Musings on polymer clay

I have begun a new creative endeavor that has me hooked. It all began because I had sketchbooks full of designs that I had hoped to create in ceramic and pmc. However, my budget just isn’t allowing for that right now. So after sitting on these ideas way too long, I thought about trying polymer clay. This isn’t my first venture with this medium. I mostly used it previously to sculpt out faces and objects to incorporate into mixed media work. When I was a kid, I used it to create food and objects for my dollhouse. That was in the ’70s, when I only had white sculpey. But you know what…some of those items are still intact, albeit crudely made by my 10 year old hands.

Well, after realizing that this may be a way to actually bring my designs to fruition, (at least temporarily, until I can afford the kiln that would allow me to create the ceramic and pmc pieces) I am finding myself completely enchanted with this lovely medium. The versatility and range of polymer clay is exceeding my expectations. I am creating all sorts of designs in the clay, and having success. The ideas are flowing.

Here is a small sampling of what I have started to play with, I’m learning how to make molds out of my sculptures, The pods are fashioned after my pod people paintings. I can’t wait to finish these.

17 Apr
2009

Posted in: Art, creativity, Uncategorized
By moonlit studio

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sketches, ideas, in progress

Goodness, It has been difficult getting time to post here. I have been hard at work sketching, recording new ideas in my sketchbook (never leave home without a notebook or sketchbook, ideas are everwhere) and practicing new (old) techniques.

a little bird told me...

Here are some images of sketches and works in progress. I’ve been relearning acrylic painting techniques. I’ve been doing drawing and watercolors for so long I’ve gotten rusty painting acrylics! I’m enjoying every minute of it though, I usually can’t wait to get back into the studio to play some more.

in progress...

watercolor

guardian

sketch24

15 Mar
2009

Posted in: Art, Uncategorized
By moonlit studio

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The Past Revisited…

I was a lucky kid, my parents recognized my need to be artistic and often found various ways to satiate my desire to create things. Wh threefaces_12web en I was 12 in the 70s, we lived in Atlanta, down the street from Chastain Park. Chastain Park offered art classes, and I took a few of them. One was a collage class. We would use india ink and transparent tape to make a little cottage and cut up old magazines to make the gardens that surrounded it. That was such a fun class. I think I made quite a few of those, unfortunately I saved only one, and it wasn’t my best. I think that class is why I save magazines. I see potential subjet matter in them all. Another class used a faux encaustic technique. We used melted crayons to achieve a painterly effect. I took a leather class and made an overly embellished bracelet and wallet. My favorite class employed a specific transfer technique. We used tracing paper, graphite, fixative and a coated Xerox paper. The image above is the work that I created when I was 12, Three Faces. One of the most incredible things about those clases is that they were not geared towards children. I took most of those classes with adults. I think that there were only one or two other kids in any of these classes. It was an amazing experience for me to take these as a kid, it’s part of the layers of who I am as an artist.