{"id":16861,"date":"2020-02-09T02:30:58","date_gmt":"2020-02-09T10:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/?p=16861"},"modified":"2020-09-12T07:14:14","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T14:14:14","slug":"the-purpose-of-intention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/the-purpose-of-intention\/","title":{"rendered":"The Purpose of Intention"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>How often, when you sit down to create something, do you think about why you\u2019re doing it, the story behind what you are creating, or even just the theme or look? Apparently, it\u2019s not overly common, at least not amongst the readers writing me this weekend.<\/p>\n

Friday evening, I finally got the Virtual Art Box out after some technical difficulties that required a change of plans on the backend. I was a bit frazzled over reworking the technical stuff and, even though I was happy with the content I\u2019d created, I was getting a bit nervous about how this new project would be received. But, as I wrote in the immersive design article for the Virtual Art Box project, things generally work out well when you have a particular idea in mind and you make all your decisions based on that overriding intention.<\/p>\n

Well, my intention for the Virtual Art Box<\/a> was to immerse the readers in a particular design idea that can be explored throughout the month. I was hoping that the primary design article, supported by the additional content the readers would journey through, would encourage them to really delve into the idea I presented in a purposeful and substantial way. But the question was, would they?<\/p>\n

I thought it might be a bit of a challenge this first month since my chosen theme is conceptual rather than being a more concrete design element. But it\u2019s just such an important concept in art. The immersive design theme this month is \u201cIntention\u201d. It\u2019s simply the idea that when you sit down to create something, you can be more successful and have a more fulfilling creative experience if you have an overriding idea of what you are creating in terms of its purpose and its concept, concept being the theme, story, style or whatnot.<\/p>\n

Well, I think my own intention to keep my focus on making the Virtual Art Box<\/a> an immersive learning experience is working. Already. (Yay!) I have to say that I am a bit startled and overwhelmed by the reception of the project so far. In a community where publications, both in print and online, are dominated by project tutorials and things that are \u201ceasy and fun\u201d (not that there\u2019s anything wrong with fun at all!), my approach feels rather serious even though, as many of you may have seen, I do try to stay conversational and lighthearted and occasionally I just get silly. Art should be fun, and enjoyable, and fulfilling. But making good art in a truly fulfilling creative life does take work. I don\u2019t know why I was worried that people wouldn\u2019t want to put the work in. You, my readers, have always been pretty gung ho!<\/p>\n

I already have a few Creative Pursuit challenge forms in (this is the part of the Box in which you create a self-challenge, and the form shares it with me and with you, and I help track it and keep you motivated.) It turns out, people look to be quick intrigued by the idea of working with intention. I love that I\u2019m not the only art nerd who gets into things like that!<\/p>\n

The thing is, I think \u00a0intention is the core of all design. Without it, no matter how well you understand the various aspects of design, construction, workmanship, etc., it is difficult to create a successful design. Every piece of art needs a base, a core, a grounding concept from which the artist can build, otherwise the work risks being chaotic. It\u2019s true that a chaotic design could work but only if it is the artist\u2019s intention to create chaos. Then it has purpose. But chaos without intent is not art; it is just messy.<\/p>\n

Intention not only gets you where you want to go but it helps guide your design choices along the way. When you make design choices based on what works for your overriding intention, the result will be a cohesive, purposeful, and, most likely, well-designed piece.<\/p>\n

Now, I know, some of you are already thinking that you don\u2019t want to think so deliberately about what you\u2019re creating or that you just like to explore. Exploration, creating for the joy of it, and stream of consciousness creating are still processes with a particular intention. Because isn\u2019t the success of a piece really measured against how well it fulfills your intention?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at a few of the examples.<\/p>\n

Debbie Crothers<\/a> prefers to explore and make lots of pieces as she exhausts a technique or material\u2019s possibilities. She doesn\u2019t usually work with a finished piece in mind but, with extensive exploration as her intention, she finds success in much of what she does and ends up with undeniably stunning beads.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joseph Barbaccia<\/a> specializes in inspired polymer illustrations of people and things he admires and enjoys so his intention is to visually represent objects, places, and beings from his view point such as this great portrait of David Lynch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Melanie Muir’s<\/a>\u00a0Summer Seas in White<\/em> cuff, you can see that from the colors to the patterns, even to how the patterns are tilted on the tilted square of the beads, this piece speaks of bright light on rippling ocean waters. Her intention is clear and all her design choices align with the intended look.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are you starting to get the picture? If so, think about what your intention means to you and what you intention is next time you sit down to the studio table. And if this concept really intrigues you, even if you don\u2019t want to subscribe, you can buy the Virtual Art Box<\/a> for just the one month, get all the details and ideas I am offering on how to make intention a new and exciting tool for your creative work, and see how you like the Box.<\/p>\n

Now, if you signed up for the Virtual Art Box and didn\u2019t see your access email, check your spam folders. It went out Friday evening (PST). If you purchased it online (rather than had your prior magazine subscription balance transferred to the Virtual Art Box), you should find the PDF package download in your account on the website. If you expected it and can\u2019t find it in either place, write me<\/a> and we\u2019ll get you fixed up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And with that, I am off to relax a bit. Its been a bit of a marathon getting the new project off the ground but now that is has taken wing, it\u2019s time to attend to me a bit and I am going to make that include some further intention \u2026 the intention to make studio time a priority at least a couple days a week. How do you ensure you get the creative time in that you need? Maybe we\u2019ll look at that subject a bit this week as well.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, have an intentionally, purposefully, and mindfully creative week!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How often, when you sit down to create something, do you think about why you\u2019re doing it, the story behind what you are creating, or even just the theme or look? Apparently, it\u2019s not overly common, at least not amongst the readers writing me this weekend. Friday evening, I finally got the Virtual Art Box…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[300,7853,1639,3480,7854,640,12,2055,11,3717,5554,3661,4688,7852,7855,3730,3816,16,7795],"class_list":["post-16861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspirational-art","tag-bracelet","tag-david-lynch","tag-debbie-crothers","tag-joseph-barbaccia","tag-melania-muir","tag-polymer","tag-polymer-art","tag-polymer-beads","tag-polymer-clay","tag-polymer-cuff","tag-polymer-illustration","tag-polymer-jewelry","tag-polymer-magazine","tag-portrait-of-david-lynch","tag-summer-seas-in-white-cuff","tag-the-polymer-arts","tag-the-polymer-arts-blog","tag-the-polymer-arts-magazine","tag-virtual-art-box"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2O0Lm-4nX","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16861"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16867,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16861\/revisions\/16867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}