Rebounding polymer

Nancy Nearing's small works show big progress on PolymerClayDaily.com

Ohio neighbor Nancy Nearing displays these four small artworks in a local gallery’s “Small Works” show for the holidays. We covered the start of this project as a work-in-progress in August.

What is remarkable is that Nancy’s new spurt of creativity comes after a tough year of grief and change.

“Nine months, ten trips, three clay retreats, and one class later, I’m starting to rediscover the joy of creating new pieces and series,” Nancy says in her blog post.

Going through a slow period, dreading the holidays, facing a crisis? Nancy shows us how creativity can disappear or remain dormant and then come back full throttle.

Family story in polymer

Monica Rotti turns photo transfers into an heirloom on PolymerClayDaily

Italy’s Monica Rotta features family members in this mixed media framed keepsake.

Black and white photos are transferred to pastel-colored polymer and then carefully textured and embellished. She backs each with a contrasting layer and mounts them on a painted page.

The Rumi quote that illustrates the piece reads, “Love is from infinity and will remain until eternity.” There’s a powerful story here.

The loving and thoughtful touches that Monica has added assure that this assemblage will become an heirloom.

We’ll be talking on StudioMojo about the power of doing what you love as Monica has clearly done. How do we go about finding and following that thread of deep interest? We’ll talk about a couple of upcoming events that center on just that. Join us!

Repeat for effect

Victoria Mkhitarian repeats her birds for effect on PolymerClayDaily.com

Victoria Mkhitarian (vimhandmade) is smitten with birds and she finds a lovely way to capture her obsession in polymer. She gathers her small tiles into a couple of framed bird mosaics.

The birds are fancifully rendered in mokume gane polymer on textured backgrounds in various shades of yellow.

Do you have a mark or an image that you repeat again and again, sometimes without thinking? What could you make of them if you gathered them into a composition?

Victoria is from Russia and now lives in New Zealand. It’s hard to keep track of you artists! You can be sure to see the latest from Victoria on Flickr and Facebook.