Diving into Exploration

Flickr’s Dragonfly555 shows off impressions samples.

Do you feel like you have to make a finished piece or be working on a particular design when you sit down at your studio table? Sure, it feels good, and it’s very exciting to have a finished piece to show and share, but learning a craft is as much about exploration as is about creating finished work.

So, if you’re not giving yourself that exploratory time, let me give you some reasons to highly consider it. And if you do a bit of exploring already, maybe I can offer up some new ideas about ways to use and organize your exploratory bits that you might not have tried.

 

The Exploratory Reasoning

When you’re fairly new to a material, technique, form, or construction method, it is to your advantage to spend time just playing with it. This is especially true, I think, of texture, mark making, color mixing, new techniques, and new materials including new brands of a familiar material. Trying to make finished work before you are familiar with the technique or material can get frustrating, if not downright depressing. You can gain more success in the long run if you develop a better understanding of what it is that you’re working and hone your skills a bit before gambling your time, materials, and hopes on finished work.

It certainly can be tempting to just pick up something and see what you can make with it right out the gate. With a lot of home craft materials, polymer clay in particular, you can create a decent completed piece within a day of picking it up. However, the ease of these materials is a bit of a deception. They may be easy to get started with, but mastering them, even just a little, takes time and effort. Give yourself a gift of that time to get to know what you’re working with without the pressure of trying to finish something presentable.

 

Samples to Reference

Mica powders with sample chips

Probably the best way to explore new materials and techniques is to make small samples, ones you can keep and reference as you make decisions for future finished pieces. If the color of the sample is not relevant, you can just use scrap clay. If you use clay straight out of the package, you may also have an option to transform the samples into finished work. Let’s go over all these options.

(Although I’m going to talk specifically about polymer clay, if you work primarily in another material, consider an equivalent process. Consider how you can cut out or form small samples that can be saved as references. See if this clay focused process inspires you.)

For some orderly exploration, sheet your clay and then hand cut or punch cut the sheets into whatever shapes tickle your fancy. Then you can just go crazy with whatever you’re exploring. Use as many of these pieces as you like for each process you’re exploring. Keep the ones you are pleased with, etching with a needle tool or, after curing, writing on the back with permanent marker, what you made them with. Keep cured pieces in a baggie or punch holes in them before curing so you can string them on wire or chain, making them easy to flip through.

If you are playing with textures, mark making, or any kind of tooling on polymer clay, I would suggest sheeting three different thicknesses—the thickest setting, a medium setting, and the thinnest setting on your pasta machine. Then try out each of your experiments at least once on each of the three different thicknesses. Anything that impresses or otherwise moves around the clay will be affected differently by the clay thickness, sometimes subtly but sometimes quite dramatically.

Cure the samples you like, being sure to inscribe or write a note on the back indicating what thickness the clay sheet was along with what made the impression or marks.

If you’re color mixing, sheet the finished color, then punch out a decent sized shape, one that has enough room for you to write down your proportions for that color mix. For example, if you mix a deep rich purple by combining 6 parts cobalt, 3 parts magenta, and one part black, inscribe on the back:

6X blue

3X magenta

1X black

Also include a big initial for the brand of clay (P for Premo, F for Fimo, K for Kato, etc) since colors by the same name in one brand are usually nothing like those colors in another brand.

You can also note proportions visually by punching out a circle of clay, smaller than your mixed sample, from each of the colors you used in the mix. Cut out portions, like pie slices, from each color in proportion to how much was used in the mix to re-create a single circle showing how much of each color was used in the mix. Don’t forget to inscribe your initial for the brand of clay. See the image here for an approximate example of the purple mix above.

Adhere this combination pie to the mixed color shape, punch a hole in the sample, cure, and string on a chain or wire.

(If you are confused about how to figure out the parts aspect of the color mixing, just use a small cutter to punch your unmixed colors out of sheets of the same thickness. Each piece is a part. Use these punched bits of clay to make your mix, keeping track of how many pieces/parts you use to create the color you’re making.)

If you’re playing with a surface colorant, try it on both white clay and black clay or on clay colors you use quite often. It’s a rare colorant that doesn’t allow the clay base underneath to the show through, so trying it on black and white will give you an idea of how the colorant will appear on lighter versus darker colors, not just black and white.

I punch small-ish circles out of white and black sheets of clay, then I cut them in half and put a white half with a black half. I apply the colorant to these splits chips. After curing, I glue them to the colorant’s product container so my reference sample is right on the product. You can see here how well this works for those little mica powder containers, above. I keep them in a drawer with the samples facing up so I can quickly find the color I want.

The best part about all these samples is that while you’re designing a finished piece, you can pull them out and compare them side-by-side to see what works well together. You can also hold them up to a partially finished piece to see what you might want to add. Personally, I can’t imagine working without all my exploratory samples.

 

Turning Discovery into Works of Art

Just a few pendants and beads I made with extra texture samples by reforming and/or adding pin lace layers of clay. You can learn the pin lace technique in the February VAB here. The VAB PDFs are 40% right now too.

Now, for those of you who are anxious to produce something with your time at the studio table, you can take any samples you’re not going to save for reference and create with them. You can add additional layers, reshape, or attach embellishment to your extra samples to easily create pendants, earrings, or brooches. You can also use them for collages or mosaics.

Keep cured samples, even if you’re not going to use them for reference, for further experiments where you want to play with cured clay techniques or to test new glues or sealants. This way, not only is your time not wasted, neither are any of the materials you’re playing with.

 

Give Yourself Permission to Explore

Whatever your inclination, the big take-away here is that in-depth exploration can, and probably should, be a regular part of your creative process. Give yourself the permission and time to do this throughout your creative journey or career, not just when you’re starting out.

Keep in mind, not only does this kind of exploratory time hone your skills, your familiarity and confidence with the processes and techniques grow stronger and faster than they would if you tried to learn just through making finished work. This is because you are willing to take more chances with these scrap samples. They just don’t have the same stakes, right?

And, you know, taking chances with this exploratory sample work should eventually translate into taking bigger risks with your finished pieces. I think, when we take the big risks, that’s when we make the biggest leaps and create the most amazing work. Well, sometimes we make absolute disasters as well, but it’s all part of the process. You’re certainly less likely to have a disaster if you do a lot of exploration first.

Christi Friesen shares unusual and creative mark making in the March Virtual Art Box

So, if you have not let yourself just explore and play with the materials you work with, maybe, this week, you can either set some time aside or make all of your studio time exploration time. Making many of your mistakes in the exploratory phase and not always on completed pieces will make your creative time more efficient, less stressful, and more enjoyable.

 

Texture Hungry?

If you’re one of those who is looking for more ideas and direction on texture, don’t forget we have an entire issue of The Polymer Arts on texture, the Fall 2017 issue. Also check out the mark making focused edition of the Virtual Art Box from March of last year. All Virtual Art Box content that was previously members only is 40% off right now.

 

 

The Last of the March Giveaways

Our month of giveaways has ended, but all your wonderful comments have given me so many ideas for upcoming posts. I thank all of you who commented so very sincerely!

I have one last giveaway winner to announce. Valerie Hall is receiving the last batch of my giveaway Polyform clay. I was very excited about this. Valerie is a very active and giving soul who has been trying to teaching through the great clay shortage of 2020 in any way she can. So it’s fantastic to aid her with this clay package. Congrats Valerie!

This was so much fun. I will try to do this here and there as I receive samples or find opportunities to gather stuff for you. So stick around for more free stuff in the not-too-distant future!

 

You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…

 

Metaphor and Simile

March 28, 2021

Christine Damm fits together leftovers from old veneers to create her “Distant Worlds” earring components. Just for fun, what kind of soup would make a suitable metaphor for these? I was thinking Italian Wedding soup!

How often do you use metaphors and similes when you are trying to explain something? I read somewhere that we use metaphor about five or six times a minute. I’m not sure about the accuracy of that number but we do use metaphor in small ways all day long and similes are often our go to option for things that we are having a hard time explaining. Why do we use these so much? Because metaphors and similes help us simplify complicated or hard to grasp ideas. They also help us see old things in a fresh way or make daunting things less intimidating.

Can you think of some things in your life that you would like to simplify, see in a new way, or find less intimidating? I think we all do and our creative time often has many complications and blind spots as the rest of her life. So let’s talk about metaphor and simile in terms of how can help you resolve questions in design.

To ensure the terminology doesn’t get confusing, let’s quickly define these devices.

Metaphor: assigning a word or phrase to something for which it is not literally applicable. For instance, “my studio table is a disaster area,” or “think outside the box.” Certainly, the studio table is not being cordoned off and applying for federal emergency relief, and I do hope you aren’t in a box to start with.

Simile: comparing two unlike things to make an interesting or exaggerated point, usually using the word like or as to make the connection. For example, “my studio looks like a war zone” or “I was as sick as a dog.”

 

Find Your Answers in Metaphors

The idea of metaphors and similes as a device for helping in design came up when I was reading the comments made last week for the giveaway in which I asked what design element people were struggling with. A lot of people are struggling with color which was expected since that is one of the harder elements to master but there was also a lot of concern about size and, most surprisingly, confusion surrounding the use of texture. Of course, this got me thinking about how I can help you better utilize or master these elements. The first things I came up with were metaphors.

So, let me give you a little design lesson on texture, since that’s the one that surprised me the most, with a metaphor.

In terms of techniques, textures are not hard to create, especially if you’re working with something as forgiving as polymer clay. The question seems to be where to use it, how much to use, and how to choose textures for your work. Thinking about this, I came up with a broad metaphor—cooking.

So, think about what you would have to do to throw together a pot of homemade soup. (Even if cooking is not your thing, it’s not so much about whether you can relate as whether you can imagine the equivalences the metaphors draw between art and cooking.) When you start a soup, you make a lot of your big choices up front, such as what kind of base—broth, tomato, or creamy—and then what’s going to go into it, particularly the protein and vegetables.

Your artwork isn’t that different. Your base choice starts with your intention—what you want to make or what you want to express—then you choose the materials you use and some key design elements such as colors marks, lines, surface design, and embellishments.

At the end of the soup recipe is where you usually find the spice. Texture, to me, is the spice. Although I tend to have an idea about what textures I might want in a piece just as I tend to know what kind of spices I think I’ll want in the soup, my process tends to bring in the texture towards the end of the decision-making. Note that I say it comes at the end of decision-making not at the end of the making of a piece since often times materials need to be textured before they are cut or attached.

Now, why would I save my decisions about texture until the end? Well, with soup, spice is what creates a lot of the discernible flavor and can really bring all the ingredients together. So, if we think of texture as spice, use it where this visual or tactile spice will heighten the “flavor” of the piece or, if you have kind of disparate sections, if they all have a similar texture then it becomes more cohesive.

The metaphor even works for the amount of spice or texture you use. Use a lot if you want the spice to be the primary experience the viewer has or keep it subtle or light so that it complements the other elements or helps them shine. Choose textures that work with the other elements just as you would choose spices that go with the proteins, vegetables, and soup base.

Kathleen Krucoff spices up her dangle earrings with a very light rough surface on the silver and a touch of gritty gold texture to bring our eye up from the focal point gems.

For instance, you’re probably not going to throw a bunch of pungent nutmeg and turmeric into a delicate chicken and wonton soup. That kind of simple soup needs some flavor from spice and herbs, but you would be better off with some bright lemon or ginger, maybe a sprinkling of cilantro or shallots. Likewise, if your artwork is pale and delicate, you might not want a deep and dense texture, but something shallow and subtle.

There is one point at which the soup metaphor kind of fails. You don’t actually have to have spice In soup but in artwork, every surface has texture even if the texture is smooth. Still, you can think of smooth textures as equivalent to a soup that doesn’t depend on spice for its flavor. That does mean that all the other ingredients/elements need to carry the design. If you go heavy on the texture, keep in mind that is it will probably overpower, visually, many of the other elements. You know, like cayenne pepper does in a pot of Texas chili!

Okay, so, This metaphor soup for texture will work for some and not for others. For some of you, the idea of texture being spice may have lit a big light bulb over your head and you just left me to run off to your studio table to try some things out. Fabulous! Of course, then there’s a bunch of you who have gotten this far but are scratching your head thinking, “I don’t get it.” That’s okay. Maybe you can find a different metaphor, or you might find similes easier to visualize. There’s Bound to be something that can give the concepts you’re struggling with the structure and simplicity you need.

I’m going to work up some ways to talk more about texture, size, and color over the next few weeks since those seem to be the primary concerns for so many of you. But in the meantime, look to other things you do for potential metaphors that might help you with your approach to various aspects of design, especially things you find easy to do or have a lot of experience with such as gardening, party planning, interior decorating, writing, or putting together the perfect ensemble for a special night out (if any of us can remember what that was like.) Ask yourself, what do I start with, what do I add next, what are the little decisions I have to make to get it to be perfect?

There is a good chance you can find a somewhat equivalent process to plan your designs if you think on it. At the very least, searching for metaphors and similes might bring up some options for a new approach to your work that you would not have seen had you not looked for a metaphor.

 

An Easy Search

If you need more detailed information on various aspects of design right now, go to the blog and use the search box there to find the posts in which we discuss those elements.

Also, did you know that you can search for articles and artists published in any of the Tenth Muse magazines by going to this table of contents page? There is a link at the top of all the magazine sales pages too.

The page allows you to search through the titles of every magazine article published through Tenth Muse, most of which include the subject matter in the title. The listings also include artist’s names and the author of each article. To search the page, use your “find” keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+F in Windows or Command-F for Mac) to bring up a search box that will help you find specific subjects, artists, or authors. Use the simplest version of keywords, (like mokume instead of mokume gane, or transfer instead of transfers) to have the most success in your search.

If you have a collection of The Polymer Arts or Polymer Studio magazines, bookmark the table of contents page so you can find out which issues have the technique, artists, or subject matter you’re looking for.

 

Last Week’s Giveaway

Last week the giveaway box went to Kathleen von Balson. She actually posted about trying to be more subtle in her use of contrast. I just love when the blogs get someone going in the studio and I get to hear about it!

Congrats Kathleen!

(You know, you are always welcome to post comments below or send me an email about what you got out of a blog post, especially if you have suggestions or questions. It helps me determine what to share with you here.)

 

This Week’s Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who took part in last week’s giveaway through comments on the post. I do hope it gave you a moment to think and refocus on design elements you’re struggling with. I think it was really revealing for other readers as well– there were quite a lot of replies to the various comments. So, let’s do this one more time.

The Goodies:

  • This week I have a selection of Sculpey clays in 2 new Soufflé colors, 3 new Premo colors, and 2 big 8 oz. blocks of clay stash basics—Sculpey III in Pearl and Silver. That’s 26 ounces of fresh clay along with a three-piece set of Sculpey silkscreens.
  • Or if outside the US, I have a $30 Tenth Muse certificate, since it would be such a gamble to ship clay outside the US.

How to Win:

  • Put a note in the blog comments* (below), this time letting me know what else besides design elements you’re struggling with in your artwork or creative time. (Yes, I’m using you to give me ideas about what to write about my coming months. I think that will work well for all of us!) It can be one word or a whole explanation.
  • Note: It may take some time for the comment to appear if you’ve not commented before since, due to annoying spamming, I have to approve it .
  • Giveaway winners will be chosen by random—it will NOT be based on your answers. I do hope you’ll give it some thought anyway. The answers could be helpful to you as well as interesting for the rest of us.
  • And let’s say you can only win once this month so we can spread the love around.
  • Get your comments posted by Wednesday March 31st at midnight Pacific time to get in for the raffle.
  • I’ll announce the winner here on the blog next weekend!

 

 

You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…

 

Contrast of Self

Would you call yourself a selfish person? I doubt very many of us would think that way about ourselves. Yet, as artists, we often find ourselves “stealing” time away from others or other things to do what we love, reveling in it when we have it. Is that selfish? I mean, it is more about us than anyone else, isn’t it?

Yes, it is about us, and that is as it should be. In the requested comments for last week’s giveaway (scroll down to see the winner and this week’s giveaway), participants mentioned some version of the “me time” aspect of getting to sit down and create more than anything else. I mean, I know we create because it is something we enjoy, regardless of what anyone else thinks, but I just love that so many people acknowledged and celebrated it. We should!

I strongly believe that everyone should have something of their own, something they can turn to in order to express themselves or at least put something out into the world that would not have existed without their desire to create it. The art we create gives us purpose, exercises a uniquely human part of our brains, and helps us to love ourselves. Not to mention that we deserve the joy we get from it!

But, by definition, that is selfish—doing something because it’s what we want. I wish our society would get over the idea that doing something for ourselves is bad. I think not doing things for yourself is self-negligence. Why is that not a commonly understood thing?

This also highlights the bigger, contradictory world that we inhabit. We live in such strange societies where selflessness and humility are expected or requested, and yet we are also pushed to strive for excellence in what we do. How do we reach excellence without focusing on ourselves? And then there is this silliness where we are not supposed to acknowledge when the work we do is good or that we’re proud of it. If we do, others may think we’re being arrogant or grandiose.

So, do we strive to be great and then pretend that we’re mediocre? We talk about contrast being good in art, but this is so not the right kind of contrast!

I’ve long found the dichotomy of these contradictory but societally prescribed behaviors beyond aggravating as well as having the potential to be debilitating. I think that is why it made me so happy to see so many people acknowledging their creative hours as me-time, self-care, and a time of wonderfully selfish joy. Keep it up, I say!

Now, let’s talk about the good kind of contrast in art.

 

Design Refresh

Let’s look at the beautiful brooch by Lyne Tilt that opened this post. What do you notice first about this? There’s a lot going on in this little space, isn’t there? What are the three things that jump out at you as far as design elements?

I’m going to say color, shape, and texture. Did you come up with the same three? There is also a lot going on with marks and size. So, any combination of those would be spot on.

How about design principles? What do you think is the number one principal used in this design? Sure, we could refer to scale and proportion considering all the different sizes of the layers, or we could talk about focal point or even just key in on the centered composition. But the one thing this has in spades is contrast.

Obviously, there is color contrast in all the major color characteristics—she has a vibrant trio of warm colors contrasting the cool of the blue and cyan; color values range from the dark blue and deep red to the moderate orange to the light yellow and pale polished silver; and, if you check your CMY color wheels, you’ll see that the color of the bottom layer is a blue-cyan whose complementary AND split complementaries are the yellow, orange, and red that you see in the upper layers.

But doesn’t a color palette have to have at least one common characteristic between all the colors? Well, ideally, yes, and this does. Here it’s saturation. These are not muted colors. The orange may be slightly tinted (has some white in it) but not enough to feel it’s gone off base from the saturated characteristic that ties them all together.

Now, look at the contrast in the textures. The top and bottom layers might have the same texture, but the rest are vastly different. There are even different materials—metal and clay. But they work together pretty well, don’t they? Why?

The textures work together in part because they are all drastically different—the wide variety is part of the charm of this piece. But, like color, they need something to tie them together.

Did you notice that the textures are applied to the entire layer from one edge to another? Thier differences are connected because the application on each layer is the same. That does seem to be enough to allow them to exist in the same piece and not have it feel completely chaotic.

The shapes, on the other hand, are not completely different but they are not the same either, right? They are all some version of a hand cut circle, but some of them are definitely more oval. I think pulling back on the amount of contrast between the shapes also helps to rein in the potential chaos all this dramatic contrast and color and texture could fall into. The centered composition also adds a bit of calm to the piece.

Let’s take this week to consider the design principle of contrast. Would your pieces benefit from more contrast, or do you need to rein some of that in? Remember, it all depends on your intention. There are no wrong levels of contrast, at least not in art.

 

Last Week’s Giveaway

Drum roll please…

This last week’s randomly chosen winner is Eloise B! I’ve spoken to her and her clay is already on the way. Congrats Eloise!

 

This Week’s Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s giveaway through comments on the post. As mentioned above, it really made me happy to see all the fantastic, positive and self-caring observations. I also hope it gave you a moment to focus on and appreciate what you love so much about creating.

So, let’s do this again.

The Goodies:

  • This week I have a selection of Sculpey clays in 2 new Soufflé colors, 3 new Premo colors, and 2 big 8 oz. blocks of clay stash basics—Sculpey III in Pearl and Silver. That’s 26 ounces of fresh clay along with a three-piece set of Sculpey silkscreens.
  • Or if outside the US, I have a $25 Tenth Muse certificate, since it would be such a gamble to ship clay outside the US.

How to Win:

  • Put a comment in the blog comments* (below), telling me what type of contrast you enjoy creating most in your own work, or the type of contrast you wish you used more of. And, yes, if you want to share pictures, you can do so by including a link. Just don’t put more than one link in or it may spam filter the comment.
  • Note: It can take some time for the comment to appear if you’ve not commented before since, due to annoying spamming, I have to approve it .
  • Giveaway winners will be chosen by random—it will NOT be based on your answers. I do hope you’ll give it some thought anyway. The answers could be helpful to you as well as interesting for the rest of us.
  • And let’s say you can only win once this month so we can spread the love around.
  • Get your comments posted by Wednesday March 17th at midnight Pacific time to get in for the raffle.
  • I’ll announce the winner here on the blog next weekend!

I’ll put together yet another pack of goodies for a giveaway in next weekend’s post, so stay tuned here!

 

 

 

You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…

 

Of Hierarchy and Uncertainty

February 7, 2021

Have you started to see hierarchy in creative work everywhere since reading last week’s post? Consciously recognizing the hierarchy in artwork not only reveals the path our eye tends to follow around the work but can also tell you a lot about the artist’s intention and themes.

Maybe I’m a weirdo but I really enjoy searching out the hierarchy and the path the eye makes through a piece of artwork. Sometimes, though, the work seems so simple that one might assume there is not much of a path, if any, or that there really isn’t any hierarchy. But there always is.

Let’s do a deep dive on what initially appears to be a fairly simple composition. I’ve got a few surprise thoughts for you on this!

 

The Eye and the Hierarchy

I found this gem of a piece here a couple weeks ago on Lyn Tremblay’s Facebook page. It doesn’t appear overly complex at first glance, so where is the hierarchy? We probably all can see that the emphasis is on what looks like stitches between the predominantly yellow portion and the striated blue section. But does anything really take our eye around the canvas?

Of course, the answer is yes, there is a lot going on that brings our eye around the entire piece. Let’s map the probably path.

Before you read on, take a look at the piece and make note of where your eyes goes first and how it travels around the work. Then we can see if the likely path I found is similar to yours!

Did you find your path? Ok, great. Let’s do this!

I don’t think that there is any question that we are all likely to go first to the line of stitches and the edges they pull together but, I think, we don’t linger there for so very long. The brilliance of the yellow likely draws us towards the far end where we kind of float around like we are in a warm, comfy pool of sunshine.

However, the yellow’s disintegration into that murky gray-green is probably going to pull us away soon enough because that area has more contrast and there’s movement created by that color change as well as by the lines of yellow we follow back and forth as it tries to break through the gray-green.

The momentum of moving from one side of the yellow section to the other can be used to pull us off into the blue section whose striated lines push our view to the edge where we halt, ready to turn back but instead we may discover the grouping of impressed dots in the one corner, a surprising addition that slows our return so that we can land rather softly back at the stitches.

 

Of Interpretation and Uncertainty

Now, if you are to consider the hierarchy in terms of what you think the artist might find most important, I think you have to agree that it pretty much follows where the eye wants to go. Having found the path through the canvas and confirming what we believe her intended hierarchy would be, what do you think her intention was for the piece?

Something being held together must be central since the stitches are where the primary emphasis is. And there must be more significance in the yellow than the blue. Do remember what emotions and associations yellow brings up? It generally brings up thoughts of warmth, playfulness, and happiness when juxtaposed with primarily positive elements. (It can be associated with depression, stress, and cowardice is surrounded by dreary or negative elements though.)

So, is she trying to stitch a happiness that might disintegrate to the calm represented by the blue or to the openness of blue skies? She titles it Dream Weaver so could the line be where the edge of her dreams of happiness met the real world? Is that what she meant?

Guess what? It doesn’t matter overmuch what her own specific intention was. The fact is, the piece feels complete and cohesive which is likely due to a consistent adherence to her intention, and If the whole of the design is good enough to draw you in and to have you wondering or making your own conclusions, the artist has done a splendid job.

The composition and sparse elements seen here are enough to create metaphors in our minds, leaving us to fill in the blanks about what it might mean based on our own life and outlook. That’s the kind of thing that makes great design and wonderful art!

 

Uncertain Orientation

Here’s a bonus little lesson and a different view of the piece found on the same post. I found it really interesting that Lyn posted this piece in both a portrait and landscape orientation. The piece can be read rather differently depending on which way the piece is sitting.

The vertical orientation makes it look like the undeniable presentation of a wish or, not so coincidentally, a dream. On its side, and with the stitches to the right (remember the Rule of Right!), it feels more like a journey or a process as we have a gradual change going from left to right.

It may seem like a piece of art that is presented as not needing to be shown in a particular orientation suffers from a lack of commitment to the artist’s intention. It is the case sometimes but not always. I think in Lyn’s piece, it works both ways since the same basic idea of trying to connect the strange world of dreams with the reality of life, or whatever metaphor you might have found there, is still present although one way shows a strength of position while the other feels open to change.

And I think it works particularly well with the concept of dreams since they are subject to such wide interpretation. So why not allow the owner of the piece to hang it in the orientation they prefer because it best represents their interpretation of it? Kind of cool really.

That doesn’t mean you don’t need to create your work with an orientation in mind. Most of the time you probably should. But, in some cases, if it’s abstract enough, follows at least one of the compositional rules, (we have the Rule of Thirds working here) and it makes sense for the piece, leaving the orientation open to the owners preference can really work.

 

What Next?

Phew! That was a deep dive, wasn’t it? Were you able to follow my interpretation? I’d like to do this kind of thing fairly regularly, focusing on a different design lesson each time so you have a chance to really dig into the concepts along with me. But if it’s just a lot to wade through on a Sunday morning with the cobwebs not quite cleared out of your brain yet, let me know.

You can reply to this email, if that’s how you get this, or go to the contact page here. I am always thrilled to hear what you think whether it’s a commendation, criticism, or suggestion. Absolutely love getting all of them. It really helps me steer what I create for you.

 

During the next couple weeks, I think I might steer us away from design and talk about other things that can really help take your artwork up a notch. I’ve been in a lot of conversations and have been reading a lot about novel length fiction writing and I keep finding equivalences to the way one can approach art and so that’s where my mind is and I think some of the ideas might be pretty exciting for you.

So, join me again next Sunday for an easy read and some, hopefully, brilliant ideas. And the meantime, have a wonderful, safe, and warm (or cool if you’re down under!) week!

 

You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like,  just …

A Variety Show

January 24, 2021

Last weekend I talked about contrast, a concept closely related to variety, which is the subject for this week. Understanding the difference between the two can avoid a lot of confusion so I’ll be referring to contrast a bit today as well. If you didn’t see the last post, give it a quick read here.

Now, what is variation?

Variation is the range or assortment of differences throughout a design. Now, didn’t contrast also speak to differences? Yes, but those differences were between similar types of elements while variation is the degree of difference between all of the elements, principles, and placement choices in your work. It is like contrast in that variation is also used to create interest or energy or to otherwise support your intention, however, while contrast is often the key to adjusting the level of variation, you can have a fair bit of variation with little or no contrast.

To put it succinctly, contrast is the difference between two or more related elements while variety is about the relationship between all the elements in a piece. So, let’s talk about those relationships and how they are used in design.

 

Picturing Variation

First of all, keep in mind that you can create variation with elements or principles or pretty much any visual or conceptual part of your work.

Take the gorgeous pendant that opened this post. Liz Sabol has variation in color, line, balance, repetition, rhythm and even types of composition. In fact, even though we can identify a use of the Rule of Thirds, a Golden Spiral, and use of the Focus to the Right principle, it’s the barely-there nod to centered composition, created by an implied line from the midpoint focused, and yet asymmetrical, balance of the bail to the centered tip at the bottom of the pendant, that is holding all the chaos at bay. This piece is an absolute celebration of variation.

Alternately, if you use a lot of the same elements or employ principles in the same way throughout a piece, then there would be little variation. You can see that in this simple but still striking little pendant by an undisclosed creative on VK.com. (If you know who made this, do let me know and I’ll update the post.) Here there is regular rhythm, an absolutely centered composition, and every shape is circular. The only variation is created by contrast in the value difference between the black and white and the textural difference between the smooth outer elements and the rough interior disc.

Now, looking at the two pendants, I’m sure you can see that there is a huge difference between the energy and feel of them, largely because of the level of variation.

 

It’s a Matter of Degrees

So, as you see, a piece can be interesting with little to no variation or contrast. These concepts add points and degrees of interest. It’s your intention that should determine what role they will play in your work.

Just think, if you want a piece to feel solemn and quiet, avoiding high contrast and keeping your variation quite subtle may be what you need. That calm could be very awe-inspiring in its subtlety. Alternately, you can have a piece with the points of contrast and variation ranging from subtle to obvious.

You see an example of moderation in contrast and variation in Amy Genser’s Eventide pictured here. Yes, the piece feels quite busy and has a lot of energy but the contrast and variation are not that dramatic. There’s a lot of texture but it’s all rough and predominantly created from the rolled-up paper elements. The rolled paper elements are all ovoid in shape but with variation in regard to the roundness and width. They also range in size and are very in color although, like the rest of the canvas, they are predominantly blue and cyan, keeping to the cool side of the color wheel. The canvas does open up into a brief mix of reds and yellows in the middle and the color values do range from a dark blue to white. But the variation is applied in a gradual and moderated way. Most of the energy comes from the texture, the repetition, and the sense of movement.

So, we see here that the degree of variation doesn’t have to be high to create energy or interest as other elements and principles can do that quite well. However, I do think in this case that the level of variation included boosts the energy of the texture and repetition. It’s a team effort.

So, unlike some other concepts, there is no way to really list the different types or degrees of contrast and variation and what they might mean for your particular piece. As you’ve seen, this is in large part due to how much these concepts depend on, and play off of, the other choices made in the design.

 

This is only a quick introduction to the subjects of contrast and variation but I’ll continue talking about them in many of my future posts. If you think about it, I’ve actually been talking about these ideas throughout the year as the differences in your choices for the various elements and principles is quite wrapped up in your decisions on how you’ll employ contrast and variation.

Some of your choices for contrast and variation will be made automatically if you make characteristic choices for your elements before specifically thinking about contrast or variation, like choosing just daisies for a flower necklace or choosing green and red as your color palette because it’s for Christmas. Repeated daisies will dictate rather low levels of variation because of the sameness of the primary motif so you’d have to work with contrast in things like value and size to take it up a notch. And Christmas colors are high contrast so it would be difficult to make the work also feel calm or serene starting from that color palette.

However, you might find it more advantageous to make choices about the degree of contrast and variation that would best suit the work and then make that happen through the characteristics you choose for your elements. In fact, knowing the degree of contrast and variation you want can help you make more confident and intentional choices for your elements, various principles, and composition. That’s how influential the concept of contrast and variation is in art.

 

Perhaps this talk of contrast and variety will get you jazzed to try out some variations on variety your own self. So, while the sun is shining and the muse is calling, do try to have a wonderful, safe, and creative week!

 

You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like,  just …

A Lack of Absolutes

Helen Breil’s variations lean on the principles of emphasis and movement using line, in particular, to create a feeling of unity and a sense of complexity even though these are not particularly intricate. The design just feels so complete and satisfying.

Do you feel, or have you felt, that design is a very confusing subject? I wanted to ask because as of next month, we dive into the PRINCIPLES of Design. We’ve been working on Elements thus far. Yes, there are two categories to define the ways we use design. So, before I go further, let’s define those.

Elements of Design – the components used to create designs. They are like the ingredient in a recipe, only they are not the materials or tools you use but rather the individual elements you create with them.

Elements of Design (my list for mixed media arts) include:

    • Line
    • Marks
    • Color
    • Shape
    • Form
    • Texture

Principles of Design – the concepts used to arrange and organize the elements of design. These are like the methods and choices used to combine the ingredients in a recipe in order to create the desired outcome.

Principles of Design (as I am going to teach it here) include:

    • Balance
    • Movement
    • Contrast<->Variety
    • Emphasis<->Hierarchy
    • Repetition<->Rhythm
    • Scale<->Proportion
    • Unity<->Similarity

Don’t they look so manageable in those simple lists? Well, Elements does, I’m sure. Principles … they are concepts, so they’re more complicated. But don’t worry. I’ve been fiendishly sneaking them in all along so you are actually familiar with many of them if you’ve been reading my blog even for just this year. Just in the last couple months, I’ve been drilling in the ideas of contrast, similarity, movement and even a bit about scale.

There may be two separate lists above but they are completely dependent on each other. You can’t use principles with out the elements to create with and you can’t create with elements without the principles pushing you, consciously or unconsciously, towards the beauty and satisfaction that comes from a good design.

 

The Ultimate List of Design

Now, you may be asking yourself, why are the notations above about these lists my version? Aren’t these things standardized? Well, unfortunately, they are not and that’s the crux of the problem I want to peel open today.

When I talk about elements and principles of art and design, I’m giving you what I believe would be the best set of these for what we do in polymer and mixed media art. If you go online and search for just a list of the Principles of Design, you will find everything from a list of 5 up to a list of 20 principles. That’s pretty crazy!

It is understandable when some people think one or two things don’t belong on a list but when you regularly get this whole range, with some items paired up (like I did above) and others listing those same paired items as separate and distinct concepts, it can really make you wonder how you will ever learn the “right” set of concepts?

To make it simple (but possibly no less frustrating), I’m here to tell you there is no single ultimate list of elements or principles of design. And, no, it’s not because people have different opinions, although they do, but it has to do with the type of creative work each source assumes the reader will be considering.

These lists of elements and principles change to best serve the medium the writer or instructor assumes you, the reader, are dealing with. For instance, in painting and illustration, value is its own element discussed outside of color because value is what allows painters to define dimensionality, space, and perspective in the work. Our work in craft is primarily dimensional to begin with which is why I simplified my list to included value as part of the color element discussion.

Likewise, mark making in crafts is extremely important while mark making in graphic design is nearly nonexistent or is replaced with the concept of motif or pattern. And motif is an extremely important element in interior design but it is usually a side note, if even that, in fine arts.

So, all those lists out there are customized and created for the particular creatives the creator of the list believes will be using it. Right? Right!

I just wanted to clarify that before we jump in the principles of design so if any of you have learned or been taught something different than the list I’m going to give you, you understand why. I do believe my lists will best serve you as a mixed-media artist but you are welcome to build your own as needed.

The bottom line here… Don’t worry about whether you’ve got design terminology down precisely. Worry about understanding the concepts, identifying them, and working with them.

 

Ack! What’s a Creative to Focus On?

If all these lists and their imprecise ways make you feel like you’re going to hyperventilate, take heart. When it comes down to it, there are really just a few things you need to focus on as I can distill what I am trying to teach you into just three things. If you concentrate on these, you can just read my posts and the club’s mini-mag content and all this design knowledge will work its way into your brain by osmosis:

Your Artistic Keys:

  1. Create with intention, whatever that means to you.
  2. Draw your intention from that authentic and unique core that is you.
  3. Aim to make conscious, intentional design choices on every aspect of your work.

If you can do these three things, you can and will be an incredible and fulfilled artist. The rest – the terminology, concepts, elements and such – you can gather like you do art supplies. You pick them up as you can and then use them at every opportunity that makes sense. It would be great if you actually thought of them as new shiny tools and materials on your studio table. They can be, and usually are, the most valuable tools you have at hand.

 

The End of Free Lessons is Nigh!

In the coming months, the Principles of Design lessons, although they will continue to appear here in some fashion, will be largely moving to the weekly Devotee Club mini-mags. I need to start transitioning the bulk of my content to the Club content as the full free lessons were intended just to help get us all through this tumultuous year, but I do have to get back to bringing in the funds so I can keep at it!

So … if you have been enjoying the lessons you’ve had here in recent months, come join the club! Not only will you be getting the full lessons, but I also have a lot of other content from tips on living a creative life to community news to subscriber only specials and first dibs on new products.

And for the rest of this month, get a 14 day free trial! Offer ends October 31st.

(By the way, the Success Club, which combines coaching with the weekly content, is full, in case you are wondering when you get to the page and don’t see it to add to the cart. I am taking names for the waiting list only at this time.)

Come support your design knowledge, creative growth, and these Tenth Muse Arts projects with a subscription to the Devotee Club. Just click here.

Why Size Matters

Fanni Sandor creates exquisitely small and biologically accurate creatures in polymer clay and mixed mediums. Her choice to go small is born of a fascination with minature art and we, likewise, are fascinated by the tiny masterpieces. See more on her Instagram page.

What size art do you work in? Have you even ever thought about that? Do you work small, big, or a nice moderate middle size?

I think many of us have a limited size range that we feel comfortable working in and rarely, if ever, venture outside that range. There’s nothing wrong with that but it does beg the question, do you think about what the appropriate size is when you create something?

As you might be guessing, if you’ve been reading my blog or design articles for any length of time, I’m about to point out that making the decision about the size of your work can help to fulfill your intention.

(Do you ever think, “If she says something about intention one more time…!” Well, I do hope it’s not annoying. It’s just that important!)

Size in art simply refers to how big or small something is. It is used in a variety of ways to emphasize, organize, assist in functionality, and symbolize the intention of the artist. A lot of the size choices made have to do with relativity – something can only be called small if something else is big and vice versa.

In design, this is actually a principal known as proportion and scale. Proportion is about the relative size between two or more objects or elements when they are grouped together or juxtaposed. Scale refers to how big or small something is compared to the general understanding of how a thing usually is or should be. For instance, we expect a chair to be sized for human beings to sit in and a teapot big enough to hold several cups of tea. Anything significantly larger or smaller than these expectations would be a change in scale.

Scale represents an interesting concept in that it makes note that we do have expectations about how big or small thing should be. That may sound like we have some kind of undue constraints placed upon those of us who create, but actually, scale gives us an opportunity to step outside those expectations and make a point.

As mentioned above, size can be used emphasize things. Making something bigger than expected usually draws attention, so if you created a beaded necklace with beads as big as golf balls, those are definitely beads that are bigger than normally expected.

The same concept of emphasis works with proportions. Let’s say that you only made one of those beads as big as a golf ball in the previously mentioned beaded necklace and the rest of the beads were of a more reasonable size. In that case, you would be drawing attention to the big bead as a focal point. Size allows you to direct the viewer’s eye and their impression of the work.

It may seem that bigger items will be more impressive or have a bigger impact but, honestly, very small artistic creations can be just as fascinating, sometimes more so due to the skill needed to create beauty in such a small space. I think you can see that in the opening image of this post. Small art requires the viewer to come close to it to really see the details, creating an intimacy between the viewer and the piece.

So, have you ever thought about these considerations for size when creating your work? Don’t worry if you haven’t. It’s not that uncommon for size to be determined in some arbitrary or organic manner. And I’m not saying that doing it that way is wrong, but you could be missing out on an opportunity to better express your intention if size was a conscious decision.

 

A Sizable Story

One of my high corset collars with stitched copper and polymer embellishments.

When I was a working artist, I often made decisions about size based on what I thought people would want. It wasn’t a particularly conscious choice, more of an aim not to make pieces too big. I was not trying to make statement jewelry, but rather something that could be comfortably worn all day, or so that was my train of thought.

I can’t say what got me to start thinking about size, but at some point, I started to ask myself why I was afraid to go big. So, I started to push myself, making big collar pieces that would sit as high as the jawline and come down to the collarbone. Some were a little crazy, some were so uncomfortable, but I still found so much joy in making all of them.

I found something freeing in pushing myself beyond what I thought my market would like. And, as it turned out, my market liked them big too. I sold every one that I put up for sale. They never came home with me after a show. So, what I discovered was that the sizes I had been working in were completely self-imposed without any supportable basis for my choices other than my own fear of not being able to make a sale.

Once I realized why I had been working in those smaller sizes, I was able to start making decisions based on what the work needed to be instead of what I thought the market might want. For example, if I was going to make an ornate piece with the intention that the wearer feel like a queen, I would probably decide that it should be big and bold, not small and delicate or demurely moderate, to better emphasize the feeling of nobility I wanted it to embody.

 

Georg Dinkel works large when he is trying to make a point about our reverence for technology, like with this iPhone docking station titled IReliquary.

What’s Your Size?

So why do you work in the sizes that you do?

Is it purely functionality or rooted in the idea of what people would expect the size to be?

Is it limited by the tools or forms you have on hand, or by the capability of the materials being used?

Do you let the size come about organically or unconsciously or do you make a conscious decision about size based on the impact or response you would like the viewer to have?

I truly don’t believe that there’s really a wrong way to determine the size of your work but, like any design element, you are only truly a master of it if you are aware of its possibilities and make conscious choices.

So maybe this week, think about the size of your artwork in terms of your intention. Look at pieces that you’ve made in the past and ask yourself how the look and message, if there was one, would have changed if the piece had been smaller or larger. And in the next few things that you design, ask yourself what size piece would best serve the artwork before letting your tools or expectations of scale determine it for you.

 

Goodies are About Gone

Support this blog and your creative endeavors … join the club!

If you didn’t see the newsletter yesterday, I shared the stock I have left for a few special items that were first offered to Art Boxer Club Members, but a couple things are sold out or nearly so already. These are limited items that I will periodically offer publicly, without the discounts or freebies club members get, when there is extra stock, so if you can’t join us in the club, keep your eye out for my newsletters and sign up here if you aren’t on that list for my next offering.

Getting first dibs as well as discounts and freebies is one of the advantages of being part of the Art Boxer clubs, along with the weekly mini-magazine pick me up you get in your email. (The Art Boxer Success club that includes coaching is also unavailable at this time as spots are full up but I do have a waiting list going – just write to me if interested.)

These limited supplies are available on this page if you are still interested.

 

All Quiet on this Western Front

I have little to report on the home front. I did go in in for a small surgery Thursday only to find out I’m going have to go back in six weeks or so from now to have it completed. Nothing is straightforward and simple this year, is it? So, just trying to make myself take it easy this weekend although I am just a horrible patient in that regard.

Next weekend, assuming nothing else weird happens, my better half and I are going to slip away for the weekend to test the camper van conversion we’ve been slowly working on. I do plan to put something for you together before I go so you should still be able to visit with me next Sunday.

In the meantime, all your hopes and plans, big or small, all go off as intended this week!

Tactile Allure

Melanie West’s satiny smooth finish has a heavanly tactile texture even though many people might think of her pieces as being textured because they’re so smooth. Yet smooth is actually one of world’s most loved textures.

How often do you touch art?

No, I don’t mean being the unruly museum visitor who gets yelled at by the docent, but in your everyday life, how many things do you touch that you would also consider art?

Works in the applied arts, which encompass decorative art, adornment, and functional objects, are often things that we touch. Because of this, the tactile texture of most applied art is exceedingly important. Not only can the wrong texture put someone off from buying a piece, but the right texture can make a huge difference between people liking your work due to its visual appeal and being utterly in love with it because it feels so good to touch. It is also another means by which you can express your intention.

Choosing Tactile

The first time I touched a Melanie West polymer bead, it was like taking a bite of the most heavenly chocolate mousse. Her finishes are flawless and so soft; my fingers just couldn’t get enough. That kind of tactile reaction is golden. It also supports her soft and organic themes. As wonderful as her finishes are, that kind of texture may not be wanted in your work or may not even be possible due to techniques or materials you are using.

The point is that her textures are part of the experience of her work and, if you’re creating things that will be handled, you too should consider the experience of touching your piece as part of its aesthetic value. As always, let your intention drive your decisions, but pay attention to the physical sensation experienced when handling the work and aim to have it support your intention, alongside all your other design decisions.

For instance, if you want to share your love of the beach through your work, think about the physical sensations that stand out the most – the soft breeze on your face, the refreshingly cold water on your feet, and your toes digging into cool sand. Now, how do you translate those physical sensations into tactile texture that will help you share that experience to those who will handle your work?

You can do so by thinking in terms of those adjectives – soft, refreshing, and cool. You probably want those to be the dominant sensations so don’t go for, say, a sandy texture just because the beach has sand. Is a gritty, sandy texture going to convey soft, refreshing, and cool? Chances are, it’s just going to remind someone of getting sand in their shoes and other uncomfortable places. You can create a visually sandy texture that includes sandy colors and a speckled look, but in terms of tactile sensations, going for a soft, maybe matte surface that will feel cool and soothing to the touch will share something closer to the sensations you want to relay.

Felt may have textural limitations but the final texture is still a choice. Olga Demyanova contrast a tight, even texture with the rippling and rougher orange edging and accents in this intriquing handbag.

There are a lot of materials that have limits on the tactile textures available. Polymer clay can replicate most tactile surfaces except for fuzzy, but felted work is limited to that dense and slightly rough feel of matted wool while glass will almost always have a smooth aspect. There are also techniques that create their own texture or limit how you can further manipulate the material to create texture. Learn the range of tactile sensations available in the materials and techniques you use so you know what options you have.

 

Work that Begs to Be Touched

There are a couple things you can focus on in order to create work that people will love to touch. It primarily involves smoothness and variation.

 

Smooth Surfaces

Our sense of touch enjoys traveling along a pleasantly smooth substance such as polished metal or stone. But what we like most is softness, such as a fluffy blanket or bunny fur. Softness is a type of smoothness as it allows our skin to glide across, unimpeded.

Note that you can re-create the look of fluffy and furry textures in hard substances such as clay or wood but you can’t re-create the same associated softness because, in those materials, you lose the ability for our fingertips to effortlessly glide across it in the same way due to the unevenness in a hard surface. So, recreating the look of fur doesn’t necessarily re-create the tactile experience. The ‘look’ of fur is just a visual experience.

So, be careful to think of smooth tactile texture, not in the way it looks, but the way it feels.

 

Klavdija Kurent gives the wearer of her jewelry much to explore with their fingertips.

Variation

Our fingertips were made for receiving information, and lots of it, so they do very much enjoy a variation in texture. However, we don’t normally enjoy variation that is sharp, prickly, scratchy, or sticky. These textures make it hard for our fingers to glide along and take it in, not to mention that they are also often painful.

However, bumps, grooves, and fine lines excite the nerve endings. It’s just like the sense of taste – we aren’t too happy with things that are bland but a lot of flavors that go well together thrills our tongue. Our fingers, likewise, enjoy complexity.

 

The Best of Both – Smooth and Varied

I think you’ll find that pieces with both a smooth and varied surface attain the pinnacle of touchableness.

Take a look at the pearled bracelet here. It is not even in your presence and you probably still feel a tiny urge to reach out and touch it. That’s because each half pearl has a small, smooth surface which is further aided by the round and unimpeded nature of its shape as well as there being a varied field of them.

The combination of smoothness and variation in this bracelet makes for an engaging texture, adding energy to the piece both in its tactile and visual nature. Note that this also has a bit of rough texture around the edges to provides textural contrast. Because contrast is important in texture too!

The contrast of texture fit well into my intention of showing the classic perfection and allure of pearls in an organic setting. I wanted it to be a subtle reminder of the messy world pearls actually come from even though we now associate them with neat, tidy, and conservative dress.

 

The Tactile Balancing Act

The textures you choose will dictate limitations in terms of surface treatments and other parts of your design, so you have to balance out your tactile texture choices with your other design choices. For instance, if you create a deep and dense texture on a light color, it’s going to appear darker, which you might not want.  Or you may want a very smooth surface but want pattern to raise the energy so you would have to figure out how to incorporate pattern visually with inks, veneers, or other smooth surface applications.It just needs to make sense for your intention and the limitations of material.

If your tactile texture decisions, weighed in light of all the other decisions you have to make about color, shape line, function, etc., are chosen in service of your intention, you are sure to have a beautiful, cohesive, and interestingly touchable design.

 

Should I Call Them Mini-Mags?

The first week of the Art Boxer Clubs has commenced and one of the first comments about the weekly Pick-Me-Up is that it ought to be described as a mini-mag. I guess it is. It’s hard to take the magazine attitude out of me. There were 5 little articles and a good handful of links for further exploring.  So, yeah, maybe it is a mini-mag. I might have to rethink what I call it.

But regardless of what it’s called, joining the club will get you a little extra boost each week and at least once a month, you’ll get a special discount, a first dibs or limited stock offer, and/or a giveaway. And right now you can get in on it with a 2 week free trial and a FOREVER discounted rate.

So, if you enjoy my blog, support this while boosting your own creative endeavors by joining us in the Devotee Club or Success Club (there are only a few spots left in this upgrade to personal coaching option, at least as of my writing this), or buy yourself a good book or an inspiring magazine to curl up with. Just visit the website by clicking here.

 

No Fires Here

We are still a safe distance from all the fires and the sky has started to clear up from the smoke so nothing too exciting to report from Tenth Muse central. I’ve already gotten started on the next project but I don’t want to say too much about it. It seems like every time I say something, I get jinxed and delayed. So, you’ll just have to stop by and check in with me on the weekends, or read the newsletters, or, if you want to be the first to know, join one of the new Club options as Art Boxers will be the first to know (as well as getting extra discounts … just sayin’.)

 

I hope you all have a relatively unexciting week yourselves. It’s not like we need much more excitement with the craziness of the world providing plenty already. Just go make beautiful things and be kind and caring to each other.

The Language of Texture (Plus … Discover the new Art Boxer Clubs!)

September 13, 2020

Dawn Deale, Crackle bracelet using gold leaf with alcohol inks.

Now that we’ve spent three months intensely delving into color, are you ready to completely switch gears and explore a different design element?

How often, when you are creating something, do you ask yourself “What kind of texture do I want?” Or, more importantly, “Why this texture?” I think we can all agree that texture is an extremely important part of all types of arts and crafts and, like color, is probably more often than not chosen consciously. But why do you choose a smooth texture versus a rough texture? Or a simple texture versus a busy one?

I think the first thing we need to define in terms of texture is what it actually is. Do you automatically think of some uneven and fabulously tactile surface? Well, certainly, that is a type of texture, but that is only one type. Texture is more wide-ranging than that. At its most basic, it is the feel or appearance of a surface.

Texture can be of two primary types – tactile or visual.

For instance, tree bark is generally rough. If you can reach out and touch the actual tree bark that is tactile texture. If you have a glossy photo of tree bark, the texture is still rough, it’s just visual rather than tactile. If we don’t make this distinction, you could say that the photo of tree bark is smooth but you’re actually describing the tactile texture of the glossy paper.

So, you know what? That means you potentially have two decisions to make when it comes to texture – what kind of tactile texture and what kind of visual texture will your piece have?

In this necklace by 2Roses (Corliss and John Rose), softly marbled polymer gives subtle variation to the visual texture of its beads.

Your initial decision for each is not too hard being that you really only have two basic options for each – will it be smooth or not smooth? Or you can say smooth or rough, although I think rough has a lot of specific associations but it does describe the alternative to smooth.

Your chosen texture will actually be on a scale from smooth to rough. It will also be relative to the smoothness or roughness of other textures either on the piece or to similar textures. Beech tree bark is relatively smooth compared to oak bark although it is relatively rough compared to, say, glass.

Lightly marbled polymer clay (like that in the necklace seen here) will have a rougher (or busier or denser) visual texture than a solid sheet of clay but is not as rough a visual as a finely crackled alcohol ink surface treatment (as in the opening image), don’t you think?

You may be tempted to say that sometimes you choose to have no visual or tactile texture, but what you’re really saying is that you want a smooth visual or tactile texture. There is still texture; it’s just smooth or without variation breaking up the surface.

Now is it really important to call what we might see as the absence of texture as smooth? Well, how will you define the emotive, symbolic, and/or psychological meanings or effects of your surface if you don’t acknowledge its type of texture? I think that would be a little rough. (Sorry for the pun!) And that’s what I really want to talk about today.

 

Talking with Texture

As with color, different textures communicate varying emotions and atmospheres but, unlike color, texture can rather easily communicate all kinds of abstract ideas in very concrete, and sometimes quite literal, ways. Concepts that deal with the physical nature of things like force, fragility, turbulence, or stillness are not only readily interpreted or felt by viewers but they are also readily determined by artists. I bet you can think of a texture that could represent each of those for physical concepts within a couple minutes if not a handful seconds.

Texture can also readily elicit specific emotions such as comfort, fear, revulsion, and desire. To come up with textures for emotions, you could just think of a physical thing associated with each (fuzzy blankets for comfort, sharp knives for fear, etc.) and from that come up with a texture (a soft, matte surface for comfort, or sharp, erratic lines for fear, etc.).

“Lichen” tiles in porcelain by Heather Knight. They are all dense, tactile textures but they convey different things. What words would you associate with your favorite 3 in the image?

You can pretty much come up with a texture to go with the intention of the work you’re creating simply by identifying what characteristics you associate with the ideas or emotion of your concept or theme. For some people, recognizing these characteristics is very intuitive. For the rest of us, or even for those who feel they’re intuitive, it can help to come up with words you would associate with your intention and develop your textural design decisions from them.

This could be as simple as throwing out a few adjectives to describe what reaction you want from the viewer or you could list specific ideas or objects related to your theme or concept and then consider textures that you associate with the words you’re writing down.

If you have a hard time just freely coming up with textures, you can find possibilities to jump-start your ideas by looking through your texture plates/stamps/random objects stash for textures that evoke those words. Or you can look at artwork to get ideas. Determine what emotions or sense you get from various pieces and then identify what textures are used.

I know I brought up visual versus tactile texture but I’m got not going to talk about them any further today. I’m going to save those for the next couple weekends this month. I haven’t decided which to do for next weekend so it’ll just be a surprise. Just have fun coming up with adjectives to associate with textures that you can use to help support the intention of your work.

 

Announcing the new Art Boxer Clubs!

The first of the latest projects I have been brewing has launched!

The content of these Art Boxer clubs will be aimed at all types of mixed media creatives, not just polymer clay artists. Like the blog, the focus will be on increasing your design and creative skills while helping you stay energized and engaged in your craft, all while mixing in a good dose of fun and exciting bonuses!

I am keeping core design lessons free here on the blog for now but giving you many of the other features that were in the original VAB plus some new exclusive offerings:

The Art Boxer Devotee Club… $9/month: Exclusive weekly (Wednesday) content including mini-lessons, creative prompts, project ideas, and challenges as well as member only discounts and offers, giveaways, and early notices on all sales, new publications, and limited items. Get 2 weeks free to try this out if you join during the month of September.  Go here for full details! 

The Art Boxer Success Club… $35/month: For serious aspiring artists or artists looking to take it up a notch, this includes everything the Devotees get plus twice a month email or once a month chat/zoom coaching sessions. I’m reviving my creative coaching services but in a limited way – only 20 of these memberships are available. This is a very inexpensive option (normal rate is $65 for similar coaching) for one-on-one support to help with whatever artistic and/or business goals you have been aiming for. Click here for the details.

*If you are already a monthly contributor toward the support of my projects and free content, you will automatically be added to the Devotee Club member list, even if you contribute less than $9. If you would like to move up to the Success club, just write me. Thank you for your early and continued support! 

If you have questions about the clubs, write me here and I will get back to you on Monday.

 

And don’t forget … the 25% off PRINT publications sale is still going on.

Good only until Tuesday! Click here to get in on this before the sale is gone.

 

 

Under Smoky Skies

Thankfully (for me), I have no crazy personal updates or unfortunate stories to tell you about. I hope I haven’t disappointed those of you all into the Sage soap opera over here. I’m loving my new physical therapist and although I haven’t seen any significant progress thus far, my knees, shoulder, and elbow have not gotten worse.  And hubby’s face is healing just beautifully so we are pretty content in our recoveries here. So that’s cool.

Speaking of cool, how many of you are dealing with weather changes due to fires in your area? We were supposed to have another hot week but the dense smoke all over California has developed its own little weather system, blocking out the sun and cooling down the day. Too bad the air quality is too poor to go out and enjoy the nice temperatures. We also have this weird orange-yellow cast to the daylight. It’s just otherworldly.

To be clear, there are no fires anywhere near enough to endanger us although I suppose that could change at any moment. Between the wonky weather and just what a ridiculous year this has been, I think we all should just stay in and create beautiful things for a while. At least until the skies clear up. What do you think?

 

Well, I hope, wherever you are, you are staying safe and healthy. If you join one of the clubs, then I’ll chat with you on Wednesday!

Not the Hue You Know

June 8, 2020
Posted in , ,

Amber Elledge used Premo’s fuchsia, cobalt, zinc yellow and white to mix all these brilliant colors.  www.facebook.com/starlessclay/

Welcome to the first week of the new incarnation of the Virtual Art Box. I’m not going to continue referring to it as such since the contents will be spread out over the weeks instead of packaged (boxed) but for those of you who have been with me since the inception of the VAB, know that you’ll get the same design lessons and ideas to improve your skills and artistic knowledge that you had when you were getting this as part of the VAB membership. For those of you who have only been joining me for the weekly blog, you’re in for quite the treat if you have any curiosity and desire to further understand how design works in creating craft.

I think you’ll be delighted to know that were going to start this new iteration of the VAB focused on color. I knew the color content couldn’t be just one article and a few nudges though. Nope. Color is far too multifaceted. It is easily the most nuanced and intricate of all design elements. I could spend the rest of the year just talking about color. I mean, just think about it … is there any other design element for which entire books are written? And so many? Well, not that I know of.

But it’s not just that there is a lot to talk about with color. The reason there are so many books, classes, and websites about color is because it can be difficult to learn. Part of it is, of course, the complexity of color, but it is also because it takes some time to understand why some colors work together and some don’t and why mixing color can be so hit and miss. In other words, it takes work to understand color. Not everybody wants to put in a lot of work on this and I understand that, but if you do make the effort, the reward will be tremendous!

Your mission, if you choose to accept it … is up to you.

My approach to teaching design for most of the past decade has been based on the concept of osmosis and I don’t plan on changing that overmuch. So, I’m going to tell you about the concepts and show you examples and encourage you to look at the world around you in terms of those new (or maybe not so new) ideas. If you read the blog every week, these concepts will eventually just sink in. It might take some time but you’ll get there. On the other hand, put a bit of work in now and you’ll be masterfully mixing color and creating gorgeous color palettes by the end of the summer!

So that’s my proposal. I’m going to teach you color over the next couple months and you can just observe and soak it up or roll up your sleeves and get hands-on, as and when it suits you. But if you keep up with even just the reading, you’ll be steps ahead of where you are now come the fall.

Deal? Okay, so let’s start with a real basic, rather convoluted, but surprisingly fascinating concept – hue, the basis of all color.

 

Jan Montarsi, Mica mush pendant created with gold polymer and the cyan, magenta and yellow equivalents in alcohol ink (Pinata’s Senorita magenta, Baja blue, and Sunbright yellow.) www.flickr.com/photos/jembox/

It’s Up to Hue

Hue is what most people think of first when they think of color and color theory – that which makes up the purest aspect of color. Scientifically speaking, each hue is a particular point on the color spectrum, but I think it’s best to think of hue as a category. Red is not just fire engine red, right? It’s also brick and burgundy and rose. It’s a range, a grouping that we use to organize the myriad options we have in color.

Why think of the names of pure color as categories? Because each of those categories represent a specific set of things to us. Our response to color is primarily determined by our culture but all colors make some level of emotional and psychological connection which, as creatives, we can use to communicate to the viewer of our work. Every one of the infinite number of colors available to us has its own specific response but it is certainly easier to start by understanding the characteristics of just a few categories each defining a specific range of color. You can then grow your knowledge from there.

So, I thought I’d have you learn a handful of color categories based on pure color hues for the purpose of communication in your work but I also need you to understand hue in terms of how you mix colors. Unfortunately, categories and mixing are not based on the same concepts so we are going to have to learn those separately. You see, while categories are about defining our response to color, mixing is based on science. In other words, one is based on an ever-changing landscape of personal and cultural understandings while the other is rooted in physics.

So, let’s start with science and look at the meaning of categories later. Mind you, this conversation may feel like a roller coaster at moments but buckle up and I think you’ll be surprised at what you’ll learn. At the very least, I have some surprising trivia not to mention a thrilling new position from which to work with color.

 

True Colors

Color theory, especially for visual creatives, really starts with the concept of primaries. Primaries are known as non-reducible colors because, by definition, they can’t be created from other colors. Strangely enough though, you won’t find just one set of primary hues that you can or need to work from. So, you see how color confusion starts from the beginning. Let me break it down for you and make it simple.

If you go by the definition of primaries being colors that can’t be created by other colors, then there are just two primary sets, one for each of the two different materials from which color can be created – light and pigment. Mixing light is used to create visuals on your computer screen or dramatic lighting on a theater stage, while pigment is what gives any object its color including colorants that give paint, chalk, clay, etc. their color. Both light and pigment primaries are based on the same thing – the spectrum of colors in the range of natural light that our eyes take in.

When mixing light, the three primaries used are red, green, and blue (a.k.a. RGB, that color mode digital photo editing software is always yammering on about). From those three, you can mix up any color of light you want but put all three together and you get white because white is the full light spectrum, like the sunlight. For that reason, RGB is known as an “additive” color model because you add parts of the spectrum to create a color of light for your eyes to take in.

Pigments, on the other hand, reflect just parts of the light spectrum back to our eyes (so if the pigment reflects only yellow, that’s what reaches our eyes and we see yellow) while absorbing the rest of the spectrum, effectively removing that part of the light that hit it the object from being reflected to our eyes. Because of this, pigment colors are referred to as subtractive color because we only see what’s left. Mix three completely pure pigment primaries and you end up with black which is the absence of light—those pigments collectively are able to absorb all parts of the light spectrum.

I know this is getting a little scientific but I just want you to have a basis for understanding why the colors on your computer screen can look so much different than colors in your physical world or in print. The additive versus subtractive properties of the two-color modes just don’t translate back and forth very well. That should take some of the pressure off of you though. Now you know that it’s not just you that can’t re-create any color in pigment based materials from something on-screen or your photographic skills alone aren’t what makes it so hard to take a digital photo with accurate colors. It’s just a crazy, mixed up color world.

Now to the truly mind-boggling stuff.

 

As far as pigment goes, most people have long been taught that the pigment primaries are red, yellow, and blue (RYB) even though there is no scientific basis for it. It’s just something a variety of Europeans arbitrarily developed based on the pigments they had available between the 17th and 19th centuries. And it worked, more or less, with paint. Oddly enough, around the same time, science was slowly coming to the conclusion that cyan, magenta, and yellow (CMY) are more precise primary colors for pigments but colorists in the art world didn’t consult the science of color physics. Plus, it wouldn’t be until the early 20th century that chemistry would provide the pure pigments needed to properly create visual work in CMY.

The more precise primaries were readily adopted by the printing industry in the early 1900s since this produced the brightest and broadest range of colors, but it was too late for western society’s language of, and associations with, color. Artists, designers, and psychologists had already established language and research including categories (yes, the categories we’ll be looking at) based on RYB. So, we are presently stuck with RYB when it comes to categories and communication. However, there is still a strong argument for learning and using CMY.

 

The Case for the Late Bloomers

If you are open to mixing with cyan, magenta, and yellow, you’ll likely find your color mixing is easier to predict and more saturated than through the use of RYB mixing. Just as the printing industry did. However, not all mediums for all brands make it easy to work in CMY versus RYB. In polymer, some brands are geared to CMY (such as Fimo Professional and Pardo), others seem to favor RYB (such as Kato and Cernit) while others aren’t geared to color mixing at all (such as Sculpey Souffle).

I, myself, have long been a convert to the CMY primary basis for mixing pigments of any kind but as a publisher, I’ve spent years working with printers which now uses CMY, plus “key”. (Key is black, as in black is the key plate that adds the detail in color printing’s four plate printing process, which is why print color is referred to as CMYK.) So, it wasn’t hard to break through the old lessons of RYB. And then there is the simple science – contrary to popular belief, red and blue can be mixed from other colors. I bet many of you find that hard to believe. Well, it’s not hard to prove. Here is the proof from my studio table:

Here are two sets of primaries and my mixes for their secondaries using the clay color on either side of them. I have Fimo in CMY with red, green and blue secondaries and Premo using RYB with green, purple and orange secondary mixes. I chose these sets in large part because that’s what I had on hand but also because Fimo set up the professional line based on CMY (although they call their cyan True Blue), and Premo has long supported RYB with their ultramarine blue, cadmium red, and cadmium yellow.

Note how much brighter and more saturated the CMY secondary colors I mixed are. Relative to the primaries, the mixes are neither toned down (losing saturation or purity) or darkened. The RYB delivers a decent orange but the green is quite toned down and dark and the purple looks practically black even though I went very heavy on the red and it’s nearly a wine color.

But here is what should really convince you that CMY mixing knowledge is something you need in your toolbox. Here is the same red and blue from the Fimo mix next to the blue and red Premo. Now do you believe that red and blue aren’t primaries that can’t be mixed from other colors?

Did that blow your mind a little bit? Do you feel the need for a glass of wine or comforting cup of tea? I remember when I first mixed blue and red from a CMY set of colors. I felt like I’d been duped all these years! But don’t take my word (or my pictures) for it. Try some of this color voodoo yourself.

 

Exercising Your Hues

This is a very simple exercise that will take you maybe 15 minutes but could be life changing for your color mixing skills. Like everything in art, skill is not about what your hands do but rather how you see things. I would ask that you see how this color mixing works with your own eyes and learn how the color in your preferred material and brand work depending on the primaries you choose to work with.

  1. Find a set of CMY and RYB in your clays, paints, inks or whatever you’d like to work with. You can even try a couple different mediums since the mediums act differently as well.

Here is a chart Maggie Maggio put together for the primaries of 3 major polymer clay brands to give you a guide for choosing primaries from your available clay colors. This was from an article titled, “21st Century Color” in the Winter 2015 – Hidden issue of The Polymer Arts, which talks more about the use of CMY for color mixing if you are only fascinated now.

  1. Once you have your two sets of primaries, just mix the following:
  • Mix secondaries for CMY: red, blue, and green.
  • Mix secondaries for RYB: orange, purple, and green.

I won’t be able to tell you how much you need to mix of each color to get those secondaries since every brand is different but you can start with equal amounts of both primaries, maybe adding a bit more of the lighter of the two. In my experience, yellow colorants are not as intense so you need more of it while blues (but not cyan) and magenta’s (and sometimes reds) can be quite intense. Just mix a small amount and then add what you need to adjust to what you think is a middle ground.

  1. Now, using the CMY set, create an orange and a purple:
  • For orange, start with two parts magenta and one part yellow then adjust to make a satisfactory orange midway between the yellow and the CMY’s secondary red.
  • For purple, start with two parts magenta and one part cyan then adjust to get a purple/violet midway between magenta and the CMY’s secondary blue.
  1. And lastly, try and create a cyan and magenta from the RYB set.
  • For cyan, start with two parts blue and one part yellow then adjust to make a color midway between the blue and green.
  • For magenta, start with two parts red and one part blue then adjust to get a color midway betweenpurple and red.

Which set of these were most successful? Of course, I expect the CMY to make those secondaries easily but the RYB results could go either way, depending on the RYB colors you used.

Also compare the orange and purple from the CMY set to the RYB set. Which do you prefer? And what have you learned that you didn’t expect?

They’re all good and useful colors no matter what they are mixed from. I find that mixing with RYB lend itself well to organic color palettes since those old primaries basically have a built in neutralizer (the addition of a complementary color) since they aren’t pure hues. That keeps the mixes from feeling too bright or artificial. But when I want bright, I stick with CMY or find a pre-made color that’s close so I only have to add tiny amounts of another color if it needs any tweaking.

Are you more comfortable with the idea of working with CMY primary hues? Really, all you’re doing is switching up your blue and red a tad from the old classic trio. Favor a blue that leans slightly towards green rather than purple and a red that leans some towards hot pink. It’s just a slight shift on the color wheel. It does, however, help if you use a CMY color wheel since magentas and cyans don’t sit equidistant from yellow on an RYB color wheel. Here is one you can print off for now.

Original graphic by DanPMK at English Wikipedia.

Using a different wheel will also help with things we’ll be talking about next week – secondary, tertiary, and complementary colors. But don’t fret. The CMY color wheels work the same as RYB but they’ll give you new and exciting color palette combinations to contemplate. So, if you can spend the week playing with and getting used to the idea of a little CMY into your life, you will have just added and organized an entire arsenal of color mixing that you didn’t have before. How wild is that?

If you do the color mixing exercises, I would absolutely love to see photos of your results and thoughts from you. Please let me know what brands and colors you used and how you felt about your results. If I get enough, I’ll share them next week or on my social media pages if you give me permission. Send them to me directly by responding to this if you get this by email or by going to the website here.

Can You Help?

I’ll try not to be too overt about asking for support but like every business, there are non-negotiable costs, mostly services that help get content to you. So, if you like the content and are able to help keep me going, pop over to the shop and pick up books and back issues missing from your library, gift a publication to a struggling polymer friend (I’ll include a card or can even sign the publication – leave instructions in the “Order notes” section after the shipping address), or contribute any amount you wish with the contribute options here. Also, patronize my advertisers –they do help spread the word about what I’m doing as well as funding some of what I do.

Otherwise, I hope you simply enjoy the learning. Have a colorful week!

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Iconic Shapes

May 31, 2020
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If there was a shape that could represent state of the world today, what would you say that is? Chances are, you’re thinking of something that works as an icon or symbol rather than something as simple as a circle or octagon. Abstract shapes are something I touched upon only briefly in the article about shape and form at the beginning of the month. They are most commonly created for things that we are already familiar with, many of which are considered universal. Some have been with us for ages such as stars, teardrops, and hearts, but simplified shapes will pop up whenever a quick method of communication that is not language dependent is needed or preferred.

For instance, right now, a square with half circles on the ends, often with a few horizontal lines in the square, represents a medical mask. Such an icon may have meant nothing to you at the start of this year but it’s hard not to recognize it for what it is now.

That is the power of abstract shapes. With minimal characteristics, these shapes represent an object if not an entire concept. For this reason, I suggest you to not use them too frivolously. If you pop a heart shape on something, it should be because your intention necessitates calling on the viewer’s emotions rather than just putting it on to be cute. Now, I’m not saying that using hearts to be cute is a bad thing but realize that people will see it as an emotional expression. And I say emotional, not love, because the heart represents a base positive emotion associated with love, caring, and happiness but if your heart shape has a hole in it, is cracked or torn, or is jet black, the viewer will start thinking of things like loneliness, sadness, or even animosity.

Not all abstract shapes have such a wide range of potential meaning but many can elicit a similar or even  stronger reaction, such as the shape of a cross or particular types of star shapes, depending on the context in which it’s used.

If you want to use abstract shapes but do not want to be so obvious or bring up the more common associations, you might find it useful to combine abstract shapes or to use them in unexpected ways. This approach to the use of abstract shapes can make for a much more subtle or complex statement which means your viewer will probably react more viscerally even with a readily recognized shape since its associations won’t be so blunt.

Here are just a few examples of abstract shapes where the association with them has been toned down.

Here, Elsie Smith overlays the impression of leaf forms on heart shapes showing just how perfectly they fit together. Pairing these makes the heart a gentle emotional background to the focus on, and apparent love of, nature’s intricate leaf formations.

 

This next one is a really good synergy of recognizable abstract shapes. Speaking in terms of the silhouette of the piece below as well as the focal point of the opening image, we could see a sunburst, a starburst, or a flower shape. Since Zuda Gay Pease was primarily creating flowers at the time she created this, we can assume her intention was for it to be a flower, but the energy of all those many pointed tips makes it come across as celestial. So, we get a combined association – the femininity and beauty of the floral shape with the energy and excitement of bursting light. It’s quite an impressive mix.

 

It’s interesting that practically all types of celestial bodies have a recognizable abstract shape (or variations of them.) There is probably nothing quite so common in abstract celestial shapes as a crescent moon. Our association with it can be fairly wide ranging from simply symbolizing the quiet and dark of night to embodying the ebb and flow of life.

In this example, I found it very curious that the lines on these crescents appear to be sun symbols with all their brilliant energy, and the bright blue ends of the crescent, visually truncating the shape, make us less likely to think crescent moon than simply an angular and curvy shape. The moon and its mysteries therefore become a quiet background to the louder energy of the colors and lines. I really like this contrast of concepts here as the sun and the blue color brings in a liveliness while the unconscious reaction to the moon shape is a quiet but divergent undertow. (Unfortunately, the Etsy shop from which this was saved is no longer available, so I am not sure who created it. If anyone knows, I would be ever so grateful if you would send me their name so I can update it.)

 

Is this making sense? I don’t think it’s hard to grasp the general idea of how iconic an abstract shape can be so I’m going to keep this short today. It’s also been a busy week getting all your accounts fixed up and so I should get off this computer. I challenge you to look around at the way abstract shapes are used in art work, be it your own or other people’s pieces.

 

Go Forth and Be Free… to be Inspired, For Free!

If you haven’t heard yet, starting in June (this next weekend) I will be posting the upcoming Virtual Art Box content previously planned for the VAB membership project on this blog so everyone can read it for free. I wanted readers, regardless of budget right now, to have access to these discussions, lessons, and exercises so we can all work on our art and increasing our skills and enjoyment together as well as give me the opportunity to take my work load down a notch or take breaks when necessary without being unfair to paid subscribers.

So, you can look forward to some in-depth article length discussions and ideas with a bit more juice to it than the blog usually has along with ideas on how to work with and apply the concepts if you so desire. Take it like a free class or just let the ideas sink in and enjoy the art. It’ll be here for you, starting next weekend.

Supporting Free Content

I am glad to have your support, in anyway you can provide it, to help me produce this content for free. Your supportive emails are always appreciated but if you want to help me keep the lights on, making purchases on the website is one of the best ways to do so since it gets you (or a lucky giftee) something to enjoy as well giving the contributing artists further exposure all while helping to keep me in busines.

If you have everything you want from the website at the moment, I have provided a donation option here for those who have asked and can afford to toss me a little something to help me, in particular, pay my tech guy and allow me much needed doses of dark chocolate!

So … until next weekend!

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Tactile Form

May 24, 2020
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Craft art is visual right? But is it just visual? One of the unique things about craft items in the world of art is that a majority of it is functional which means it is often handled which makes it not only visual but often tactile. When someone mentions tactile characteristics, you probably think texture, right? Well, our tactile sensation perceives form as well as texture (and density, temperature and even weight but that’s another set of subjects.) Functional objects and jewelry in particular are pieces that are regularly touched so people experience these works both visually and tangibly, even if the sense of touch is not always recognized as part of their enjoyment of the piece. However, the tactile experience can make a huge difference between people liking your work and being utterly in love with it.

Think about how often you touch adornment when you wear it – pendants, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, are often where our hands go when we are nervous, contemplative, or excited. Functional objects often have parts that are specifically designed for our hands such as handles, knobs, and grips, or are formed for handling such as the neck of a vase or width of a cup. Because of these interactions, you have an opportunity in the form of such pieces to further express your intention.

I realized as I started to research potential pieces for this post, it can be really hard to “show” you things that feel good in the hand. So, we’re just going to have to guess and imagine it!

 

All the Feels

It’s interesting to note that the characteristics we might associate with visual shapes and forms often translates to our perceptions through touch. For instance, full, round forms, such as spheres and pods will relate the same characteristics as visual curvy shapes and forms – that primarily being comforting and feminine qualities. Imagine wearing this spherical bracelet by Bettina Welker. Even with the energy of the cracks and directional streaks paired with a deep black and the dramatically contrasting yellow-green, the roundness, both visually and tangibly, bring down that energy and drama to a refined and rather relaxed level.

If you want to encourage people to touch your work, a soft, smooth surfaces and smooth, knobby ones are pretty irresistible. Exploration of the texture may often be the original draw to touch something, but further tactile exploration can be encouraged by the form, especially those that lead the fingers around through amorphous, curvy structures or strong but flowing angular forms. For comparison with Bettina’s example, take a look at the opening image, a bracelet by Jana Roberts Benzon, which is primarily curvy but has sharp aspects to it in the form of those regular incisions. It’s a great combination as the fingers can follow a winding curvilinear path through the valleys of the bracelet’s form with vibratory sensations from running over the cut clay, making those cuts more texture than form but however it might be classified, those two elements certainly work well together.

Flowing forms, even when sharp and angular, are extremely alluring when it comes to touch. Tell me you don’t want to run your fingers along the ruffling but angular fins of this vessel by Melanie West. Honestly, it’s impossible not to touch Melanie’s polymer work if it’s in reach. Her forms are full and inviting, begging to be nestled in the palm of your hand, for details to be explored with your fingertips, and the softness of her unfathomably smooth matte surfaces … just dreamy! Seriously.

 

I don’t think you can come up with any object handled more than hand tools and writing implements. When decorated with polymer, the handles of most of these are simply covered rather than intentionally formed. Take pens for instance – polymer pens are typically cylindrical forms that are covered with a sheet of treated polymer or cane slices but why stick with just the cylinder? Look at these pens by Jana Lehmann. They’ve gone from cylinder to pod like with additional forms added for visual and tactile interest.

Now, I believe Jana’s pens are created over a standard wood form as they all have that basic elongated pod shape but since polymer is so sculptural, there’s no reason why functional objects you are decorating with polymer can’t be reformed. These spoons by Jacques Vesery are wood rather than polymer, but it would be no big thing to sculpt such enticing handle forms.

Okay, enough of just looking at the forms of artwork – why not search out forms in your house or around your yard that you like to touch and hold in your hand. Most likely you’ll find that you are drawn to the more rounded and curvy forms. They are simply more comfortable to touch then angular or blocky forms but that doesn’t mean when creating a form that will be touched by the user that it needs to be round or curvy. Sometimes comfortable is not what you’re trying to express. Other times you’ll want to focus on the visual aspect and not encourage people to touch so much as look at it. It all depends on your intention.

So, go be a 3-year-old and touch everything!

 

Some Big News

So, I’m going to be making some changes again, mostly to your advantage. The gist of it is that I’ve decided to share the upcoming planned content for FREE!

I’m doing this both because I’m not comfortable with the VAB’s automated subscriptions costs in a time when things are so uncertain. Nearly all the people who have had to cancel the last month or two are writing to apologize for not having the budget for it and lament missing out. That has made me terribly sad, especially for some of my long-time readers who have lost jobs and income.

The other reason is that with my increasing physical limitations, and no staff to pick up the slack, hitting deadlines are hard and quality suffers which isn’t fair for paying subscription members. But I want to create content—I love doing this stuff. If it is not paid for, though, I will have more leeway to take the breaks I need or change what I put out.

So, starting in June, I’ll be posting VAB content here, on the blog and have it sent by email to VAB and blog subscribers.

If you are a present subscriber, you should have received an email Friday night/Saturday morning to explain how that affects you. If you do not see this notice, please check your spam or junk mail folders first but if not there, write me to get the notice resent.

For those want to contribute to the cause …

Creating and getting out the free content will still cost money and time but with my husband still working, I feel secure and fortunate and am happy to share what I can. I am, however, happy to get a boost from those who want to support my work.

The best way, honestly, is to buy yourself an inspiring book or magazine back issue on my website where you can further get to know other artists and community businesses. It’s a real win-win-win. I have also set up a contribution option on the website for those who want to support the free work I do but have everything they want from the shop. Between steady sales and a contribution here and there, I can keep writing, pay the digital services and my tech guy, maybe hire back my proofreader, and support my need for dark chocolate!

There’s a bit more news but I will wait to post that in the newsletter coming out this week. If you aren’t signed up for it, I’ve been adding tips, bits of community news, and just fun creative finds to make you smile. You can sign up for it here if you don’t get it already.

 

So, with that, I am off. Still waging war with the ground squirrels in the veggie garden so getting my outdoor time and the movement my neck needs to not stiffen up although I have to watch how much I use my right arm still. Yesterday, I planted the last round of sweet potato slips which are up on a hill, hidden behind the ice plant, and will finish this weekend relegating the green beans and zucchini to pots up where the dogs like to hang out and the squirrels do not. I’ve given up on the cantaloupe though. That’s a little depressing but everything eats those leaves! So, wish me luck!

As always, I wish you all a safe and healthy week ahead!

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Shapes of our Past

May 17, 2020
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How much do you think about shape and form when creating your work? That’s the core question posed in this month’s art box where we’re feeling out how those design considerations communicate our intention in our creative work. So this weekend, join me as I take a trip back through old posts but look at them with shape and form in mind. I’ll explain why I’m using past posts after we get through the much more exciting task of considering shape and form.

As you scroll through these images, just think about what your visceral reaction is to each of the individual shapes or forms you see. What would you say a particular shape or form communicates to you? There are no wrong answers. That is one of the great things about art. But taking note of your answers can tell you a lot about how you perceive various shapes and forms and, hopefully, will get you thinking about how they come across in your own work.

 

Simple shapes from February 2017

Some days, you just want things simple. You can do this in the studio any time and, regardless of your simple approach, you can still get stunning results. I think that once we engage the creative mind though, it will just keep going on its own momentum even when you were thinking that you wanted to do something quick and easy.

I’m guessing that this is what Veruschka Stevens was thinking when she first sat down to create the necklace that opens this post. As she says:
I generally use different techniques that vary in complexity for making our jewelry. This necklace in particular was made using the simplest technique I know. However, it is equally one of the most time-consuming and very much detail-oriented as well.

The complexity of layers and variety of geometric shapes takes what might, in a less busy composition, feel bold but relatively static into the realm of high-energy and a fun, unassuming sophistication.

A Talk of Pods from October 2013

When I think of pods, the first things that come to mind are round but elongated forms, with angular, pointed ends. But that is an extremely narrow image of a pod. In truth, pods come in quite a large variety of shapes.

Pods can be round or flat, long or squat, smooth or rough, and as small as a pea or so large it takes two hands to hold one. The only defining factor with pods is that they hold something, encasing a collection of possibilities within.

This interesting necklace below might be described as a study of pod varieties. Lori Phillips, who looks to work exclusively in ceramics now, took a detour into polymer a number of years back to create this piece.

Most of these beads look like they could have been inspired by real versions in nature, although I’m guessing, from looking at the free form work elsewhere on Lori’s Flickr page, that these came primarily from her own imagination. But either way, they show the possibility of working with a form and pushing the idea of what it could be.

The Many Forms of Petals from June 2013

There are, of course, many variations in the wide world of flowers, particularly their petals, which might make one conclude that many a cane must be made to build a decent collection of caned petal possibilities. But this is not necessarily so. This display of both traditional and not so traditional petal forms and patterning is a sample set by Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg. Her photo note on Facebook says the canes are “reduced, shaped, torqued, and recombined to make a seemingly endless array of elements that can be used to make all sorts of wearable art. Hearts and spirals, complex petals, wisteria and lotus blossoms are all found along the petal path.”

Geometric creatures from March 2017

With a beautifully stylized approach, Angela Garrod captures the look, and amusing expressions of some of people’s favorite animals, and this while playing with geometric shapes. Notice where angular shapes are used for birds, known for their flight and movement which is also a primary characteristics for angular shapes, and how the dogs and their get rounded off, depicting the softness and amiability we associate with the cute versions of these creatures.

The hand scratched texture keeps the geometric shapes from feeling too stiff and sterile and adds quite a bit to what would otherwise be simple shapes and lines through which we, somehow, recognize the variety of animals. I don’t know how our brains do that. The brain is just pretty darn nifty.

Are you
How are you reading the shapes in these pieces? Do you agree with my assessments? We certainly don’t have to. That is the great thing about creative work – you bring a whole other layer of your life experience and associations to what is being communicated.

 

Rough Roads

We are all facing our share of challenges right now so I hesitate to even say anything but I would like to explain that this month and maybe next things might be a little wonky. I will be able to get a blog out every Sunday morning – it’s the one thing I am sure I can get done on time– but I am experiencing some physical limitations again which is making it hard to hit deadlines, and get through all the emails daily, especially with no admin or production staff which, for various reasons, is not going to change anytime soon. So, I beg your patience with me. I can get help with shipping orders (I do have an imprisoned college student in the house) so those, at least, will not be delayed.

But, this weekend, to minimize my computer time after a rough week updating back end technical nonsense, I turned to old posts and edited them to fit our focus this month. I hope you don’t mind my taking a shortcut! Even if you remember the old posts, we’re looking at them with a new focus and for many of you, I bet, a better trained eye.

Well, time for me to get up and move before the arthritis in my neck becomes all too distracting. I hope you all are staying safe and well and enjoying finding the beauty in the shapes all around you.

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Flow into Line

May 3, 2020
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Okay, first a quick check-in… How is your mojo doing? I’m still hearing lots of people discussing how hard it has been to find motivation and energy to create during these unusual times. However, doing something creative and getting yourself into a flow state is extremely helpful for reducing the effect of stress on your body and mental well-being.

If you’re not familiar with flow state, it is a mental state of being where, while you are doing something that allows you to become completely immersed in your activity, the rest of the world around you disappears from your awareness. The trick to getting into a flow state is having something that is challenging enough to keep you wholly engaged but easy enough to not frustrate you. Doodling, which I’ve talked about a number of times already this month, is one way to get into a flow state. If you are playing with line after the last couple weeks reading about it, that’s great but there’s no need to do anything particularly complicated, especially if your motivation is low. You really can go quite simple when it comes to lines.

Lines are such a strong element that just one or two lines can imbue a design with all the energy, movement, emotion and directing of the viewers eye that you need. So maybe the answer for you could be to work on something very simple. Just play with your favorite technique, cut out simple shapes, and add just a handful of lines, or maybe even just one. Challenging yourself is, of course, an excellent way to learn and progress in your skill level and understanding of design, but maybe now, more than ever, we also need to be doing things that we simply enjoy and that does get us into a flow state to help combat the stressful times we are living through.

So, let’s look at simple uses of line and maybe the simplicity will give you a steppingstone to more creative time work and a resurgence of your mojo.

 

This uncomplicated but lovely pendant by Kateřina Věrná shows the use of several types of line while looking to be an unassuming design. The lines that end with a dot become a focal point due to the rhythm and repetition as well as being central in the pendant. But you also have a dividing line where the black and white meets, and the line that works as a frame around the outside edge. Also, being in black and white, this piece really shows you how well line works and how it can create all the energy you need.

Now, Katerina’s lines are all parallel or at right angles to each other creating a calm and orderly energy. But look at this piece by Dan Cormier. He also is using lines with dots as a counterpoint element, but because the lines swoop and cross each other it adds a sense of movement and increases the level of energy. They’re both good designs but they obviously arise from different intentions. Katerina’s design embodies minimalism, control, and strength while Dan’s, quite orderly, as well, largely emerges as joyful and elegant due to the choice of line.

Have you been inspired by Ginger Davis Allman’s 100 Day Project with vessels or have been part of her pinch pot challenge? If so, perhaps this elegantly simple piece by Kerry Hastings that opens this post might be the kind of line and vessel inclusive inspiration you’re looking for. The uneven line, imperfectly echoing the lip of the vessel, is a fantastic example of how a single line can really make a piece. Just imagine this piece without that rough gold swish of a line. It would still be beautiful, but the juddering metallic addition pointedly reminds us that there is a human hand in the work while breaking up the evenness of the speckled surface and directing our eye down and across the body of the vessel.

 

Maybe this week, you can play with whatever is on your table and just consider how a simple line or two might change the design. Does the addition help or hinder or do little for it? Just try a few ideas out and see what you come up with. Maybe some simple play with lines will get you into a nice, creative, and relaxing flow state.

I’m hoping to do a bit of that creative flow thing myself this weekend, with the caveat that part of it will be putting together material for the Virtual Art Box coming out on the 8th. I’ve got a very Zen like technique for Art Boxers as well as some discussion about what to do with your missing mojo and a concise but powerful immersive about shape and form. I’m going for intriguing but pressure free learning for May.

And if you can’t get to the studio table, consider doing something creative but simple. I think writing is always a great outlet. Just stream of consciousness journaling, story writing, or writing actual letters on paper that you mail to people you can’t visit. I’ve been doing that for my mother who is in a nursing care facility would no visits right now. She seems to enjoy having something she can hold in her hands. And I’ve also been trying to write more poetry again. Like everyone else, there is so much going through my head and my heart and I need to work through it, even though I am still quite busy. If you want to take a peek at my poetry, just follow my personal page on Instagram.

Have a wonderful, relatively stress-free, and beautiful week.

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Line Dependent

April 19, 2020
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Have you been able to spend any productive time in the studio this week? I’m finding that, for the most part, either people are busier than ever (myself included) or are having a hard time drumming up the motivation to create. It’s really no wonder, being this is such a strange time, with our routines thrown not to mention being unable to make plans or feel certain about the future.

Being a home-based business owner, I’m always busy and I’m always home so the transition to the stay-at-home orders is not difficult but since everyone else’s life has been thrown, mine has as well. I’ve been hearing the same story from many of you as most artists work from home and, even if sales are waning, we have a lot to figure out to keep our businesses afloat or at least on a sustainable hiatus. Then there’s all these additional things we do now such as trying to keep in touch with friends and family and all the inventorying and planning of our situation at home to secure our necessities and well-being that really eats away at the day.

If that’s your situation, I’m with you! This drastic change in our lives really gets you thinking about what is necessary and what is not because we all are time strained, financially strained, or both. No wonder it’s hard to get the mojo going to create.

I think feeding our creative selves is still very important though. You create out of some internal necessity and although you may be distracted now, you are going to want to access that creative well of yours in the not too distant future, maybe to be distracted in a different way or as a means for processing what is happening or to add beauty and joy to your world when it is feeling in short supply. Just don’t feel bad or guilty if you aren’t creating finished work in the studio, even if you have the time. You can keep that creative well full in other ways such as reading blogs (you know, like this one maybe) or magazines or books, watch inspiring videos, shows, or movies on creativity, art ,or artists, visit museums virtually, or do more mindless but expressive creative work like doodling, dancing, or stream of consciousness writing.

Of course, I want to help you wherever I can while also attending to my creativity and my family’s needs. So, again this week, and possibly for the rest of our shut-in time, I am going to be sharing a pared down version of the Virtual Art Box’s Weekly Nudge content so I can still bring you creative food for thought while keeping my work load in check. I am also going to start working on the Artist’s Salon discussion idea (more on that at the end of this post) and I’ve added a section to the newsletter just called Grins and Giggles with fun and interesting tidbits I find during my weekly research sessions in the world of art. (You can sign up for the newsletter here if you don’t get it already.)

So, hang out with me when you have the time and we’ll keep our creative wells filled and take care of what we need to take care of. Now, onto ideas about this month’s theme – Line!

 

All in on Line

Have you been noticing line as a design element more readily this past week or two? It’s such a strong and expressive element of design that it’s bound to be a part of any thing that uses design at all. You can even make entire pieces were line is the overriding if not only prominent design element. Let’s me show you what I mean.

Take canes for instance. Lines, either in boundary form where clay is wrapped around components to better define them, or the edge where two colors meet, are immensely important in cane designs. Without dimensionality of any sort, line is the one thing that allows a cane to present pattern and imagery. An entire cane design, including the level of energy, can be solely dependent on the lines created.

Meg Newberg is a master at using line to create energetic patterns. Take a look at this cane she calls a flower doodle (doodles are becoming quite the thing this month!). It has tremendous energy as well as dimensionality. The optical illusion is accomplished through a combination of variation in color value and the use of lines to define and energize the layers that seem to be popping out of the design. But she only uses one color plus white and black, so line really carries this design.

 

A more dimensional example of a line dependent design would be quilling. Although more commonly done in paper, the formation of pattern and imagery with strips set on their sides after being curled and folded has also been mastered by a number of people working in polymer. Beth Petricon was the first person I was aware of that worked out a technique to do quilling with polymer. She even wrote a very detailed tutorial article on how to create your own quilling masterpiece in the Spring 2015 issue of The Polymer Arts. You can see how she uses the technique for both a necklace, below, and the book cover that opens this post, showing it’s (literal) flexibility in different applications.

There is no reason why, with all the ways that you can create line, that you shouldn’t mix up the many variations of line as well. In this brooch by Kathleen Dustin she has at least a half-dozen types of line creating the texture, movement, and focus of the brooch. The shapes and judicial use of color are integral to the design as well, but the lines dominate and create the energy and atmosphere.

 

Now that you have a few more ideas about how you might use line in your work, how about exploring some line only designs? In fact, if you have kids at home and you’re looking for ways to entertain them, why not teach them about line? I can tell you from my many years of experience teaching and training that the instructor can learn just as much as the student through the process of teaching.

Using the article from the Virtual Art Box, you can demonstrate to your kids – be they preschoolers or teenagers or just big kids at heart –the different types of lines and then ask them what they think each type of line feels like. Then ask them to draw lines (in clay or on paper) based on specific words and/or have them create patterns or drawings with just lines. I actually did this in an introduction to art class in the high school where did my student teaching eons ago and was surprised at how intensely they got into it. This type of project is really just a kind of advanced doodle in that it has concepts and parameters to jumpstart it but is otherwise free form. It can just be a lot more fun to do it in a group.

And if you don’t have kids at home to do this with, dial up your friends and just do this, or other projects, online together. The camaraderie might just be what you need to get your creative juices flowing if motivation has been in short supply, along with everything else.

 

The Results Are in

Thanks to all of you who took part in the survey for the Artist’s Virtual Salon idea. The overwhelming response was that people were up for listening to such a discussion but participating in a live event is not necessarily on the top of everyone’s list. Perhaps we are all a little worn out from our packed Zoom schedules—there has been an initial zealousness to stay connected with friends and family plus so many of us are virtually conferencing for work but after a month full of online chats, perhaps we need a break from the scheduled screen time.

However, readers sent fantastic such questions, so I do really want to get together with some of the artists that reached out to me about participating and answer some of those questions. Just recording it should also keep it simple on the technical end. Assuming I can wrangle up the artist for the discussion, I hope to get back going by the beginning of May and then I’ll get them posted, most likely on the blog, so be sure to check in and I will keep you apprised of the project.

 

Sharing the Love … and some deep Savings!

If you need further inspiration, get in on the 30% off Sale going on at the website to scoop up great magazine back issues, project books, and retrospective books. Just hope over to Tenth Muse Arts and browse. Discount is good on anything in the shop that isn’t already discounted (basically no discounted packages or VAB subscriptions) and the sale is on until April 30th.

Use the promo code: SHARE30

 

Now off to get some spring gardening done. My vegetable seedlings are anxious to get into the ground and the battle with the spring weeds is in full swing. It’s also a salve for the soul, to be outside in the sun with my hands in the dirt, creating a satisfying arrangement of newly planted seedlings in the raised beds we set up down near our little creek followed by a triumphal foray plucking weeds, root and all, from the rain soaked soil. Maybe that’s not everybody’s idea of a good time but I have to say, I’m looking forward to it.

 

I hope you have something wonderful to look forward to this weekend and in the coming week. I wish you a safe, healthy, and creative week.

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Marks into Lines (30% Off Sale too!)

April 12, 2020
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So, we are on the third month of the Virtual Art Box, each month with a different focus but each designed to build on the last. This weekend, I’m sharing most of this week’s VAB nudge, the weekly bonus the Art Boxers get, with you all because, well,it’s short-ish, you might be wondering what we are up to and if the VAB is right for you, and, also,  it’s really such a fun and easy design concept but so dramatic. Are you up for some easy energy?

The February VAB’s theme was “Intention” which is so important in that it works with so much that you do—even non-creative things like working on relationships, financial goals, health goals, career objectives, etc.—so that theme will always be relevant. But maybe March’s theme, “Marks”, and “Lines” from this month, don’t seem as easily meshed. But they sure can be!

For one, lines are often marks, just elongated. And secondly, marks often make up implicit lines, as discussed in the VAB design immersive this month, creating highly energetic lines and design. Let me show you what I mean.

Lynn Yuhr, in her pieces she calls Meditative Magic below, seems to be all about marks, primarily tiny dots, but they’re all lining up to create outlines and directional lines. She could have just drawn the lines but the spaces in between create a bit of tension and energy because of the missing spaces. But our eyes see the lines in the lined-up dots and fill in the gaps to see them as connected, not separate marks. By the way, Lynn is set to teach a class on this at the Bead & Button show in Milwaukee, rescheduled for August 23-29.

Here is one of my favorite paper artists, Amy Genser, who uses individually wound up rolls of colored paper, to create her wonderful flowing compositions. From pools of texture and color, thick dense lines composed of a variety of individual “marks” reach until they become implied lines as her paper bits become scattered at the end of the thin tendril-like lines. In this case, lines are created by the marks being physically connected as well as implies at the ends.

And here is a familiar example of linear marks creating flowing lines, an approach that creates a dramatic sense of movement. Alisa Lariushkina translated Van Gogh’s Starry Night into a rich, dimensional, representation of the masterpiece that emphasizes the drama imparted by Van Gogh’s choices of brush stroke. She is just using bits of clay as her mark, but the effect is the same—the linear characteristics of the marks line up to create flow, direction, and energy.

You got this right? It’s a powerful combination that I encourage you to try when flow, energy, or tension is wanted in a piece.

 

The stay-ins are getting extended and so is our Sale!

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Get something for yourself or share your passion with friends and family
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The discount is good on all books and magazines. (Discount won’t apply to the Virtual Art Box subscriptions or sale packages but those are discounted so heavily already!)
Use coupon code: SHARE30

Offer good through April 30, 2020. Discount doesn’t apply to sale items, packages, or the Virtual Art Box subscriptions.

***If you don’t need books or magazines, do consider gifting yourself something from any of my partnering advertisers you see here. They are also all small businesses, keeping the boat afloat as best they can right now so if you need a package of good cheer, they will be very happy to send goodies your way!**

Your Creative Eye

Ok, let’s keep this short and sweet, not just because it is a holiday for many, but I also know a lot of people are finding they lack enthusiasm for their creative work right now due to the distractions of our world or a lack of direction without shows and classes to look forward to, but that doesn’t mean you can’t become more familiar and more adept in your sense and use of design. Maybe this week, you can just look for other ways that marks and lines converge to create imagery, rhythm, direction, and energy in both artwork and in nature. You can just take photographs instead of creating at the studio table if you can’t seem to sit down and stay focused. Just keep a creative eye open to see the beauty and the wonder of design all around you, from the texture in a stone wall to leaves on the sidewalk to the flow of flowers on the hills as nature cycles into the new season that is beginning to show itself.

I do hope you are somewhere that allows you to get out for a walk and breathe in some nature or at least see the world that is comfortingly going through its transformations as it always does just beyond the storm that we are all sheltering from.

In the meantime, stay safe, healthy, connected, and creative, always.

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Markedly Punctured

March 29, 2020
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How is everyone holding up out there? I’m guessing that most of you reading this are not bored. That is one of the advantages of being a creative – we have tons of ideas to work on and a great imagination to work with so let’s keep at that!

I’ve not only had a busy week, I have also been under the weather. Is it the coronavirus? Probably. I have had most of the symptoms, although none too severe, and my husband spent hours in close quarters with someone hospitalized for it not long after while I have rarely left the house but was super cautious when I did, being the (then) annoying lady in line asking everyone to stay 6 feet away from her. I got through the illness with tons of vitamin C and other immune support supplements (having a nutritionist in the family is really helpful!) while my husband never showed signs so we are all good here and I just have that dry cough hanging on. It did, however, slow me down this week.

So, I’m going to share with you a slightly pared down version of the one thing I completed this week which was the Virtual Art Box weekend nudge. So, if you got your VAB nudge yesterday, you’ve seen this, not that a second read isn’t useful!

In the VAB this month we talk about a rather basic but very important design element, the mark. This last weekend of the month, I want to talk about a rather common mark although it’s rarely thought of in those terms. Most of you would simply call them holes. This refers to any kind of puncture that goes through (or nearly through) the material or form that you’re working with.

I, like many people, am fascinated by holes. You can see things through them, revealing layers, depth, and the space beyond. They draw the eye. Think about traveling past caves in a canyon wall or passing an open window. You try to look in, if even just briefly, don’t you? Think of the hollow in a tree trunk or the big holes in a piece of artisan bread. You take notice of these, I bet.

This is why holes are such strong marks. They will be noticed. If there is just one or a spare few, they usually become focal points. When there are many, we usually try to take them all in, see into and through them all. That causes our eye to wander all over the piece, peeking in at all the open spaces. But small holes used as marks are particularly intriguing because we have to take a closer look to see in and beyond them, inviting the viewer to get a bit more intimate with the piece.

Let’s look at a few examples and pay attention to how you look at them. How strongly are you drawn to the holes? Can you imagine the piece without those puncturing marks? How would it change the piece if the holes were just surface marks and not punctures?

 

We can start with the opening image – a brooch with some variation in hole marks by Sabine Spiesser simply titled, Reef 1. What draws your eyes first? It might be the red, being a strong draw itself, but did you stop to look into the little holes?

Sona Grigoryan’s holes nearly take over her pieces sometimes, as in these brooches.

 

Sometimes holes become edges, as readers discovered in February in the Virtual Art Box with the featured pin lace technique, but in the enameled piece by Danielle Embry that opens this post, we can see through them clearly to the bright yellow background beyond. This brooch made 10 years ago, and I didn’t know when I picked it that she had titled it “Corona”, but it feels visually metaphorical for us all right now. Kind of gives me shivers actually.

Holes as marks don’t have to be round or organically scattered as most of the above are. They can be any shape and can be orderly, even to the point of creating an image as show in this ceramic bowl by Annie Quigley who does nothing but make holes in her ceramics.

 

Okay, now it’s your turn to find holes being used as marks. Go look at work in your studio and see if you use holes and if so, how do you use them? Are they used as marks or for functional purposes or maybe you don’t know or recall your intention with those holes?

If you’re not seeing holes in your work, I would normally say go out and look for them at galleries and shops, but most of us can’t and shouldn’t be doing that kind of thing. So how about a virtual tour. Or 30? Click here to get a list of virtual tours. This list is actually more than museums which I thought was neat in case you have young ones with you that might really enjoy a virtual tour of an aquarium or zoo. There are some wonderful places to virtually visit here.

Ok, now to go rest up for a bit as I have much to write this coming week between sewing masks and keeping up with isolated family and friends. (We have THE busiest social schedule we’ve ever had, and its all virtual!) Please, everyone take care of yourselves and make the most of your indoor time with a lot of creative exploration!

 

 

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Christi Friesen free play days, next one on Sunday

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Taking Back Control

March 22, 2020
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Christi Friesen injects a little humor into a stressed out world with her latest ghoulies for sale. Click the image to learn more.

Life has changed. How have you changed what you do in this new reality? Is it already affecting your art work or are you just escaping into your craft? I do have to apologize if you wanted to read this as an escape from our surreal and alarming reality but it’s hard to just talk about art like nothing else is happening so I decided I’m not going to do that. We can talk about both.

First I need to tell you that I just got the news as I was writing this that one of my girls likely has the virus. She can’t get tested (small town Kansas) but she’s sick and her symptoms are just like what other 20-30 year olds with the virus are reporting. Her doctor has her on quarantine and the usual list of to-dos for the flu. She’s strong and I know in my heart she’ll be fine but she’s got two girls and walks a fragile financial line. She also has a grandmother at high risk that they spend a lot of time with. It’s all so scary but, still, I think we can make things a bit better regardless of the bad news. And we are all likely going to have bad news hitting close to home at some point.

Crafting a Brighter World

I know some people (not you here!) feel that art is the last thing we need to be concerned about in a time of crisis but, actually, art is the thing people first go to when either there is nothing else they can do to mitigate or control their world, or when they are as secure in terms of food and shelter as they imagine they will be for a while. Why is that? I think it’s because we find solace in creativity but not because it helps us escape.

Creating art is kind of like playing god in the sense that we create and control a tiny world of our own in our creations. Not having control in a situation is what causes trauma, depression, and anxiety. When you can assert control somewhere else, that makes you feel a bit more secure, at least in the sense that you have control over something rather than control over nothing which is exactly how many of us feel right now. That is why people turn to art even in the midst of a difficult and life-changing situation. Creativity is a form of control.

You’ve probably recognized that “doing something” when a difficulty or bad news presents itself makes you feel better. It’s that same concept – doing something makes you feel that you have control in a situation that seems beyond your control. So, I’m going to suggest that we “do something” and use our creativity to assert some control while making the world a little brighter in the process.

Below are some ideas to help you control, to some little extent, the world you live in. Even if you are in self isolation, there is so much you can do to cheer up the lives of others and your life in the process. There is nothing quite as uplifting as the joy you get from knowing you have helped make someone’s life just a little bit better.

Here are just a few ideas for using your creativity to make people smile:

  • Create little surprise gifts to leave in your neighbors’ mailboxes.*
  • Make a supply of gifts for people who help you out or that you see or hear of doing something really nice.*
  • Hang beautiful, eye-catching pieces with encouraging notes in your front windows.
  • Offer to teach or demonstrate easy craft projects online for kids or adults stuck at home using Facebook video or Skype.
  • Invite fellow crafters to an online clay play day and just yap and laugh with Skype or Facebook video on so you can share what you’re doing visually.
  • Make cheerful earrings, pendants, or pins and send to nursing homes, or to shut-ins in your area.*
  • Make art cards or send letters with little arty gifts to friends and family who may feel isolated or particularly anxious.*
  • Share and encourage outdoor art ideas to get families to go outside and have fun but not to socialize. Here’s a few ideas to get started:
    • Create designs with sticks, leaves and flower petals in the yard that can be photographed and shared online.
    • Try basket weaving with grasses and reeds
    • Decorate a front walk with sidewalk chalk. (If there’s no sidewalk chalk on hand, it can be made with plaster of Paris, water, and tempura paints or if there’s a spare piece of drywall, strip off the paper and you will at least have white chalk.)
    • Get neighbors to make and hang a specific type of thing in the front window or front yard (such as hearts, signs with cheerful words, a collage of your favorite things, etc.) and families can take their kids out for a “Scavenger hunt” to spy and count up all the pieces people have hung up that day/week. (My neighborhood has been doing this. It’s arranged among us through NextDoor.com.)

*Keep in mind, the medical community believes the virus can still live on plastic and metal for 3 days and on paper and cardboard for at least 24 hours. So, if you create something out of polymer or other plastic or metal mediums let them sit for 3 days before delivering them to others. For anything on paper or cardboard wait 24 hours. (Don’t share fabrics or cotton paper, including money—they suspect the virus can live on cotton for 9 days.) Then when you handle these items, you should either have washed your hands very thoroughly or use gloves to pick them up and deliver them. I know some people feel this is all a bit extreme but considering the gravity of this emergency, these extra steps of caution could save a life.

 

Cash Woes

For some of us the overriding thought is about how to survive this financially. It’s not going to be easy but if you need to get whatever you can, however you can, here are a few ideas that don’t require simply trying to boost your Etsy shop. I’m trying to take into consideration that not all people can pay much if at all but, also, those who can pay will feel better donating right now versus buying. That way it feels helpful for you rather than selfish for them.

  • Set up a raffle for a really cool piece or two of yours. You can use a PayPal button if you have a website or maybe use a raffle service like this one: https://rafflecreator.com/pricing (Haven’t tried this service; just heard about it.) Or if it’s mostly friends and family or another social circle, use Venmo or give a PayPal ID to send to.
  • Sign up to teach art online (this can actually be great money). OutSchool is desperately looking for teachers for kids in all kinds of subjects and you don’t need a teaching credential. Teachaway lists online teaching and tutoring jobs from all over. You can also create and list your own classes online at sites like Teachable and Skillshare.
  • Make and sell inexpensive items that other people can use to do the little gift-giving things listed in the previous list. Let people know about them in your shop, on social media and/or by leaving a note with neighbors, possibly with a little gift/sample. Take only digital payments. No cash (see caution note at the end of previous list).
  • Sell off extra clay and no-longer-used craft supplies particularly to neighboring parents looking to entertain kids stuck at home. Use com, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist.com or the like to advertise what you have and, after getting a digital payment, leave items outside for pick-up if possible.
  • Offer to trade your art for things you need. (Here’s a catchy social media headline: “Will craft for toilet paper!”)
  • Conduct a casual kid’s or adult’s craft hour for friend and neighbors a few times a week online and ask for a modest or “pay what you can” amount, sent digitally.

These ideas that I came up with or dug up from already active things going on in my area is only scratching the surface of possibilities. But collectively, I bet we could come up with a insanely long list of great things we all can do. Shall we try? How about you list just one additional thing in the comments on this blog that people can do to either cheer others up or to help them make a little cash in these difficult times. I and organize list of everything sent if you all help me out there. Then we can circulate that to the community. Just imagine what we could do with a wealth of creative ideas like that!

 

So, this list making is all I can manage for this week. Between the distractions on the news, the many, many phone calls and texts between family and friends, and kicking my homesteading into high gear (other people hoard toilet paper when insecure, I grow food!) it’s been hard getting work done this week.

I do hope all of you are doing well and staying safe. I know this whole situation seems unreal and for some people it sounds like everyone is overreacting. I have to admit that it seemed over blown when we first heard about it coming from overseas but there’s nothing like educating oneself with reliable information to realize just how dire this is. I’m not saying this to scare anyone or increase anxiety but my experience here in California is that a lot of people are still not taking this seriously and we really all have to.

As the meme going around says – During World War II people were asked to go to war. We are being asked to sit on our couches. We can do this! Well, let’s also spend time at the studio table and make this a brighter world. Yes, we can do that too!

Please do take every precaution, help each other out, and let’s ride the storm with a united determination. I know some people may not think that this is the place to have such a conversation as we just had but if my words, reaching the thousands of you that read this every week, make just a few people just a little bit more cautious, perhaps that will save a life. Isn’t it so wonderful that the things we create have the potential to change somebody’s world or even save them? It is truly a bright spot in the world we have right now.

 

Notes from Home

So yes, I am worrying about my daughter but I am also worried about all of you and my longtime friend and brother-in-law with stage 4 cancer, my darling mother-in-law who lost part of a lung to cancer last year, close friends with chronic lung disease and diabetes, and my 85-year-old mother in a nursing home 1100 miles away from me. My story is not unlike your story, I know. My worries are not unlike your worries. Just take back control where you can. There are a lot more ways to do so than you might think.

Besides making art, you can also grow some of your own food. Look up how to sprout and make microgreens at home. It’s pretty fun and all you need are some dried beans or lentils, things you may already have. If you can’t find yeast at the store to make fresh bread so you don’t have to run out and buy it, you can make a sourdough starter with just water and flour and yeast from the air. Plan for future food by buying seeds online and sprout them in egg cartons or shallow bins so you can plant them outside when it warms up (or cools down if you’re down under). Dust off the sewing machine and make new clothes from old clothes. Or make masks if you have spare, tightly woven fabrics, for the national mask making call if here in the US. (I dug out some duck cloth and am getting to work myself. Just need to find more elastic!) Or at least give blood. They are in desperate need here in the US and elsewhere. I have an appointment this coming week myself.

But mostly, do whatever makes you feel less anxious and keeps you safe at the same time. We have got this!

Don’t forget to share your ideas. Go to the bottom of this post online. I just know you have something great to share!

 

 

 

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