Polymer Clay 4 Playful Pursuits

 An interesting and Playful week working toward creating my representations from the 8 Pillars of Biomorphism, en route I found a sketch from 2004, another playful period.

 I decided to rework it in Clay, a Happy result especially so when a quick Google image search that is to say a Google algorithm which searches for images related to the characteristics of my Clay image

Google returned to me this result.

If thats not a result I dont know what is.

Moving on I experimented with some other forms, fun to do, absolutely Cathartic in process and simply creativity in its base form.

Have an artful day I'm off back to my clay!

Polymer Clay 3 - The fun contines

These past few weeks have passed quickly with all sorts of childlike fun going on with this medium that each day leaves me frustrated that I have not the time to all that I would like to do never mind to actually attain my minds desires in terms of scale, each playful venture finalises quickly with another new found visual delight and, for sure, childlike is indeed the word that springs to mind as I remember back through the years, a hospital bed, a want-to-be artist creating a string of animals formed from the plasticine delivered to my bedside by my parents, I was around nine or ten years old and recovering from an accident that left me with a fractured pelvis, the first of many injuries that would be the result of chasing adrenaline rush over the coming years
Now, past any and all adventures that would end in bodily injuries I am happy to while away my days in creative pursuits that end only with a smile rather than an X-Ray..........

As much fun as I am having while learning I still have no specific project in mind, it is all to easy to simply 'make stuff' however the end goal being to create sculptural forms that are suitable for showing a less vague direction is needed to justify the cost, Polymer clay arrives in small blocks of 2 or 3 ounces and an ounce doesn't go very far when working in large forms.

My project therefore is to create 8 Sculptural Forms, each in keeping with the 8 Pillars of Biomorphism, each one relating to a specific and different form in the overall Biomorphic Genre, this will also help me to understand each of the Pillars as well as to allow me also to understand the processes of other Practitioners and to experiment away from my own Form.

Have an artful week

andrew

Polymer Clay 2 - 5000 hours.

It is said that it takes around 5000 hours to become an expert at anything..... with around 30 hours under my belt I have a long journey to travel, I have arrived at this point 5 years into my 10 year plan, the next 5 years therefore is all about clocking up the hours.
My first sculpture now in its unfinished state will remain on my shelf as a reminder, not only of my first attempt but also 'how not to do it', though it looks ok up close and personal there are more errors than I have fingers to count, burnt sections of polymer, mismatched colours and bad tile creation, it all started off so well but soon learned that to not make enough of a particular design will lead to dissaster, at least until I am knowledgeable enough to reproduce accurate colour and technique.

Burnt Clay and Uneven surfaces affecting the overall form, though the burn is only ''skin deep'' no amount of sanding will remedy the chunks missing after sticking to the oven floor 

mismatched colour and pattern caused by not making sufficient tiles of a single design

For this first year I will concentrate on textures and design technique and will simply have fun making whatever it is that falls into my mind and will serve as a lesson, only then will I be able to commit fully to great biomorphic forms leaving me a full four years to put together a great body of work.

Polymer Clay 01

After 2 years of video tutorials, websites, on-line info for Polymer Clay techniques, materials and Tools plus a healthy dose of Polymer Clay experts and their published works, the setting up of a dedicated space, only now can I start to experiment and create my own mistakes and errors in a learning curve that, for now, has no apparent ending.

I have been influenced by many clay artists particularly in the Jewelry/Biomorphic realm, my warmest thanks goes to a clay artist Melanie West whose designs have constantly captivated me over those past 2 years

The incredible work of Melanie West

.

I find the material so wonderful to work with at so many levels as time after time I found my boxes ticked of one by one, to now work with confirmation of my imaginings as to its versatility, durability, texture and colour mixing all to which only time and passion will improve my ability to create a hefty chunk of projects that have built up over the years, my ‘imaginary wish list’ if you like comprising  all of the things I would like to do with the clay.

just for fun

My primary draw toward Polymer Clay becomes a reality in progress as my constant search for a suitable finishing veneer for my biomorphic works comes to an end,  even now with my earliest attempts I can see the reality of that which I had hoped in bringing life to my sculptural creations.

I approach Polymer in much the same manner as I have each of the many materials and processes that being to take it as far as I am capable of doing while maintaining a high level of interest and skill and always with hopes that I might have found my grail, in the past there I have always found something along the journey that has prevented my continuing, With a new material for which I have a high regard for polymer clay has already accommodated 2 years plus of interest as I embark now with great optimism.

From the hundreds of tutorials, fact-sheets and miscellaneous snippets of information via social media sources absorbed I have opted to work with FIMO one of the many trade name clays available on the market, overall I find it stable in colour post baking and consistency in working, including the mica clays aswell.

My first project is the furtherance and completion of one of my simplest and favorite  sculptures which has has always failed to reach its optimum and left me in frustration, it has endured several transitions since its conception, for its final coat, I will be focusing on Gold Mica Clay;  the subtle changes in color are quite pronounced when seen in abundance and my goal is to take the mica shift and mica mix techniques and start experimenting, there is no better way to learn.

With fingers crossed

Slowly but surely living in a sleepy part of the county has eaten away at my energies and I need a new charge, that aside I can feel the need to travel and explore growing by the day. I once craved solitude and isolation  but the past 2 years has confirmed that this desire was more in keeping with wanting to escape the ever growing number of tourists that crowded the streets of my locale, now with the romanticism of that solitude well and truly used up it is time to seek out that which brings me the most in terms of energy, inspiration and Peace, The Coast.
.

This comes partly with having a childhood spent in the company of crashing Atlantic waves onto miles of sandy shores and an adult life of travel and exploration, there is little I have found inland to compare, Countryside, desolate places, vibrant places, dangerous places, Cities, Towns and villages, they were all my playground and all wonderful but, without a coastline, they have all proved to have a limited shelf life for me, it doesnt take long to find everything there is to find inland but there is something wonderfully transient, even reverant about the coast, daily, hourly, even by the minute it can change whereas elsewhere seems almost stationary by comparison, this transient nature is a part of me and always has been, where else could a Nomad be static other than in a place that changes constantly, always there is something new with each passing tide change.

Until such a time as I find a suitable place and have the opportunity to move it is a case of packing everything up and living a simple and, creatively speaking, a generally unproductive life. 

There are many small coastal villages along the entire length of the west of Cumbria and recently I visited one such place in search of a new studio .My first visit, with fingers crossed, was a village called Flimby and what a joy it was to wander and sit in the amazing Flora Habitat that dominates the dunes, to watch the waves, the tidal flow and the many creatures that live there, it is said that Time flies when you are enjoying yourself, I sat and wandered for 3 hours which went in a flash but the peace and tranquility that I found lasted far far longer.

En route The cab driver had informed me that living in Flimby was like living 500 years in the past, I had no problems with perhaps a slight exaggeration, a talent of which most Taxi Drivers seem to possess though I could tell on my arrival from where he was coming from, with only 2 shops, a railway station and a school, it sounded good to me and I was not disappointed, it was perfect for me, the available property less that 2 minutes from the sea and views across the Firth to Scotland, even the property was perfect, a veritable 'blank canvas'

Fortunate that I am to live within a Housing Association System of 'bidding for properties' I can only sit now with fingers crossed that I fit the criteria and find my way to the front of the queue by the closing date.

For the full Foto album follow the link below

 ( https://goo.gl/1HAC6P )   

The art of Success - Part 1

There are only two ways to get on in life really and I have tried both. You can either ‘Buy your way in’,  or work your way in" I prefer the latter, working for something is not only a source of great satisfaction it is also, more importantly, that it is only through doing something from start to finish that lessons will be learned along the journey, you cannot simply ‘buy’ experience.

Once learned, these lessons in life will become your foundations for the future, a future which not only is of benefit to your own creative skills but also in the obligation which comes from progress, that of the sharing of constructive information for others, you are not reading my BLOG simply because you like my grammar, that I am woefully inadequate to teach; you are reading in the hope of learning something of benefit to you.

I am not one for giving workshops or any formal teaching role, instead I use Social Media as my form of communication, I am a member of several arts group in Social Media and though I am not a regular contributor occasionally a post will appear and below it a thread of thoughts, resolutions, personal experiences all aimed at providing an answer to whichever dilemma started the thread.

In a recent post, the question came up, ‘’How do I become a Success’’ which prompts this BLOG post.

In all of the arts, The Philosophy of embodiment is quite simple, ‘’get up and go to work, work all day, stay focussed at your work and to show younger or less experienced artists what it is to be a working artist’’, to make a career out of it, you cannot teach this, if artists want to progress they have to see it in practice and then go away and do the job.  Slow down and be comfortable with what you make and what you do in your practice and be prepared to make what it is you like to make rather than to be distracted into making what it is that other people might want. 

Particularly with sculpture and other hand-made craft type disciplines rather than time based  practices, Working in the studio with a quality of commitment and focus takes time and practice to master, that needs to work, for you, for a sustained period of very many years.

So often I see individuals trying to fit being an artist into their life but it does need to be the other way around and that is to try and juggle your life around being an artist, how can you become 

The art of success - PART 2 YOU ARE YOUR OWN BOSS

It is currently 3am as I write this BLOG, it matters not for 3am is just a number, I am awake and there is work to be done.  For me, success is,,, it is a daily appraisal and by the end of each day I have to satisfy myself above no other that my day has been creatively fulfilled, I went to bed unsatisfied with my days work and now seek to rectify.
Success is not just a goal, it is a journey, so what constitutes good guidelines, the basic building blocks for this journey, getting up to work in the middle of the night is just a small part of committment.

1.     ambition
        Ambition in the context of this BLOG is that YOU must have a strong desire to do or to achieve something, each and every day, not only creatively but also for yourself, find a balance between you and your art and do something, one thing each day, try it for a year and that is one major block of professional and personal work; but you have to want to want to do it.

2.     motivation
        This is 'Self Motivation' I am talking about here is that you are your own boss;  Once you move away from the Goal setting of College or University setting, once you find that there are no commissions to complete, when there is only you, your creativity and lifes distractions when you get up, if you dont do it nobody can do it for you, it doesnt have to be something brilliant or profound but you have to do something; that is not just for today but for every day regardless of circumstances, you have to make yourself do whatever it is to get the ball rolling.

3.     attitude
        By attitude I dont just mean just toward your work I also mean in your daily practice of life, attitude toward your self and toward other people, the world is full of cynics and the stories of misery and of Doom and Gloom, not just in the Media but etched on the faces of people as we walk our path, As artists we are the people who can be most affected, of course there are those who flourish in the dark places of the world but for the most our art can be taken from us and replaced by depressions and an inability to create. Our attitude is our shield, it is our own positive mental attitude toward all things that will keep us afloat and creating.

4.   environment
      Though I find importance in all of these pointers, 'environment' for me is one of the most important, not just the environment that we work for that is entirely personal, for me organised and tidy, for others it can be untidy and seemingly disorganised, it is also how we live, eat but more importantly, the people that we surround ourselves with, these can affect your entire personal life as well as your creative one which, of course, are entirely entwined, surround yourself with positive people, those who want to grow and give, surround yourself with those who see the value in you as a person and in what you are doing, avoid those with a negative attitude for they will surely undermine your creative existence leaving you frustrated and dissatisfied even with your own work and personal life, worst still, abandonment of your own beliefs.

5.   expectancy
      Expect to create a masterpiece each time you start work, Expect also to Fail, Expect that what you complete by the end of the day will be the best that you can manage under whatever circumstances surround you, how do you do this, simply believe that you can.  Expect the best of yourself each and every day, perhaps not so important as some of the other pointers though nonetheless, another arrow in your quiver towards reaching the goal that you expect to be at the end of your journey.

6.   focus and effort
      I combine these last two for they are so closely linked as to have the same expectancy from you.  every moment of your work should be with focus on the task in hand, whether it is the laying down of paint or glaze or building a 10,000 part installation.  What you put in to your work you will get out of it, that is the crux of all that we as artists are seeking to achieve and can only be made real through absolute focus and effort.  Tiredness, fatigue, interruption even lifes more pressing issues, these are but a few of the things that can break your focus and only effort brings it back, make that effort and push the distractions from your mind, they can be resolved later at a time, if you cant, take a break, we all deserve that for ourselves occasionally;  is there more, of course, a ton of stuff you can do but just as is the speed of the future, it and you, can only get there one day at a time.

We are our own boss and you had best get used to kicking your own butt out of bed or away from whatever or whoever it is that is preventing you from creating, that 'thing' or that person may not be there when it or they have long coerced you into giving up making art, if you want art to be your future then it must also be your beginnings.  Happy Creating.

Drained, Rest and Recharge

This is more of a second part of an earlier BLOG on Burn-Out though orientated toward avoidance. Better known perhaps as PPR, Planned Preventative Maintenance,  it is a tactic used by large companies to organise thorough checking of equipment and sometimes Administrative functions in a bid to identify and recognise problems before they arise, you will see on Medical equipment, gas and electricity units label that provide a date and signature of 'the last service', much the same as the engineer who comes annually to check your smoke alarm and gas supplies..

For you, Burnout occurs when passionate, committed people become deeply disillusioned with their creativity fro which they have previously derived much  of their identity and meaning.  ,  as much as the gas engineer, a thorough understanding of the mechanics is necessary, in your case, yourself and how your body functions is an absolute must to recognise what your body is telling you to do, hunger means food, thirst means drink and, as your body becomes more drained of creative resources so it will give you all the early warning signs you need.

The underlying cause of Burn Out for the most can be as simple as a complete mental drain of all resources leaving your mind empty of any creative process of consequence, as the things that inspired your passion and enthusiasm are stripped away and tedium creeps in and has usually come at a point where, quite unawares, you have worked yourself literally to the limits of your own capabilities without recognition that your body has been telling you to ''Take a Break''.

Of course I can not tell you how your body will indicate pending doom for every person will reach that point in any number of different ways, for me I see a gradual reduction in the time I am able to work in a single stretch, I see myself in subliminal desperation seeking out other tasks to fill the time between work at the table, this in itself simply adds to the workload and speeds up the decline of capabilities.  Working on line, the artist as marketer really is a great mind drain, flipping from the creative Right brain to the logical Left, continually back and forth, the slow and satisfying world of creativity to the rapid linear functions of On line self promotion, web building, BLOGS, email, teaching and support, galleries, stock supplies and all the social media activities, these eat up your time and your energies and will contribute to your rapid decline as you play out  a real see saw life of ups and downs; I dont have to stop creating completely just to reduce my other activities and slow my creative life down and take stock of my own philosophies and reasons for doing what it is I do.

 I have learned now to recognise earlier rather than later that the time is coming up for ''a service'' and know that I need to take steps before I completely become dysfunctional.

I have recently posted a note on all Social Media that simply states, 

''Advance notice:  All social media related to Studio8 and the Biomorphics Groups will be offline from 14 - 24 MARCH 2017".

It is time for me to start winding down a little, you can and should learn to understand your body communications with you, once achieved the Burn Out will be more of a sizzle while you stoke your own fire, recharge the batteries and get back to basics occasionally.

Sharing

TO SHARE OR NOT TO SHARE

that is the question.

I do not 'teach' in the formal sense of the word yet there is always a need that exists within me to enrich the life of others, I make my contributions via internet art forums and groups where there is always an eager group of artists seeking to find themselves and their place in the vast world of art.

Today, though not for the first time, I come across the question (for some the dilemma) of sharing newly discovered techniques, this one from an artist prompts this BLOG post

''I would like to pose the question to all of you. I have been doing a great deal of work with alcohol inks, which is a medium that a lot of people are largely unfamiliar with. I have developed my own specific techniques with this medium to get specific effects that I use in my body of work. 

Recently I've been getting several inquiries about my process. Part of me is thinking about possibly doing a tutorial video explaining my process, but I'm wondering how you all feel about this. Are some secrets best kept close to the vest, or is it wise to share my ideas with others?''

Art is what we do FOR OURSELVES its purpose however has end users.

Aside that which we do for ourselves a part of being an artist is that there is an end user this answer I pose is not related to selling or Not for Profit end user it is about recognising and acknowledging that which the history of art as well as our peers has GIVEN US to enable our getting to a point of being able to experiment.

     I always consider that sharing is a part of our role as artists toward others who seek to find the artist within themselves, is there any difference between 'sharing' and 'teaching', there is a difference of course but it is pedantics for to me they are one of the same.

     Where would any of us be but for the techniques passed down from generations of artists as far back as the caves of prehistoric man and the ancient egyptians to name but two.

Of course, we are inventors as well as artists and experimentation is, or at least should be, a part of our process, either as a conscious act or in the sense of subliminal learning from our making of art.

To share with another artist our new found technique or material, colour or shape is a great thing to do and, in that process of sharing we pass something on that may add to the progress of another.

     We would all like to be the founder of a new something that will have a positive impact on another human being, in the grander scale, of something that would affect the entire art world and become masters in our own lifetime, Da Vince, Caravaggio, Picasso, the list of such great names is endless but we can not ALL be the next Dali or Einstein, were that the case our value as creators would be as slight as that of a matchbox or an envelope, even without attaining such high stature however we have a role to play, who knows, maybe the next person we share something with will use the information to set them off on a new journey of self discover and escape from whatever it is that ails them, alternatively, it could well be the next Gucci of the future that takes one of our discovered colours and creates an entire range of clothing that will change the nature of street fashion, the truth is that we never know who we are sharing with but at either end of the scale I do feel that we have a duty in some way to share.

     Without sharing we also deprive ourselves perhaps of an opportunity that can help us aswell, by sharing we can reach into the wealth of knowledge and experience of others, I would hazard a guess that, no matter how original your idea might be, there will be someone, somewhere in the world or history who has happened upon your idea, perhaps not in the same format, perhaps with a different process or outcome, the possibilities are endless yet without sharing you can not be shared to from others.

I have written enough for this BLOG so, be happy making art and, BE HAPPY SHARING.

the art of success

There are only two ways to get on in life really and I have tried both. You can either ‘Buy your way in’,  or work your way in" I prefer the latter, working for something is not only a source of great satisfaction it is also, more importantly, that it is only through doing something from start to finish that lessons will be learned along the journey, you cannot simply ‘buy’ experience.

Once learned, these lessons in life will become your foundations for the future, a future which not only is of benefit to your own creative skills but also in the obligation which comes from progress, that of the sharing of constructive information for others, you are not reading my BLOG simply because you like my grammar, that I am woefully inadequate to teach; you are reading in the hope of learning something of benefit to you.

I am not one for giving workshops or any formal teaching role, instead I use Social Media as my form of communication, I am a member of several arts group in Social Media and though I am not a regular contributor occasionally a post will appear and below it a thread of thoughts, resolutions, personal experiences all aimed at providing an answer to whichever dilemma started the thread.

In a recent post, the question came up, ‘’How do I become a Success’’ which prompts this BLOG post.

 In all of the arts, The Philosophy of embodiment is quite simple, ‘’get up and go to work, work all day, stay focussed at your work and to show younger or less experienced artists what it is to be a working artist’’, to make a career out of it, you cannot teach this, if artists want to progress they have to see it in practice and then go away and do the job.  Slow down and be comfortable with what you make and what you do in your practice and be prepared to make what it is you like to make rather than to be distracted into making what it is that other people might want. 

Particularly with sculpture and other hand-made craft type disciplines rather than time based  practices, Working in the studio with a quality of commitment and focus takes time and practice to master, that needs to work, for you, for a sustained period of very many years.

So often I see individuals trying to fit being an artist into their life but it does need to be the other way around and that is to try and juggle your life around being an artist, how can you become 

ASIDE ART MY LIFE IS MY PROJECT

 If a person wishes change for the better steps have to be taken and, no matter how difficult change seems, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel and not just another ass carrying a torch, only retrospect confirms that to me though even now, no matter how good ones life might seem it is relative and there is always more to the journey to experience.

I have spent the great majority of my life unable to see what is, or what may happen in the next few seconds or minutes, on occasion even the immediate future was so short as to seem timeless, a common    used is  ‘’Seeing your past flash before your eyes’’ yet that is merely a generality and the experience is very subjective, a difficult concept to express other than to suggest that there are moments in life when Time, as we know it ceases to exist and life is at the complete Mercy of Fate and circumstance.

I am thankful to know that is not something that I anticipate and the freedom that I have now allows me now to live a little (perhaps : -) ).  The question arises however, does one now live life in abandonment and without consideration of possible dangers, without stresses, worries or concerns, I have lived so much of my life in a state of hypervigilance, my own protective nature of acute Hazard Awareness that to consider living a carefree life has been something that has long been out of my reach and, to be honest, quite a scary consideration knowing not only the existence of a very real and alternative world but also the ease into which one can enter.

In retrospect I see Life as a Tree, or perhaps more geometrically, as a pair of lungs, one branch clean and uninfected as at the time of birth, the other, ravaged by lifes bad experiences or events, when living in one or the other of these opposing lives it does make an alternative life-style, freedom from all ills as quite invisible, even if an awareness of a different kind of life it can be misunderstood, doubted, even feared, however, as the Chinese proverb suggests,  every journey starts with a single step and to escape from that which controls your life negatively positive and difficult steps must be taken towards a better life, to take those steps there has to be some understanding however not only of how to escape but also a consideration of ones self and ones own position.

In life there are those who are born into it, raised, live and die, regardless of circumstances, an alternative life in reality is generally not perceived and life is lived, some go through life in constant struggle while others live in ignorance that struggle is ‘’for others’’, I have even known people who truly believe that Soap Operas such as Eastenders or Coronation Street, rather than to be a reflection of ‘real life’ are in fact as fictitious as Gullivers Travels or Star Trek, seriously these people do exist, neither seeing or acknowledging  the reality and existence of poverty and suffering on their doorsteps.

Those that seek serious change however are those who KNOW that a better life is possible and are willing to actively seek out whatever it is they need to do to bring that change, my search for change has been going on for more than a decade and only now am I am able to really feel the difference change and adaptation has made in my own life