketches you have (or make copies of them) and cut out the essential mass of the design, then hold it up to various colors and textures.  I just got my pack of Tracy Holmes’ Colour Cards today and placing a cut-out over selected solid-colored cards would be so much more telling than just holding them up to a sketch. Don’t you think?

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Trace a favorite form or shape, cut it out so you have a stencil, then take it on a walk with a camera of some kind. Hold it up to various colors, textures, patterns, etc. as you go. Take photos of what you find. Go home and put those photos up on a bigger screen and save or print out the ones you really like. Now … can you create artwork from what you found in that empty space in the stencil?

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Colour Breakthrough – Throwing Out the Wheel

June 10, 2015
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colour dipticOne of our most unusual articles in the summer issue, the one we definitely spent the most time on getting just right for you all, is Tracy Holmes’ “Color Connections”. This is a color lesson and color mixing tutorial that throws out the color wheel and works with mixing and matching in three dimensions. The exercises are easy and fun, and you end up with a reusable and expandable color mixing cube. It will teach you the basics that will allow you to eventually move onto using Tracy’s soon-to-be-available color cards that will expand your potential palette to hundreds of easily mixed and matched colors.

The thing we didn’t have a lot of room for in the article was expanding on how to use it to choose colors, not just mix them. So here is a quick visual tutorial on how using this system works for creating color palettes.

Tracy’s partner, Dan Cormier, had made a ‘blurred lines’ blended veneer. He wanted to find an accent color, so he looked through Tracy’s cards, first to find colors that were in the blend, and then to find a complement color for one of those colors. He used the codes to find the yellow that was the exact opposite of the purple. Then he mixed clay to match that color and made a sheet to dieform through the hole in the baked blend veneer. The purple become another accent within the accent at the center of the bead.

Sounds easy, right? Well, it sounds like it could be easy if you understand the system. That’s what the article helps you understand—how colors are connected, not just by mapping them on a two-dimensional wheel, but through other colors as well, which is why understanding how color are truly related takes a three-dimensional model. Go ahead and go through the steps in the article for an easy first look at this idea, as well as getting a primer on a new way to look at color that can encompass our digital, printing and artistic color mixing worlds.

Tracy is not the only one out there promoting these new base color ideas, and you are likely to see this kind of color approach coming to you from a number of arenas. Right now Tracy’s Colour Cards are the only method I know of that will allow an artist to work with this newer approach to color mixing and matching in an easy and accessible way. To be one of the first to get the new cards when they arrive, sign up for Tracy’s newsletter, so you can get on the Kickstarter program, which will be your first and best chance to pre-order your own BreakThroughColour Colour Cards and Cubes. It’s not just exclusive to Kickstarter, but there are special ‘Project Backer’ prices for supporters.

Full details about limited edition packages and early bird deals will go out first to the new BreakThroughColour mailing list, so hop on over and take a second to sign up for the BreakThroughColour mailing list. And to get your Summer 2015 issue of The Polymer Arts, go to our website at www.thepolymerarts.com.

 

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.

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Summer is Coming! Peek at the Cover of the Upcoming Issue.

May 1, 2015
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So, we start out the month of May with a sneak peek at the cover of the upcoming issue of The Polymer Arts, the Summer 2015 – Connections issue. On the cover, we have a fabulous variation of Izabela Nowak‘s Polymer Origami technique–and yes, she generously shares her polymer origami techniques and tips with us in this issue!

As has been the recent trend, this issue is filled to the brim with new ideas, techniques, lessons and tips along with lots and lots of eye candy by some really huge and inspiring artists. You can look forward to articles such as:

–Create Polymer Origami Beads by Izabela Nowak

–Moving Magnetic Focals by Helen Breil

–Connected Color: Throwing out the Wheel by Tracy Holmes

–Connecting to Inspiration Beyond Polymer by Donna Greenberg

–Visual Unity: Designing the Big Picture

–Polymer Jeweler’s Workbench: Cold Connections

–Rivets: Attachments & Accents for Polymer

–Simple Cold Water Transfers

–Mind Mapping: Creative Visual Brainstorming

–Of Drawing, Doodles & Design: The Role of Sketching

… and much more.

The issue is due out at the end of the month. We don’t have pre-orders for individual issues up just yet, but we’ll let you know when the website is updated for that. You can, however, subscribe to be certain you’ll be getting every great new issue when it comes out. www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html

As mentioned in the blog post yesterday, we’ll be trimming down the number of posts for the month of May, and I’ll start that by taking tomorrow off from the blog to work on other needed items to get this great issue out ASAP! We will see you here on Monday, though. Have a beautiful weekend!

 

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.

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Guest Post: Radiate!

May 9, 2013
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My dear and darling friends Tracy Holmes and Dan Cormier are helping out a tired and worn out publisher this week by guest posting for me today. I wanted to write up something about their color projects for our color theme this week but Tracy graciously took the writing upon herself and Dan put together the fun image of the cubed color project they conducted for Synergy 3 (they are such incredible idea people!) So go ahead  and ‘radiate’ with them …

When I invited artists to participate in a project that combined the diversity of polymer clay with the almost uncountable possible configurations of a Rubik’s Cube, I gave them a few guidelines. While each artist was welcome and encouraged to showcase their own skillset and sing in their own creative voice, this was, primarily, a project about colour. “Please,” I suggested, “Keep each of your six sides within a clearly identifiable Pentaradial Palette.”

what?

Through this project, and through my workshop and seminars at the recent Synergy3 Conference in Atlanta in March, I introduced a new approach to colour that I’ve being playing around with; a new way to explore and understand it, in theory and practice. In my world, a ‘Pentaradial Palette’ is a group of colours that radiate from a single, central place to create a cohesive collection of related hues. Basically, it’s taking a standard ‘Colour Wheel’ colour and, rather than chasing it around in circles as one of six, moving it into the middle to become a single ‘Hub’ for the other five. Whether you start with RYB or CMY (that’s another discussion), for this discussion, can we all agree that Green is a Secondary colour? Good. So, here’s what my PC3 artists got as their ‘Pentaradial Palette’ grid guide for the Green side:

Pentaradial Palette

With the right recipe (concept + clay + courage), mixing custom colours is easier than you think. But having said that, if you’re not quite ready to go DIY with the CMY, there are plenty of prêt à porter spokes already on the pre-packaged polymer clay colour wheel. Starting as recommended, with the purest and simplest of Hubs, here’s what nine of my PC3 artists did with their Greens:

cubed

As a polymer clay artist and teacher, I think it’s best to work towards work that features a personal palette, rather than one that relies on colors that are right out of the package. And, as my color-courageous Cubists discovered, it’s amazing how quickly adding just a little of ‘this’ to a package of ‘that’ will shift the starting hue away from something everyone recognizes, to something that is so much more ‘palettably personal.’

So, whether you’re going Green, mellowing Yellow, seeing Red, feeling Blue, shifting Cyan or mixin’ it up with Magenta, stop spinning your wheels. Grab a color, start there … and radiate!

Follow Tracy & Dan’s color adventure on their Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/TheCuttingEdgePolymerClay

 

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The Journey of The Broken Telephone

April 6, 2013
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For those of you who followed the blogging I did from Synergy, you may remember Dan Cormier’s Broken Telephone Project. We couldn’t reveal much then because Dan and partner Tracy were going to roll out the series on The Cutting Edge Facebook page and who was I to spoil the surprise.

Well Dan has now revealed all the beautiful brooches, their creators and his thoughts on the project and related subjects. The conversation he’s started on his wrap-up post (posted on both Facebook and Flickr) is very important and I would encourage you all to take a minute to read it.

While there, take a look at all the gorgeous pieces that came out of the project.

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I was lucky enough to get a close-up look of each of these brooches as I helped pin them on Tracy who became a walking exhibition on the last night of Synergy 3. I’ve held back photos of this unique exhibit until the roll-out was complete. Tracy was easily the best adorned lady of the evening!

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