Painting a Story in Polymer
I thought I’d continue with the theme of story which, visually, can be told abstractly or with much more literal images. Today, we’re going to look at a literal set of images.
Today’s bit of story was created by Angenia (also known as Tonia Angenia Lupo) of Italy. I am not posting this because of the mermaid, although she is nicely executed and the curled and wavy polymer of the tail has a particularly nice flow to it, but I wanted to show you this painting. Because it is all polymer. It is rather hard to grasp that at a glance, but if you take time to peruse her blog or even just go through her process photos on Facebook, you will be amazed at the detail and work involved. It appears that she applies this all with a toothpick from tiny dabs of soft polymer clay. It’s so well done, though, that it looks like it might be a print set in a frame simply to accompany the mermaid, but no, the real masterpiece is the painting. Granted, the image is actually one of Thomas Kinkade’s, but the execution in clay is a great testament to what can be done with polymer in a painterly fashion.
The story here is being relayed purely by imagery with juxtaposition providing another layer of story. The ship out on the ocean, hit with rays of sunlight as a storm breaks behind it (or gathers around it, as I might have thought had I not just researched the original image), has its own story of courage. The mermaid creates another element to the story, including the possibility of other dangers in the sea. But only because the myth of mermaids are rather dark, not cute like this one. A more sinister air or refinement for the mermaid would have been a better pairing, style wise, for the seriousness and subtly of the painting for the sake of style consistency, but Angelina’s talent is undeniable.
If you have a couple of moments, take a look at her blog or Facebook page to admire her processes and other mini paintings, as well as her doll art and other miniatures.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Today, play with juxtaposition. You can do this with elements you already have if you don’t have time to create from scratch. Take two or three disparate things and arrange them together. Can you find a satisfying, if imperfect, way to compose them? Try this with a few other items, keeping track of what you’ve done (take photos if you can). Now, which ones worked better? You will usually find that the pieces that end up working together have something in common–sometimes its a design element, like similar textures or complementary colors or similar styles like geometric or organic or tribal. The other thing that makes things work is the stories in our minds. Like seeing animals in the clouds, our minds will try and make connections between elements even if they were not intended to be related. Is there a story in the compositions that worked best?
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