Polymer & Prints

A Local Gallery!

2012-01-18T14:20:00.002-05:00

One of my many goals for Polymer & Prints this year is to increase the availability of my polymer jewelry, photography and prints both in galleries and on the web.

I'm now one step further with that goal as I was recently asked to include my work in the Lapham Gallery in downtown Glens Falls, New York. Lapham Gallery is run by LARAC and features rotating exhibits in their large space as well as a year round shop that offers unique artwork by local artists. The gallery is located at 7 Lapham Place, Glens Falls, NY and can be contacted for hours of operation at 518.798.1144 or found on the web at www.larac.org

I have a few more opportunities to work on this winter season and hope to have more news on this to post soon.

My next in studio work is to continue photographing current pieces and finish building a great selection of jewelry, photographs and prints to open my Etsy shop.

A New Studio Photography Tool!

2011-11-08T15:35:00.002-05:00

Although I've always been pretty happy with the images of my polymer jewelry, I finally took the plunge and purchased a small studio set up that will hopefully lead to more professional photographs of my pieces. I'm in the mist of learning the basic setup techniques and working through some reflection issues. The next step after finalizing which setup I prefer is then uploading them into various galleries and then an Etsy shop!

Back to work now!

For the Holiday Season!

2011-11-02T14:07:00.001-04:00

LARAC juries a select number of artists who create everything from paintings, photography, jewelry, ceramics, handmade soaps, textiles and more. Those artists selected set up a display area in the LARAC gallery for the holiday season. The gallery is open to the public as another shop to buy handmade unique gifts. Kind of cool, I've shopped there for the past few Christmases and found neat things for some of the people in my family that are hard to buy for. So now this year I'm one of the artists and will have my jewelry in one of the cases!!!

Please support local artist & businesses by shopping in downtown Glens Falls, New York.

So close!

2011-09-29T15:39:00.002-04:00

A few postcards are about to go out in the mail, if I have your address from a past exhibition I'll be sending one along. Otherwise I'm relying on this page & my blog to get the word out!

Fall Along the Canal: Press Release

2011-09-18T21:29:00.007-04:00

Fall Along the Canal
Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe,
19 Exchange Street, Glens Falls, NY
October 9 - November 5, 2011

Reception: October 20, 2011, 5-7 p.m.

Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in downtown, Glens Falls, NY will present an exhibition of photographs, large format altered digital prints, and polymer clay jewelry by Queensbury artist Sara Pearsall entitled, Fall Along the Canal. The exhibition will open on October 9 and continue through November 5, 2011. A reception will be held at the cafe as part of the Third Thursday Art Walk on October 20, from 5 to 7 p.m.

Fall Along the Canal will feature ten photographs, four large format altered digital prints and six polymer clay jewelry sets inspired by the Feeder Canal trail from the Feeder Dam to Haviland’s Cove. All of the artwork incorporates the autumn colors, textures and beauty seen along the path. The photographs and large format altered digital prints are a variety of landscape and macro images. Each of the polymer clay jewelry sets is designed using different polymer clay beads that intrepret the textures and colors of the waterway. This section of the canal has played an important role in the artist’s daily life and this exhibit captures the autumn beauty along the water. A portion of the sales from the exhibit will be donated to the Feeder Canal Alliance, a local not-for-profit that preserves, promotes and maintains the canal.

Sara Pearsall works with three distinct artistic pursuits; photography, printing inks & polymer clay. The photographs & prints are vibrant images of the Adirondacks & the outdoors. The jewelry features handmade polymer clay beads incorporating the colors & textures found in nature. Sara has been working with photography and digital imagery for over 14 years and has balanced her studio work with polymer clay jewelry since 2002. The prints and polymer clay designs are often linked, sometimes the connections between the mediums are as obvious as an image transfer or as simple as a color. Sara has had numerous group and solo shows in the greater Glens Falls region and recently had an altered digital photograph included in a national juried exhibit in Blue Mountain Lake, NY.

Further information about Sara Pearsall can be found on the web at www.polymerandprints.blogspot.com or on Facebook, Sara Pearsall Polymer & Prints. For Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe hours of operation call 518-615-0777 or online at www.rockhillbakehouse.com.

Images:
Reflective Walk, Altered digital print, 25x19", 2011
On the Edge, Photograph, 8x10", 2011
Leaf Mokume, Polymer Clay Jewelry, 2011

Still working!!!

2011-09-12T16:19:00.002-04:00

With an upcoming show at Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in October, I've been working on both new altered digital prints, photographs and polymer clay pieces.

Fall Along the Canal will open on October 9, 2011!

Photographs have been sent to be printed, three of the four digital prints are finished and the first set of beads are waiting to be sanded. Some sneak peaks coming up soon!

New show schedule for August!

2011-07-15T11:37:00.000-04:00

It looks like August plans have changed a bit. I won't be up at the Lake George arts & crafts show. I'll be in Saratoga, Tuesday August 23rd from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. for the Art in the Park Festival that is part of Travers week. Hope to see you there!

A fabulous day in the park!

2011-07-09T20:57:00.001-04:00

What an absolute gorgeous day! Saratoga's Art in the Park was a great festival, I so enjoyed meeting new people and talking about my artwork. Thank you everyone who stopped by. I hope that the jewelry pieces that were purchased garner many, many compliments for the wearers!!!

Saratoga on Saturday!

2011-07-07T17:03:00.002-04:00

Two new pieces that will be added to the booth for the arts & crafts show in Saratoga Springs this Saturday. The Art in the Park is sponsored by the Saratoga Arts Council and will be held in Congress Park on Saturday, July 9th from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. If you are in the area, stop by I will have my jewelry, prints and photographs in the booth. Hope to see you there & keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

It's all about the space!

2011-06-26T09:52:00.003-04:00

Our local paper, The Post Star just published an article about my artwork, the studio and what is inspiring about the space where you create. It was quite fun to talk about organization and the process of my printing, polymer clay and photography working together all in one studio. The interview and subsequent photo shoot also proved to me how much of a family space my studio is becoming with my little one running in and out and 'doodling' picures as the reporter, photographer and I talked! Such fun!

Here's the link to the Saturday, June 25th article.
Queensbury artist keeps a space for creativity.

And now it's back to work for the Saratoga Art in the Park show coming up on July 9th.

Accepted!

2011-06-14T14:54:00.003-04:00

I just received word that my altered digital print, Trillium II was accepted into the national juried photography show, Diversity Through Many Lenses. I based the print on the original photograph I took for the Tannery Pond exhibit in 2010, but worked through many, many more layers and effects for this print. I'm so excited!

The exhibit will be shown August 26th thru September 24th, 2011 at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts in Blue Mountain Lake, NY. The gallery reception will be held in Blue Mountain Lake on September 24th, 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.!

A great LARAC Festival weekend.

2011-06-12T21:01:00.000-04:00

A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by my LARAC booth this rainy weekend. I enjoyed meeting and greeting everyone. I hope the jewelry that went home is worn with a smile and garners many compliments for the wearer.

Back to the studio, up next... an interview in the Post Star June 25th and Saratoga Art in the Park Festival July 9th.

Published!!!

2011-05-27T14:19:00.007-04:00

Yes that's right, I'm in a national magazine that is sitting on shelves right now!!! Studios Magazine: Summer 2011, a national niche magazine, is featuring my studio in their "Vignette" section of the magazine which explores studios around the country and world and allows artists such as myself an opportunity to share our creative spaces and what makes them special. I've scanned in the cover and two 'cropped' images of the pages as a sneak peek. If you get a chance to head out to the store, pick up a copy and check me out on pages 128-129!

It was such a great opportunity to share some of the organizational ideas that I use as I work in the studio. Also the issue features some fantastic mother-daughter teams and their creative spaces, making it especially meaningful to me as Mckenna is spending more and more time in my art room.

In the midst.

2011-05-15T21:09:00.003-04:00

The title of this post pretty much says it all. I'm in the middle of working on several series of beads for the upcoming LARAC June Festival. Some of them are fired and ready to be strung, others are at the cane stage waiting to be formed into beads. I promise photographs soon, for now there are two new photographs under Jewelry that are finished with more to come.

Also I've been busy organizing and reorganizing photographs and prints. I've added some pages to the blog that will be continuously updated with new images: Jewelry, Prints, Floral Photography, & Landscape Photography. I have another group of images in different Photoshop stages of color correction and retouches that will soon be ready to post.

Keep creating... Happy Spring!

Color!!!

2011-03-21T20:00:00.002-04:00

One of the color combinations slowly turning into various flower petal, kaleidoscope, and mokume gane polymer clay canes. The peonies in the garden last year were bursting with magenta...

I have more beautiful floral photographs that I'm working from. A series of colors and canes based on foxglove, a plethora of pansies, an iris and a lily are next.

Studio Images on a new tabbed page.

2011-03-16T14:42:00.003-04:00

Having just finished the winter cleaning and reorganization of the studio I've made a page that has a tour of the studio. I worked my way through the room, pointing out some of the new spaces that have been created to store materials and tools. The tile was finished, walls touched up, new images pinned on the wall for inspiration and drawers and shelves pulled out, cleaned out and put back together again. It's such an inspiring feeling to walk into the studio now and have everything cleaned and ready to go!

New photographs of the studio.

2010-11-19T14:37:00.001-05:00

I recently posted a link to a blog that I read that was showcasing the 'unique' spaces and places in your home. Rooms other than the necessary - studios, workspaces, man caves etc. So I went back through this blog and found images of the studio from almost three years ago... and it's funny how much and little it's changed. So that got me thinking about the space and I've decided that one of my weekend projects is to do a bit of a clean up and then post some images here of the studio as it is today!

2010-11-08T14:08:00.002-05:00

The finished set, the mokume gane pattern was fun to create. The subtle hints of the silver foil layers don't really show in the photograph, but they add just enough depth and sparkle to the design. It felt good to get a bit of a push in the studio and with some new sketches on the table and some photographs that are the start of my next exhibit ready to go... feeling creative!

Playing with color.

2010-10-31T11:15:00.002-04:00

I recently had a 'contest' on my Facebook page. Anyone could leave a comment listing three colors that worked well together and designated a shape; circle, square or oval. From the comments one was selected at random to be my inspiration and 'swift kick in the rear' to get back into the studio and get my hands full color and clay.

Well, it worked, this is the color palette (Espresso, waterscape blue, and vanilla) inspiration that I'm working from, I find random photographs from either my own stash or online to make a color design and then it's off to work at the polymer table. I'll post soon with the finished polymer design!

Quiet times in the studio.

2010-10-14T19:44:00.002-04:00

I've been slowly working out some ideas for three new and different designs of polymer pieces. Now the hard part will be sitting down at the table and getting my hands into the clay and moving forward.

And oh... some of the photographs from this fall season that I'm using for some inspiration are absolutely beautiful. I'm cropping and editing a few and will post again soon.

Two Days!!!

2010-09-01T20:06:00.003-04:00

On Friday I will be flying off to Jacksonville, FL to embark on my Polymer Clay Cruise! I'm so excited. I've been getting updates on what to bring, classes, goodie bags and more. And it looks as though both hurricanes in the vicinity of the Bahamas will be well past and or well out to sea!

I'm bringing the old camera with me and will take some pictures of the workspaces & more to post when I get back.

Lake George craft show!

2010-08-16T10:22:00.002-04:00

Gearing up for the final craft show of the summer season. I will be up at Lake George, Shepherd's Park, on Friday the 20th thru Sunday the 22nd from 9 a.m. 'til 5 p.m.. Stop by the booth if you're at the lake!

Then some time off to gear up for the Fall LARAC show & Christmas. I have some fantastic ideas in store for some new pieces using the plants, textures and flowers in the garden combined with polymer clay & hand dyed satin cording! So cool... pictures will be posted once things are moving along!

Exciting news!

2010-06-24T09:37:00.001-04:00

Wow! I'll be heading to the Bahamas for a five day Polymer Clay cruise... days at sea & evenings will be filled with classes & demonstrations and then I'll have two days in both Half Moon Cay & Nassau to play in the sand & sea! The classes are taught by the best polymer clay artists & teachers and I'll be learning some amazing techniques & projects! I can't wait until September...

Thank you!

2010-06-13T21:06:00.001-04:00

LARAC was a fun weekend. Even with the rainy Saturday and the misty clouds today, the crowds were smiling and I truly enjoyed talking about my artwork with all the visitors to my booth.
Thank you again to all who stopped by & hope to see you in August at Shepard's Park craft show!
I'll be posting some pictures up soon of new designs that are in the works.

LARAC!!!

2010-06-11T20:59:00.004-04:00

F-44 is the official booth number!!!

I'll be right on Maple Street in front of the Adirondack Trust/Smith Barney buildings. The tent structure is up & the main components are all figured out, tomorrow morning (early!) I'll relayout the tables as almost everything got packed away for the night and lay out all of the beautiful jewelry sets!

Can't wait! Here is a photograph of the booth with the prints on the walls & the basic tables set up.

More pictures of the displays to follow tomorrow!

Saturday 10-5
Sunday 10-5

Phew!!! Almost ready.

2010-06-10T21:29:00.001-04:00

The jewelry is all packed in the cases... the photographs are wrapped... the prints are boxed. Tools, tent, tables - check.
Tonight was the night of getting the final things set for LARAC. All looks good with only little touches tomorrow & then I'm heading downtown at 6p.m. to set up some of the bigger things!
So excited... wait 'til you see!

Next Weekend!!!

2010-06-06T12:03:00.003-04:00

LARAC. I've set up the new tent to make sure all is well & finished putting together the elements for booth display. I've fired the last batch of beads & have been busy designing new necklaces, earrings and a few bracelets!

Hope to see you there.

Saturday & Sunday, June 12-13, 9a.m.-5p.m
City Park, downtown Glens Falls

More & more...

2010-05-27T21:14:00.002-04:00

Beads & designs that is! With the LARAC Summer Arts Festival right around the corner I'm busy in the studio finishing lots of cool beads and some really beautiful jewelry sets.

The new tent for the show is on the way & I'm finalizing my ideas for the decoration of the booth. Some of the things I've done in the past are staying, but I've got a few new Ideas that I hope will make the tent a beautiful showcase for the jewelry, prints and photographs.

Can't wait... June 12-13 in City Park, Glens Falls, NY.

2010-04-30T20:14:00.004-04:00

Today we installed 45 works for my solo show in the Widlund Gallery. We worked through the initial layout of the gallery and I only switched a few pieces from my original plan. This is the 'sneak peek' of each of the gallery walls & the works as they are! I hope that you will get a chance to see them in person, the colors look fantastic & the details of the jewelry are beautiful.

There are fifteen flowers that each have three pieces; the original photograph, an altered digital print, and a polymer clay jewelry set. Some of the flowers are perennials from my garden here at the house, others are wildflowers from Putnam Farm & Crane Mountain. Each is unique and represents the colors, textures & shapes of the individual flowers.

Remember the opening reception is next Saturday night, May 8th from 5-7 p.m.

Tomorrow's the big day!

2010-04-29T21:04:00.002-04:00

All the artwork is packed and ready to go in the morning. I'll be at the gallery installing the works for much of the day, I promise a few photographs as a sneak peak of the exhibit tomorrow evening.

Wish me luck!

Down to the wire.

2010-04-26T19:18:00.002-04:00

I'm putting the finishing touches on all the pieces for my show & am getting so excited for Friday! I'll post images of the gallery once everything is installed & beautiful!

Some upcoming dates to remember:
Colors of Nature: Prints, photographs & polymer jewelry
May 1-27, 2010
Opening Reception, May 8, 5-7 p.m.
Widlund Gallery, Tannery Pond Community Center, North Creek, NY

LARAC Summer Festival
June 13-14, 2010, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
City Park, Glens Falls, NY

Lake George Arts & Crafts Show
August 20-22, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Shepard's Park, Lake George, NY

Almost there...

2010-04-16T10:02:00.001-04:00

The final frames are coming via FedEx & I've started setting up the designs for the piece labels. I'm getting excited & nervous as we get closer to April 30th, the hanging date, followed by the opening on May 8th!!!

Almost Ready!!!

2010-04-11T20:24:00.003-04:00

Photographs are framed, the final jewelry sets are on the beadboards ready to be designed & finished and the last frames & backing are on their way for the prints. I'm so excited about the upcoming show, here's all the final official information.

Colors of Nature. Floral prints, photographs & polymer clay jewelry. Perennial garden flowers from the home garden and wildflowers from the fields of Crane Mountain provide the inspiration for the prints, photographs and polymer clay jewelry. Each of the fifteen flowers is the focus of a trio of art pieces that interpret the colors and textures through the different art mediums of printing inks, photography and polymer clay.
May 1 - May 27, 2010
Widlund Gallery
Tannery Pond Community Center
228 Main Street, North Creek, NY

Opening reception: May 8, 2010, 5-7 p.m.

One Year Later!

2009-11-10T17:52:00.002-05:00

It has been quite a year since I was last able to post, we have a new daughter who has been keeping me on my toes. Unfortunately that has meant less time in the studio than I had hoped over the summer and early fall. But she's getting better about taking her afternoon nap in her playpen so I may have more time in the future!

In May 2010 I have an exhibit of my prints & jewelry at the Widlund Gallery. The gallery is part of the Tannery Pond Community Center in North Creek, NY. The space is beautiful and I have about 16+ works to get finished for the show... the pieces are floral images taken in my perennial garden riverside and at our barn near Crane Mountain. Each image will be a 20x30" digital print combining a background screenprint and the photograph and a polymer jewelry piece to 'match'.

I'll post pictures in progress as I get going more. Right now everything is in sketch phase on the wall in the studio.

Falling back into the Studio.

2008-09-14T12:44:00.003-04:00

I have an application into the LARAC Fall juried arts & crafts show this November. I hope to hear soon if I've been accepted or not, but in anticipation I've been working in the studio getting a few things set up. I'm begining to find more of my work is heading toward natural patterns and shapes and think that I'll continue this - it feels better and seems to leave me with pieces that I'm excited about.

I'll be working along and hopefully posting at least once or twice a month with new images of prints and jewelry pieces. Enjoy the fall!

The weekend...

2008-06-29T21:08:00.002-04:00

Summerfest up to Lake George was fun... again I was lucky to have wonderful neighbors in all the booths around me and I had the opportunity to meet many friendly people as they came in through my booth. I hope that everyone who took home a piece of jewelry enjoys the colors and many compliments!

This will be the last post for me for a bit of time. I'm taking much of the summer off for a very needed vacation to recharge my batteries. I'll be back up and running in mid-August. I hope work on developing a new and improved website that will include a full gallery with select pieces for sale - both jewelry and prints. I'm going to work on some sketches for the layout during my vacation!

I hope everyone has a wonderful begining of your summer. See you soon.

Summerfest Art Show.

2008-06-26T20:38:00.003-04:00

Friday, June 27 through Sunday, June 29 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. I will be up at Lake George in Shepard's Park with my jewelry and prints. I am in Section C, booth 81, section C is just within the stone wall at the Courthouse end of the Park. I'm at a corner booth in the center under a lovely tree!
The two images are pieces that are with me up at the show. The necklace and earrings are a continuation of my flower petal ideas... my garden is really getting into bloom at the house and it's easy to be inspired by the amazing colors. The second image is one of the screenprints that I've had transferred and printed onto greeting card. The 'Great Maple' is up at our barn near Crane Mountain.

Hope to see you there!

Working hard...

2008-06-25T21:12:00.003-04:00

Yup, in the studio again! I've been finishing a few new canes and combining some old designs into new pieces of jewelry. Tomorrow I will post two images - one of the new necklaces and one of the prints that I'll have with me up at Summerfest in Lake George.

Wait 'til you see! I'll also be writing up some more information about the show tomorrow.

Zonta Faire

2008-06-16T22:02:00.004-04:00

What fun! I had a booth at our local Zonta sponsored craft Faire this past Saturday and Sunday, June 14 & 15. I met some wonderful people, had great neighbors in the booths next door and survived the ridiculous humidity on Saturday. I really enjoyed talking to people about creating with polymer, the colors I use and what they like to see. I've posted some images of the booth and jewelry as well as two new pieces from the show. One is based on calla lilies and their shapes... the other is my 'odd bananas'... just a funky piece inspired by some bright colors and fun shapes I saw in a recent sculpture magazine.

I'm back in the studio working on some new designs and colors for the June Craft Fair up in Lake George June 27-29. It's called Summerfest and is held in Shepard's Park in Lake George, NY. Stop by my booth and say hello if you get a chance!

Studio Work!

2008-03-29T19:55:00.002-04:00

I can't believe that a bit more than a month has gone by since the NPCG Synery Conference. The conference and all the seminars I attended were fantastic and very inspirational.
Looking foward to spring and my work - I'm starting to head in a very organic way with both my shapes of beads and my colors. I've been previewing gardening books and the multitude of spring flower/seed catalogs that have been arriving. I'm also working on incorporating a bit of mixed media into the pieces as well, but all of this is still in the very early, very uncertain stages right now - hence no pictures...
When the snow melts here in northern NY... my pieces will be ready - that's my goal!
Keep the cheer and keep those fingers crossed for warm weather to head my way! I need to see those daffodils.

Off to Synergy!

2008-02-19T16:03:00.004-05:00

I'm about to finish packing everything to be ready to leave for Baltimore and the National Polymer Clay Guild's Synergy Conference. It's exciting to think about all the amazing polymer work that will be on display in the gallery and I can't wait to sit down for each of the seminars that I've signed up for.
Most of my jewelry pieces are packed for the gallery display as well as this necklace that I'm donating to the NPCG silent auction. Quite a ways back I tried my first cane from my own drawing and this iris was the result. From that cane came beads and from those beads came this necklace this week!
My muse has been back in full force in the studio and tomorrow we'll be driving our way to Baltimore for some more inspiration.

Keep the cheer!

Next Project...

2008-02-17T21:45:00.004-05:00

Everything is set for the class tomorrow - including the freezing rain and terrible weather, sigh! Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon it will all be rain and it will be a wonderful chance to work with some interesting people in the bead shop.
In the meantime I have another project in the works. I recently visited Montreal, Quebec and found a beautiful silk shirt with a gorgeous leaf, brush pattern on the fabric. Now it's home in my closet courtesy of a wonderful mother-in-law, because when she saw that I wasn't going to buy it - she purchased it for me as a 'just because' gift!!!
Take a look at the fabric in the first picture!!! Such beautiful earth tones to play with. And then the second picture is an image of my studio with the work in progress - my muse is back and I had such fun mixing colors to match and coming up with beads and a scheme. The beads are currently curing and some are drying from being sanded. I'll finish the necklace and earrings tomorrow after my class and post up the images. I'm hoping that this will be part of my outfit for the NPCG Synergy Conference Gala dinner.

Upcoming Class!

2008-02-17T10:27:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow, President's Day, I'll be teaching a basic Polymer Clay class at the Bay Street Beadworks here in Glens Falls. It should be pretty fun. We'll be working with caning techniques and creating our beads, then while our beads are curing we'll be heading out into the store to select the other beads to fill out and finish our jewelry pieces.

I'm pretty excited and have gone over all the steps and created all the examples. The blue lace cane necklace and earrings are the pieces that I'm brining to the class tomorow!

Wish me luck.

Vacationing muse...

2008-01-13T17:52:00.000-05:00

Sigh. Nope, no pictures to post, no new jewelry pieces to discuss. I'm stuck - I really do think that my muse is on vacation. I have all these ideas half formulated hanging around in my head and not a single one of them is doable. I sit down at the clay table and fuss with mixing colors (usually a very inspirational thing) and... nothing. Then I go through some of my polymer books and other jewelry history books (also usually inspirational) and... more nothing.

So here I sit - stuck... I'm going to have to give myself a very swift kick in the rear to get up and start searching for that muse - she's got to be around here somewhere.

How about you? Ever have your creative muse disappear?

Snow & Sparkles...

2007-12-23T22:08:00.000-05:00

This winter started out quite nicely with snow. And now that it's raining cats & dogs outside the studio I'm left hoping that most of the snow that's fallen so far is staying around long enough to ensure a white Christmas.

I'm finally back in the studio, making beads and jewelry - what a relief! Even though this necklace is a gift for this Christmas and was a 'have-to-get-done' project it was nice to work with clay again. The silver foil effect on the beads was fun to play with, but I found out quickly that too many passes through the pasta machine lead to too many crackles. I finally came out with just the right distressing of the foil for the necklace and earrings.

With a grandmother who loves blue... my own curiousity about how foils would work and a wintery scene outside the studio... this necklace was the result!

Happy Holidays to all.

I'm getting there...

2007-11-12T16:43:00.000-05:00

It's been far too long since I posted. I've found that for most of this fall I've been working too much on new curriculum for teaching and not enough time has been spent in the studio. I have plenty of sketches, ideas and thoughts swirling around just waiting to be printed or 'clayed' but time keeps getting sucked into "work projects".

However it's getting darker earlier - I'm finding that I'm tucking in to the house (and studio!) a bit earlier... and hopefully after this next round of curriculum and grade work I'll be a bit more free.

Wait 'til you see what my newest sketches look like! I'm moving on to more textures and starting to think about juxtaposing funky patterns/colors/textures next to each other... we'll see what happens.

Keep the cheer.

Texture & Color

2007-08-21T20:43:00.000-04:00

I am feeling quite frustrated with my garden at the moment, the flowers are beautiful - it's just that the weeds are winning in a large area! So I felt the need to look at photographs I had taken from the garden earlier in the year. And there it was, a lovely image of an iris just after a spring rain... I adore iris... to me they are just such beautiful flowers and they are just so simply elegant. As I looked at the colors and the waterdroplets I was reminded of a set of purple mokume gane beads that I had made for the recent show. As I compared the two images I found myself wondering if I could take further inspiration from this link and possibly create something in polymer with even more sparkle. Hmmmm... we'll have to see.

Yellow Lily Pieces...

2007-08-16T18:15:00.000-04:00

Ever have a funny connection about your artwork noted by someone else? Something that made you then relook at what you had created and go hmmmmm... who would've thought? I had created a yellow chunky set of jewelry using the faux turquoise tutorial. Instead of the obvious turquoise colors I opted for multiple yellows with copper acrylic paint for the 'crackle' effect. I really liked how the set came out and am curious to try different color combinations.
My father had come over to the studio to see what I was in the midst of creating and when he spotted this set of beads he made the connection with the little yellow water lilies that are abundant in our stretch of the Hudson River. So I found a photo for comparison... what do you think?

At the Booth.

2007-08-13T09:51:00.001-04:00

The show was fun - the two images are of my booth set up and a close up of one of the tables full of jewelry! The setup went very smoothly with the tent going up, tables getting placed and all the jewelry set out. At a few points the my booth was like a small summer gathering of friends that I hadn't seen since we finished teaching in June. I also met many really nice folks. It was an interesting conversation with some people talking about how different making jewelry and tscreenprinting is. But as I spoke about the differences I also mentioned many of the color and technique overlaps! With this show finished and things packed away I'm back in the studio and planning on joining the group again for their Open House in November. The Troy Shirt Factory artists use the weekend after Thanksgiving to become the 'anti-mall' as artists open their studios and line the hallways of the building with beautiful hand crafted works of art. So mark it on your calendar, it's set on mine and now I have work to do!!!

Upcoming Art Show!

2007-07-31T11:02:00.000-04:00

I'm as excited as can be. I've just signed up to participate in a local outdoor art show.
The Troy Shirt Factory in Glens Falls houses artists studios and ecclectic shops that are just wonderful. On August 11th from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. they are holding an Open House along with an arts & crafts fair on the building's lawn. I will have a booth (my first!!!) on the lawn showing and selling my polymer clay jewelry, some screenprints and notecards of my prints.
I'll be busy in the studio getting everything strung, framed and organized until then. We'll see how it all goes!
The two images on the left show what my studio looks like right now... I have postcards printed ready to be cut and sent out, packages and packages of clay waiting to become beautiful beads, and lots of loose beads that are sanded and waiting to become jewelry. I'll be busy!!!

From Sketch to Finish

2007-04-15T18:20:00.000-04:00

I keep drawing and coming up with sketches and color combinations for polymer clay pieces that I'd like to bring to life someday. When that someday is varies greatly. I'm heading into the end of the school year which will take up more and more time and with spring just around the corner, playing, hiking and gardening in the great outdoors will take more time.

But for now I've actually managed to pull a piece from sketch to a finished necklace. I wasn't happy with the color combination in the sketch so I 'borrowed' another color scheme from a different page in my sketch book. I'm working on really translating size, shape and concept into the actual materials... trickier than I thought.

Blue Spirals...

2007-02-22T20:07:00.000-05:00

It's been grey and overcast for most of the day and it started snowing again this afternoon. So I played in the studio stringing up some spiral beads that I had created a few weeks back. It's really nice sitting up in my studio looking out over the river and watching the snow pile up on the branches and pine trees.
The photograph that I posted is from one early morning looking out from our front yard over to the island in the middle of the Hudson River. The sun touches the tips of the trees first and adds some rosy glow and then warms up the rest of the valley. I thought it would be a nice image to link with the blues and spirals of the necklace.

Tiffany Stained Glass inspiration...

2007-01-28T18:12:00.000-05:00

I have always loved Louis Comfort Tiffany and his amazing glass work This summer I was able to see an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that showcased some of his work along with many other Art Deco artists. So that got me on a reading kick in my odd spare moments. I finally got around to taking one of my images of an iris from my own garden here at the river house and using it as a starting point for a 'stained glass' cane.

Building it was challenging, reducing it was tiring, cutting into it once it was reduced to the first size I wanted was frightening... but then I did a dance of joy around the studio. I'm so happy - now I need to finish reducing the rest and see what I can make of it!!! The first image is the original iris photograph and the clay image shows the cane before it was reduced and after at about 2"x2".

Back in the Studio!

2007-01-14T11:58:00.000-05:00

We have finally finished our addition on our house which included an art studio space for me. The two images are views of the studio. I actually have a dry area for computer graphic work, reading, researching, sketching and assembling my jewelry. And then I have an area that is more messy for the clay work, oil pastels, pastels, printing, baking and sanding. Because I'm a printer using water based inks I even have a "shower-like" area that I use to hose off my inks to get the screen ready for the next print.
I'm so excited to finally be moved in, organized and getting back to work. With the year's construction pushing me into the basement and then over two months during final construction without a space to call my own - that was just too long!

Still Ripples...

2006-11-17T18:17:00.000-05:00

The photograph is an image of a kettlehole in a stream in Northern Maine where my husband and I travel each August to escape before I head back into the art classroom. I tinted the black and white image slightly blue in the water for effect and am not sure if I like it or not... The polymer set is another attempt at a ripple/brain cane. This one went a little awry - I tried to use the traditional folding and pleating of the brain cane technique, but added some gradient blend areas as well as other fill. I'm not sure yet. Maybe I have to get rid of the black and white in the cane completely and work with more subtle blues and greys like in the photograph. Thoughts?

More blues...

2006-11-15T12:57:00.001-05:00

This is another water image. When I sit on the edge of a brook, river or any body of water the rippling water and color play is amazing. This print image is not a full final work; usually before I create a print I play around with color, texture and ideas in a sketchbook or on the computer. This is a "sketch" of a possible ripple print. The pendant is one of the brain canes I was playing with for a time... brain canes are fun and the color possibilities are endless. I wonder if I could get a more watery ripple effect with more practice.

Blue hue

2006-11-10T11:00:00.000-05:00

I had been posting about wildflowers for quite a few posts and have decided to go in a different direction for a time. This print is from an image of a brook on the backside of Dix Mountain in the Adirondacks. I like close up views of brooks and the tumbling water, it's amazing the amount of color changes and swirls you can see if you look long enough. The pendant and bracelet are a set that I created with mokume gane slices based on these blue hues. The pendant is stand alone at the moment, usually I slide it on a sliver chain, the bracelet is strung with the mokume bead and laborodite chips. I like how mokume gane comes out with polymer clay - I'll have to think of new color variations.

A splash of yellow.

2006-11-08T15:45:00.000-05:00

It's a grey and dreary day in the Northeast, so I've decided to post in the brightest of colors I could. The print is from the same wildflower series as the last post, it is a Sundrop and the original image was captured early in the morning with dew still on the petals. It was a beautiful addition to the wildflower series. The print inspired one of my first attempts at an image transfer and in the process, became a bracelet. This is probably one of the more direct links of my prints and polymer.

Purple Blooms.

2006-11-03T20:45:00.000-05:00

There are beautiful wildflowers at the barn and it is truly amazing what you can catch with a supermacro zoom. The images from the various flowers inspired a series of ten prints. The print here is spotted-joe-pieweed and I believe it is very thistle like. Polymer clay lends itself to such color mixing that you can match colors so well with images. So... what better jewelry to pair the print with that this purple swish & swirl necklace?

Complex Moss

2006-10-31T19:10:00.000-05:00

Sometimes in the mountains it's the commanding view from the peaks that catch my eye. And then there are the times where my attention doesn't move more than two inches from the ground. I had taken several pictures of reindeer moss and lichens during a recent hike and the fabulous greens and lines inspired my first kaliedoscope cane. The cane then became a bracelet with more left over for other pieces in the future.

Layers in the Mountains...

2006-10-27T21:01:00.000-04:00

It's amazing looking out over the vista from a mountain top. The layers of the peaks in front of you just wave away with layer after layer, it's beautiful. One of the images that I took from the peak of Giant Mountain is due to become a future print... but it's already inspired a necklace with waves of faux jade. I was testing out a faux tutorial and used a few of the slices to create this pendant.

Texture in both.

2006-10-25T18:54:00.000-04:00

The texture is part of a print of a waterfall near our barn in the Adirondacks. The sun had hit the water, the depth of the water was just right, the rocks had just enough quartz in them to sparkle... it made the perfect photo - and then a wonderful print. Later on in the studio I was playing around with scraps and attempts of miscellaneous projects and happened to combine colors in such a way that it brought those rocks back to mind. Made a nice bead or two!

The Start

2006-10-21T00:03:00.000-04:00

Two of my favorite mediums to work in are polymer clay and screen printing. I find my inspiration everywhere and I hope that this blog becomes the gathering spot for ideas, interesting thoughts and wonderful imagery. So here is the start of the blog with two images of my work. The barn image is a print from the past year and the jewelry piece follows a retro cane tutorial inspired by the funky fall colors outside my studio. This year had more orange and limes in the colors of the leaves... wonder why?