Muse in polymer

Angela Barenholtz recreates Matisse portrait in polymer veneers on PolymerClayDaily.com

Israel’s Angela Barenholtz recreates Matisse’s Green Stripe painting in polymer using an assortment of veneers. Angela’s version measures 6 1/2″ x 7 1/2″.

You can find her methods for creating these marvelous scrap quilt veneers in her Etsy shop.

The simple geometric structure of the portrait of Matisse’s wife translates perfectly into our medium. It’s a good day to feature a portrait of a woman.

If you need a break from the news and political hubbub, come on over to StudioMojo for a deep dive into the polymer world where everything is colorful and full of creative promise. It’s your Saturday morning dose of enthusiasm and sanity.

What’s your color story?

Lindly Haunani debuts a new class and techniques on PolymerClayDaily.com

Maryland’s Lindly Haunani debuted her new class Telling Your Color Story: Harmonious Color Schemes at Creative Journey Studio’s new facility in Georgia over the weekend.

Students’ undulating patterns wave you gently into the week. Lindly taught techniques for a series of veneers that serve as fabric for polymer Half Square quilts.

This design is new and mouthwatering. You can see more class work on Lindly’s Facebook and on Creative Journey’s site

Using up the bits

Linda Loew recombines her veneers into jaunty jewelry on PolymerClayDaily.com

Take a closer look at how Maryland’s Linda Loew uses up her bits of veneer from a recent Lindly Haunani “Shale” class.

Linda adds cutout beads that zig and zag across patterns. The shapes add up to an exciting visual mix of companionable colors.

Do Linda’s necklaces make you want to reconsider what treasures can be salvaged from your experiments? Here she is on Instagram.

50 Days of shimmering veneers

Leanne Fergus puts a glitzy touch on day 50 of her 100 veneers project on PolymerClayDaily

Melbourne’s Leanne Fergus loves mixed media on polymer clay. Pearly, shiny, glowing, golden…anything that shimmers is right up her alley. Texture adds another level of interest and intrigue.

Leanne is up to day 50 on her 100-day project and it’s paying off. Some veneers she captures under resin.

Flip through her Instagram to see how she’s progressed. “When I’m in my workroom creating I feel like everything including time, stands still. It is my therapy, meditation and happy place. It is a time for being fully in the moment and recharging my spirit,” says Leanne.

Her new website is stunning.

Unbound polymer

Christine Damm binds her hearts on PolymerClayDaily.com

Yes, many of us are smitten with heart designs like this Unbind My Heart from Vermont’s Christine Damm (Stories They Tell).

Christine is on a 14-day run of love challenges. Her titles (Noir and The Complexity of Love, for instance) make you stop to think about her intent. She uses veneers and acrylic paint to illustrate her bound heart here.

Follow her daily valentine sentiments on Facebook.

When interests shift

Kathy Cannella changes her groove on PolymerClayDaily.com

Kathy Cannella has a distinctive sense of color and a fondness for geometrics, mosaics, and veneers. But I don’t really know much else about this Santa Fe artist. It’s nice to bump into folks who hide out on Flickr or lurk quietly on other social media.

Look through Kathy’s Flickr pages. She’s been creating quietly and competently for several years and last fall she turned more active. She changed her groove. This is all conjecture on my part, of course, but I like to theorize and whatever happened looks positive.

When you examine your work, can you point to when something shifted in your life, an event happened or a direction changed? What would you like to shift in your art this year?

Body length necklaces

Bonnie Bishoff goes long on PolymerClayDaily.com

Her body length necklaces are the last of Bonnie Bishoff’s Twelve Days of Jewelry series on Facebook. Her angular tube beads are longer than what might seem reasonable but they’re appealing and eye-catching in such a long piece.

Bonnie adds a few thin heishi beads between the tubes to make them join more gracefully. Each tube is covered with random veneers in a palette of blues and greens.

The wheels in my brain kick into gear and I can’t help but ask myself, “What if?”

What’s your “what if” idea for 2018?

On a roll

Let’s ease into Monday with Oklahoma’s Katie Way (bullseyestudioart) rhythmically rolling polymer veneers for salad servers. At the top of the video, you can gaze at Katie’s supply of extruded circles just waiting to be sliced and applied to the next solid color backing.

Browse quickly through her Instagram and you’ll see how she covers switchplates, kitchen utensils, card cases – most anything that can take the heat. She works from her own distinct palette adding textures and paints to enhance the hand drawn effect.

Katie reminds us that polymer work can be rewarding even during Thanksgiving week. Go have some fun.

Picasso to polymer

Prais-Hintz collaged beads on PolymerClayDaily.com

A group challenge pushed Wisconsin’s Erin Prais-Hintz out of her comfort zone and into these collaged beads and surface treatments.

Picasso’s Bowl of Fruit painting was the starting point. Erin decided not to stress over not being able to see any fruit and instead focused on the colors and bits of paper and writing that resonated with her.

She took the opportunity to apply some of the Debbie Crothers surface tricks to create raw and rusty veneers. Erin did it her way and yet the resulting beads have a Picasso feel. She nailed it! Read her story on Facebook.

What a great way to stretch and try something new. Do you have a favorite painting that you’d like to try in polymer?

Simple geometry in polymer

Barcelona’s Florence Belliard (flo’touch) brings calm and sophisticated stripes to her Helios pendant. Randomly striped veneers in muted colors circle around the center of this cutout.

Florence samples all kinds of treatments and finishes on her Flickr pages. It’s when she tackles geometry that she hits a sweet spot. Her circles, stripes and squares have a harmony about them.

Go see for yourself on Flickr and Facebook.

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