Archive for February, 2008

No Magic Wand, or the Myth of Being an Artist

Friday, February 15th, 2008

The more I read and the more I learn about being an “artist”, the more I realize there is no magic wand or mystical, inborn talent involved. (Yes, there are exceptions for child prodigies but I’m talking about the rest of us.)

I used to have a subconscious belief that people who could draw or paint were born with the knowledge and the vision. I knew it took practice to refine the talent, but I didn’t know it could also be learned. I didn’t know that it was legitimate to take a step by step approach (at least at first) without it being cheating. I didn’t know there were tricks and tips to “seeing” that help you to recreate what you see.

I’ve seen a couple things in books and videos, where at first I was shocked. “He traced the photograph onto his clay to start a relief?? I could do that!” For some reason, I thought you could just stare at something and make it look real, if you were a “real” artist. I never knew how much work it took to get to that point. And it gave me permission to try some shortcuts myself and decide which ones I liked.

The more I learn and the more I try, the more I realize that I still have a long way to go, but I also know I can get there.

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Drawing

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

I’ve never really tried to draw since the art classes we took in Junior High. But I dug out some pencils and gave it a try tonight. I was feeling a little too tired to tackle my frog sculpture. Which if you think about it is interesting – I was too tired to concentrate on sculpting but not too tired for something creative.

I think the difference is that I don’t expect to be good at drawing so there’s less pressure. As I’ve heard a couple places recently, I had “permission to suck” at drawing. But I do expect (or at least want) to be good at my sculpting so I end up putting more pressure on myself. I think I need to make myself a permission slip:

The bearer has permission to be imperfect, screw up and have fun making art.

So anyway I rather enjoyed drawing. I tried out the different types of pencils, played around a bit. Tried to make a quick drawing of my cat but she wouldn’t hold still… Made my own version of a drawing from a book (I’m not advocating copying but this was a throwaway just to figure out some line use). And I had fun.

I figure the more I draw, the more I’ll learn to see and that will help with my sculpting too.

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The Art of Perspective – book review

Saturday, February 9th, 2008

How do you get perspective on your art? Step back from it, go vist galleries to see other work, stand on your head and squint one eye?

If anyone can do that last one, I’d love to see it – it would make a great marketing photo. I can just imagine an artist in a painting smock, standing on their head, with a brush stuck out the side of their mouth, squinting at an abstract piece of art on an easel…. :)

Anyway this book won’t tell you how to gain perspective about your work, but it will tell you how to put perspective IN it. The aim of perspective is to create the illusion of three dimensions in a two dimensional surface, or basically to make it look real.

The Art of Perspective by Phil Metzgar is, as it claims, the ultimate guide for artists in every medium. It was well written – I could sit down and just read it instead of trying to drag the main points from it while my eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. (I have gotten “art” books before that would have been better prescriptions for insomniacs.) I learned quite a bit that I’ll be able to apply to my relief sculpting.

The book has two main sections. The first, on natural perspective, covers the more intuitive parts of making something look dimensional, such as making objects in the distance lighter and bluer, and not having the same amount of detail in both the foreground and background since our eyes will only focus sharply on one area. It was very interesting. There were alot of “Duh, why didn’t I think of that?” or “Hmm, that makes sense,” moments while reading, but the nice part of it all was that it DID make sense and I think I’ll be able to apply the concepts.

The section on linear perspective was a bit more involved, but would be very useful if you ever want to do buildings, roads, etc. It covers horizon lines and drawing by the rules. Even if you never draw out all your marking lines, it helps to know the concepts so you can apply them intuitively.

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Miniatures for collectors

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

I enjoyed the following excerpt from an article about a miniature show. We all say, “I could do that” when we look at things, even if it’s silently in our heads. You never realize how involved something is until you actually try it.

Donna Henricks, who will teach a wicker furniture workshop, has made miniatures for more than 30 years.

“People can’t believe that you make it,” Henricks said.

During one show, a woman approached Henricks to ask about her flowers created from polymer clay. When Henricks told her the price, she decided it was too steep and instead bought supplies to make them herself.

“She was at the table the next morning and said, ‘I was up all night,’ ” Henricks said. “She couldn’t begin to make anything that looked like a flower. Until someone experiences trying to do it they really don’t realize. They think they’re kid toys, so why are they so expensive? They’re really adult collector pieces.”

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Kaleidoscope workshop article

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

Artist Carolyn Bennet recently gave a kaleidoscope workshop to kids and there was a nice article about it.

Carefully selecting colorful beads for her handmade kaleidoscope, nine-year-old Gianna Campanelli said she wanted to pick shapes that she and her parents would enjoy.

“The best part of making a kaleidoscope is that it’s so nice to share the beautiful view,” said Gianna as she carefully arranged translucent pearls, hearts and even dollar signs at the base of her creation. “And no matter how many times you look through it, the picture is never the same.”

I’ve done a similar workshop at my local library for kids and their parents and it was really rewarding. Everyone had fun and the oohs and aahs as people traded their completed scopes were delightful. Everyone started with the same kit, but ended up with something uniquely their own.

If you get a chance to teach a kids’ workshop or just share your art with some kids, take it. It takes some planning but it’s well worth it. :)

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Juxtapo-Exhibition

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

I came across this article on an exhibition of two artists who use polymer clay

Check out the exhibit website where you can see a couple images of the work – looks rather interesting if a little off the wall :)

…
Big meets small in “Not to Scale,” an exhibit featuring the work of Luber and Peebles currently on display at the Saratoga County Arts Council gallery, 320 Broadway in Saratoga Springs. The show runs through March 1.
…
Peering through microbinocular lenses, sculptor Peter Luber creates complicated works of art within the confining glass walls of vacuum tubes.

Matthew Peebles sculpts 3-dimensional comic figures, including a life-size image of a man with a painfully inflated head.

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Too Tired to Clay?

Monday, February 4th, 2008

So what do you do when you’re too tired to clay and everything’s turning to mush on you? :)

I’m going to be teaching a 4 hour workshop on sculpting tree frogs for my guild in March. So.. I’m working on a couple frog sculptures as class examples. I have some cute ones and wanted something a little more realistic to show some variation.

The first step was to make a base. I chose a nice chunk of shale (layered black rock) that I picked up on the beach as the main support. Then I used some marbled green scrap and alot of texturing to make “moss” growing on the rock. A skewer and some floral wire provided a nice armature for two tropical leaves and I now had a plant growing on my rock.

I baked the clay directly on the rock so it would conform in shape, than added a bit of detail with some acrylic washes and drybrushing on the moss. A little alcohol based ink added a sheen and some depth to the leaves. It all looked great. (I’ll try to post pics at some point)

Then I started on the frog… And it just wasn’t working. The little guy looked cute but he didn’t have the right expression, and he didn’t fit the leaf base – he was both too big and not quite the right style. About that point I realized I was tired, frustrated and I’d gone too long without eating. SO I went off to get a snack and then I watched tv for a couple hours.

I ended up making a new vertical leaf stalk the next day that matched the existing frog and it looks pretty good. Not quite what I was going for but I like it. And I still have the original base to make a smaller frog for…

I’m not sure if there’s a moral to this story, but I’m going to make sure I take a break next time BEFORE I’ve gone past the crash point. And if I’m too tired for intense concentration, I’ll work on something less demanding – like sanding. I hate sanding, but that’s another story!

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