Friday, July 3, 2009

I wonder how people do it!


How do you all manage to keep your blogs up to date? I have the hardest time with this. Maybe I should just say "Hi. Still being an artist here. Wanna see my latest work? Have a look." I don't have anything exciting going on in my life. I'm not doing shows; can't afford them. Unemployment is about to run out but I still haven't found a job I can handle at my age and with my skill set and physical limitations. The only constant in my life is my art.

I decided to do a few raven pendants. These are polymer clay painted with Genesis Heat Set Oils and pearlex tinted liquid Sculpey. I think they turned out pretty good, but who knows if they'll sell.

It's too damn hot here to do much of anything. The clay is too soft, the pasta machine motor heats up too fast and the garage is too warm to work on the torch, and I'm out of propane anyway. But hey, I'm still an artist! I'm just too stubborn to quit.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Hawks in Flight



I've always loved to draw and paint, and many's the time I've tried to combine drawing and painting with polymer clay. I made some of these painted pendants several years ago and decided to do some more. These are polymer clay painted with Genesis Heat Set oil paints. Hand-painted by yours truly.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

A Polymer Clay Day

Although I've felt a bit out of sorts today, I did manage to get some work done. I did some drawings a while back that I transferred onto polymer clay, so I made a few pendants. Mostly along the lines of a prototype for a future design. I also made a necklace; nothing fancy, just some beads strung on wire, no needle and thread involved. I have some classes coming up at the Tehachapi Art Center, so I have to get the class brochures ready. I haven't taught in years so I'm a bit nervous about it but I've always enjoyed teaching so once I get rolling I'm sure I'll be fine. I still haven't gotten the new print head for my Kodak printer! Hopefully it will show up next week.

I'm thrilled to say that I have sold five sets of new lampwork orphans from my Etsy store. I just listed them a couple days ago. It's a good thing people like my orphans because I think I'm becoming the orphan bead queen! I have a hard time making a large set of anything, though I am getting better at it. It's actually fun to toggle between lampwork and polymer clay. I can make polymer clay and lampwork beads that match each other.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Two Days of Torching


Yes, at last I made it back to the torch. The weather has been perfect and I had two fresh bottles of propane. I've been making some "beachy" spacers. I can hear the surf and smell the sea air. Actually the sound of my Hot Head sounds a bit like the roar of the waves.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Glass or Clay Today?


I keep saying I'm going to go work on my torch and make some glass beads, but I haven't. I have been working with the clay, although I went through several days of not being able to get motivated. I've been working with polymer clay a lot more than glass lately, but I got two fresh bottles of propane so maybe today is the day for glass.

The above bead is one of my new outer space series. I haven't come up with an official name for this series, although I like "Deep Space View". This is polymer clay.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Blogging Isn't Easy For Me

Lately I've been reading in some people's blogs that if I want to get noticed in the art community, I need to blog and get my name out there. If only it were an easy thing to do!

I was always taught not to brag on my self, not to be conceited, not to call attention to myself at all. I learned that lesson so well that it's hard for me to talk about myself on a blog, much less brag about how great my work is. I like what I do. If I didn't, I wouldn't be doing it. How someone else sees it is up to them.

Julia Cameron wrote a book called "The Artist's Way". In it she says, and I'm paraphrasing here, "it is often audacity, rather than talent", that makes the great artists of our time. My art may be as good, maybe even better, than someone else's, but if that someone else has the audacity to speak out about how great their work is, and I do not, they may get the attention where I won't. For me, it's a matter of humility, of being humble, as in "not proud or arrogant". (Webster's definition). I know that I'm as good as if not better than some artists, but I also know that there are many artists who are better than me.

Self confidence is a factor for me in presenting myself as an artist. I wasn't encouraged as a child; quite the opposite, in fact, and to this day I find myself trying to validate my art instead of just doing it and being joyful in the creative process. I worry about being influenced by someone else's work and in turn being accused of copying. It's happened to me before and it's left me overly cautious. Funny thing is that the work I was accused of copying didn't turn out to be much like my own after all. When you buy videos of an artist teaching techniques it stands to reason that your work, at least at first, may be influenced by theirs.

I've been an artist all my life. In my early teens I painted in oils. I did portraits, and I was very good at it. Had I been the child of parents who supported my creative efforts instead of squelching them, my life today might be quite different. When I was a little older I discovered colored pencils, and they have to this day remained my favorite medium for portraits and other such two-dimensional art.

I discovered polymer clay about 8 years ago. I still love it and I've done a lot with it over the years. 3 years ago, I bought a hot head torch and started lampworking. I guess I'm just the type of artist who likes to try a little of everything. It must stem from being a Gemini. I don't want to get bored with art!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Beach Beads are Back!


It's that time of year again, when I start dreaming of the ocean. I grew up in San Diego, CA and I have always been drawn to the sea. After I moved to the mountains, I wanted to bring a little of the beach to my inland locale, so I came up with this design. It was featured on the cover of the Spring 2005 issue of PolymerCafe magazine. I use real seashells and pearls along with the polymer clay components. You can see more of these in my Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheryls-art/sets/