Shades of Calm
Do you prefer to make pieces that are high-energy or calm and still, or something in between? I ask because a lot of my recent posts, especially in September, talked about high energy approaches to designing your art work. However, I don’t want anyone to start thinking their work has to be high energy. It can be as high or low as you want it to be. It all comes down to your intention.
The level of energy in a piece is integral to directing our emotional reaction to it. So if you want something fun and exciting, sure, use high energy approaches like lots of saturated and contrasting colors and visual or kinetic movement, but if you want to create something that reflects your introspective morning walks in the woods or those quiet moments watching the sun go down from your porch, you would be better off with muted colors and calm, horizontal lines and shape orientations. The quieter look can still have a strong and awe inspiring impact on the viewer but the emotional reaction will be of the more tranquil variety. There is a place in everyone’s life for both excitement and tranquility. So, instill the kind of energy you want to convey to the viewer or wearer of your work.
A lot of times creating a calm energy entails the use of simplicity because the more complex the work, the more likely it is to be infused with layers of energy. But here’s the thing… even calm looking pieces have discernible levels of energy. It’s not about having no energy, it’s about the quality and level of it. Honestly, it would be hard to have a good design that didn’t have some energy. It just doesn’t have to be a lot.
I did find that it is really, really hard to keyword search for designs that are more tranquil. Tranquility and similar terms just don’t seem to be what people think to put in their descriptions. I’m not sure why. I did come to realize that the work that I gather and set aside for future blogs tends to be high-energy as that’s what I’m drawn to, as are most polymer crafters. So, the search for designs with a more minimal level of energy has been a bit of a challenging and intriguing experience for me. Let’s go see what I found on the quieter side of design and see how much they speak to you.
Cool, Calm and Collected
When first I went searching for pieces I thought represented this idea of tranquil energy, Genevieve Williamson’s artistic jewelry came immediately to mind. Her work is definitely an example of undeniably evident energy that nonetheless conveys a comforting tranquility and calm, like early mornings on a clear fall day or lazy late afternoons when you have nothing pressing to do.
However, her work tends to have some small deviation from the balance and symmetry that she employs to help relay this calmness. They are little things, like the uneven nature of the colorants on the left side earrings you see opening this post. On the gorgeous set on the right, the scratch lines are very similar between the two earrings until you get to the bottom of the larger triangle of the right-hand one and suddenly all the lines go horizontal. Things are just off a touch, just a little out of place or unexpected. There is an honesty approachability to her brand of intentional imperfection which adds to the relaxed feeling and calm emotional response so much of her work tends to elicit.
Key to good design, when trying to create with a minimal level of energy, usually involves employing cool and/or muted colors, symmetry, and an even balance. In France’s Sophie Pollion’s set here, we see all three of those go-to calming design elements but with one deviation, where the perfect circle is broken as a section threatens to break away. This creates a point of interest and just enough energy to keep such a combination of characteristics from being too static or rather dull. It is not unlike what Williamson does above, but it is more obvious.
That is not to say that design with perfect balance and symmetry is boring. Such pieces can be absolutely transcendent if done well. Look at this set of earrings. The design seems so simple – completely symmetrical and perfectly balanced without any deviation in the symmetry between the earrings. And yet, they have a gorgeous sophistication and beauty. Why is that?
The reason this works without being boring is because there is a tremendous amount of subtle contrast. The jewelry designer, Maike Barteldres, connects the softness of a solid round object and a thin delicate circle with a rigid straight line. She also pairs the perfection of shiny, hard-edged, man-made metal components with the matte, organic form of a pebble. And, of course, there is the stark contrast in value with the near whiteness of silver against the near blackness of the stone. So, the energy is minimal, but the allure of these artful juxtapositions is not.
For all that balance and symmetry does for creating calm and tranquility in a piece, I think the most dramatic and impressive low energy design choice is to simply provide a tremendous amount of “white space”. The term “white space” does not necessarily mean that the space is white but rather that it not complicated with texture, line, focal points, etc. Such work really needs to keep the focus on form and the finish, as evidenced, I think, in this wood turned vessel by Carlyn Lindsay.
I was really hoping to find a polymer piece that exemplified the heavy use of white space to convey calm energy but we sure are a group that loves our texture, line, abundance of color, and pattern. I would say that most people come to polymer because of the variety of surface design as well as sculptural possibilities so, yeah, pieces with lots of white space are not going to be easy to find. Who would like to change that? Can you create a piece, using your favorite techniques and forms, but create areas of calm where you would normally puts a lot of pattern or texture? Or, if you already do that quite a bit, maybe challenge yourself to see just how much white space or other element of calm you can use in your work with while still creating a satisfying piece.
The whole idea of calmness in your work may not suit what you prefer to do or want to express but, like anything else in design, you can make an intentional choice about the amount of energy you want to have in any one piece. It’s just something to think about.
A Bid for My Own Serenity and Sanity
Okay, as mentioned last week I have a lot of things I’m working on, albeit slowly between being a one-armed bandit and being short-staffed as my assistant has not been able to return to work. So, I am rather on my own right now, but I have moved forward with a few things.
Expanding the Tenth Muse Book Store
One of my primary goals for Tenth Muse Arts is to support our working artists in any way I can. It occurred to me a while back that there are a lot of artists who publish their own books but struggle to sell them to a wider audience because they are the sole promoters. I want to change that. So, I’m looking to expand the publications we sell on the website to include books by artists who are independently publishing as well as procuring some classic but hard to get titles I believe every ardent polymer crafter should not be without.
I’ve already started to get some stock in but have to get it organized and posted to the shop. I also have a long way to go in getting all the books from independent artist-authors. So, if you are an artist-author with a book that you think we should carry, please contact me. If you have any suggestions for independently published polymer related books that you would like us to carry, please do let me know by using the contact link at the top of the blog page or, if you get this by email, simply respond to the email.
As soon as I have this first round of stock ready in the online shop, I will have a celebratory opening sale. So, keep an eye on the newsletter (if you aren’t signed up, go to our home page here and scroll down to the newsletter sign-up form) as that will be the first point of notification for the sale but, of course, I’ll also let you know on the following Sunday right here.
If I’m lucky, I’ll get that done in about a week. Just send out good vibes that we will no longer be threatened by fires or have to deal with the precautionary power outages our crazy fire season has necessitated this past week here in California. We’ve stayed safe here so far but flash backs of last year seeing a wall of fire at the end of our street has made our high fire danger days a bit distracting.
The Question of Production
One of the other reasons for expanding the bookstores is to diversify the business since it is pretty certain now that I will not be able to produce books and magazines so much on my own anymore. The bottom line is that my arm has not healed all that much over these last three months and my last consultation was not overly encouraging. It is more than possible that I have some permanent damage in my arm and I need to plan future projects accordingly. I can still work but gone are the days of marathon layout sessions and long nights of photo prep. Don’t you hate it when your body tells you to slow or stop working? What a wimp.
So, although I was told to take up to 6 months and it’s only been 3 months of rest, I can’t keep our magazines subscribers hanging much longer so after much number crunching and creative problem-solving, I’ve decided on a plan but have a few more details to work out before I can share more about the production of The Polymer Studio magazine. You, my subscribers, are always on my mind though. Know that.
With calm and serenity on my mind for the rest of the weekend, I’m going to take a little time off and do some fiction writing. Since I can talk to my computer, I’ve been doing a lot more of that kind of thing these days as I haven’t even editing or layout to fill my creative needs. You’d think I would have worked in some polymer time, and I had hoped to, but I’ve been a little worried on how working with hand tools would affect the arm plus, to be honest, the studio still hasn’t recovered from the invasion of the family during the remodel. So maybe I’ll do a little cleaning up around here too while the husband is home to assist and remove that excuse. All this talk about calm and serene energy is really got me thinking about some new designs.
I am also pondering trying Patreon for a little side income (although for my poetry and prose writing, not my art). I kind of thought it would be a neat way to try the platform and see how well it works (which I can then share with all of you) and keep me motivated (aka accountable!) to continue my creative writing. Have you been curious about Patreon or would you be interested to see what kind of creative nonsense I write? Leave a comment in this post’s comment section or write using the contact page, or just hit reply if you get this by email.
Ok, off with me and with you. I hope my chatter has gotten your own creative juices flowing. Maybe you’ll consider a change up in the energy level of your work just to see what fresh ideas it might bring you this coming week.
