Have you ever had a project where you just couldn’t get the results that you were looking for? About nine months ago I wanted to design a butterfly collection. I worked on several different designs but I just couldn’t get the results that I was looking for. So, I put the designs away and started working on something else.
Several months later I thought I would give the butterfly collection another try. Again I worked on the designs tweaking a little here and there, but once again it just wasn’t what I was looking for.
Then one day out of the blue I had an idea for using a different technique, but I couldn’t think of a subject matter to use the technique on. Then I thought about the butterfly collection. Once again I pulled out the collection and this time I started to apply the new technique, and there it was. The butterflies were now looking what I was trying to accomplish all those months ago. Now I have the whimsical butterfly collection that I wanted.
If you are looking for and anticipating typical, traditional butterflies, I’m afraid that you are going to be disappointed because these butterflies are in no way typical or traditional.
My original vision of these butterflies was to instead of giving them symmetrical wing designs, I wanted to create an illusion that the wings were feathers. Realizing I had created butterflies that were so non-traditional I quickly decided to call them outer space butterflies and gave each of them names of either a planet or a moon from a planet, thus naming the butterflies, Jupiter, Luna, Mercury, Neptune, Pluto and Venus.
This is the start of this collection and I am sure there will be others added in the future.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Polymer Clay Is Where It All Began!
If you have been following this blog you will know that all of my current work has been digital and of a more graphic design nature, and can be seen in my Zazzle stores, however, that is not where my art career began.
Since I was a child my passion for art has led me to the use of many different mediums. At the young age of 12 I took my first lessons in oil painting which quickly led me to acrylics. My adventure and exploration over the years took me through watercolors, charcoal, colored pencils, pastels as well as many others not worth mentioning.
Around the year 2000 I started playing around with Polymer Clay. I loved the colors and I enjoyed the flexibility of the product. I didn’t really have an interest for creating jewelry or figurines, which is what the product is traditional used for. Instead, I wanted to use the product to make something big like a wall hanging.
After years of experimenting I finally developed a method of creating Polymer Clay Fine Art wall hangings. From the development I was finally able to establish myself as a professional artist by having my Polymer Clay Fine Art accepted and shown in three different galleries in Las Vegas, NV.
Each piece of my Polymer Clay Fine Art is created by conditioning, color blending and then creating strands of clay. By using a pattern of my design I am able to cut, form and join the each strand of clay, one at time on glass to create the design. The vital step of curing the clay presented a unique challenge. Since the clay is cured by firing (or baking) it at a low temperature, finding an oven large enough to cure the entire piece all at once was not possible. This led to my developing a technique of creating the design in smaller pieces that could be fired and then assembling the pieces together to make the overall design.
The first successful piece of Polymer Clay Fine Art I created was “The Big Stud”. The gold, bronze, copper and black clay colors that I used to create this horse accents the beauty and grace of the horse through the abstract flowing lines used in forming the simplistic shape of the horse.
While working on “The Big Stud” I started creating my next piece. In my mind I could see the abstract shape and vibrant colors. Throughout the creation of this piece I could never figure out what to name it. Upon its completion I showed the piece to a friend of mine. She asked me where I got the design. I tried to explain to her that I saw it in my mind and then I drew it out on a piece a paper. She couldn’t understand that and she started calling it “Debi’s Brain”. Not being completely happy with the first making of the design, I remade it and called “Debi’s New Brain”.
(“Debi’s New Brain” has been sold, however if you are interested I can recreate the piece upon request. Please keep in mind that each piece is a one-of-kind original and that any recreation of the original will be similar yet not exact.)
My “Bird of Paradise” has been my most popular Polymer Clay design. It has been a featured piece in one gallery and it has been used in numerous gallery promotional publications. The vibrant colors of this piece are eye-catches and the abstract lay of the clay is fascinating and mesmerizing.
Progression through the making of “The Warrior” was quite an adventure for me. I like the initial design which was originally upside down from the finished piece.
As I started the piece it almost instantly started fighting back. It became very difficult for me to work on it and I could not figure out why. There were many times when I could only lay a couple of strands at a time before becoming so frustrated and tired that I had to take a break.
About half way through I was so frustrated with it that I would say, “I have to go work on the bitch”. Through the rest of the time while making the piece I referred to it as “The Bitch”. I knew that it was either me or “The Bitch”. I knew that only one of us could win this battle and I knew it wasn’t going to be “The Bitch”.
Once it was completed, I leaned it up against the fireplace to view it better. My husband finally walked over to it and turned it upside down. When he did I was shocked because immediately I saw the face of the warrior that I had been fighting.
I have often been accused of living in La-La-Land and perhaps this piece is the most evident of that. I love the fable of the Genie In the Battle and all the magical things that the Genie can do.
My first intent was to just design a decorative bottle or vase. After I drew the bottle and then looked at it I was immediately reminded of the Genie’s bottle. Then instead of drawing the design on the outside of the bottle, I thought, what if the bottle is clear and what I am seeing are all the things that are inside the bottle.
Each design and color that you see is something different that the Genie has waiting for me. Now, if I could just figure out how to get all those things out of the bottle.
(“Genie In A Bottle” has been sold, however if you are interested I can recreate the piece upon request. Please keep in mind that each piece is a one-of-kind original and that any recreation of the original will be similar yet not exact.)
With the closure of so many fine art galleries due to the recession, all the Polymer Clay artwork is now being sold in the Debi Payne Fine Art Etsy store. You can view all the other Debi Payne Polymer Clay Fine Art pieces by going to Debi Payne’s website.
Since I was a child my passion for art has led me to the use of many different mediums. At the young age of 12 I took my first lessons in oil painting which quickly led me to acrylics. My adventure and exploration over the years took me through watercolors, charcoal, colored pencils, pastels as well as many others not worth mentioning.
Around the year 2000 I started playing around with Polymer Clay. I loved the colors and I enjoyed the flexibility of the product. I didn’t really have an interest for creating jewelry or figurines, which is what the product is traditional used for. Instead, I wanted to use the product to make something big like a wall hanging.
After years of experimenting I finally developed a method of creating Polymer Clay Fine Art wall hangings. From the development I was finally able to establish myself as a professional artist by having my Polymer Clay Fine Art accepted and shown in three different galleries in Las Vegas, NV.
Each piece of my Polymer Clay Fine Art is created by conditioning, color blending and then creating strands of clay. By using a pattern of my design I am able to cut, form and join the each strand of clay, one at time on glass to create the design. The vital step of curing the clay presented a unique challenge. Since the clay is cured by firing (or baking) it at a low temperature, finding an oven large enough to cure the entire piece all at once was not possible. This led to my developing a technique of creating the design in smaller pieces that could be fired and then assembling the pieces together to make the overall design.
The first successful piece of Polymer Clay Fine Art I created was “The Big Stud”. The gold, bronze, copper and black clay colors that I used to create this horse accents the beauty and grace of the horse through the abstract flowing lines used in forming the simplistic shape of the horse.
While working on “The Big Stud” I started creating my next piece. In my mind I could see the abstract shape and vibrant colors. Throughout the creation of this piece I could never figure out what to name it. Upon its completion I showed the piece to a friend of mine. She asked me where I got the design. I tried to explain to her that I saw it in my mind and then I drew it out on a piece a paper. She couldn’t understand that and she started calling it “Debi’s Brain”. Not being completely happy with the first making of the design, I remade it and called “Debi’s New Brain”.
(“Debi’s New Brain” has been sold, however if you are interested I can recreate the piece upon request. Please keep in mind that each piece is a one-of-kind original and that any recreation of the original will be similar yet not exact.)
My “Bird of Paradise” has been my most popular Polymer Clay design. It has been a featured piece in one gallery and it has been used in numerous gallery promotional publications. The vibrant colors of this piece are eye-catches and the abstract lay of the clay is fascinating and mesmerizing.
Progression through the making of “The Warrior” was quite an adventure for me. I like the initial design which was originally upside down from the finished piece.
As I started the piece it almost instantly started fighting back. It became very difficult for me to work on it and I could not figure out why. There were many times when I could only lay a couple of strands at a time before becoming so frustrated and tired that I had to take a break.
About half way through I was so frustrated with it that I would say, “I have to go work on the bitch”. Through the rest of the time while making the piece I referred to it as “The Bitch”. I knew that it was either me or “The Bitch”. I knew that only one of us could win this battle and I knew it wasn’t going to be “The Bitch”.
Once it was completed, I leaned it up against the fireplace to view it better. My husband finally walked over to it and turned it upside down. When he did I was shocked because immediately I saw the face of the warrior that I had been fighting.
I have often been accused of living in La-La-Land and perhaps this piece is the most evident of that. I love the fable of the Genie In the Battle and all the magical things that the Genie can do.
My first intent was to just design a decorative bottle or vase. After I drew the bottle and then looked at it I was immediately reminded of the Genie’s bottle. Then instead of drawing the design on the outside of the bottle, I thought, what if the bottle is clear and what I am seeing are all the things that are inside the bottle.
Each design and color that you see is something different that the Genie has waiting for me. Now, if I could just figure out how to get all those things out of the bottle.
(“Genie In A Bottle” has been sold, however if you are interested I can recreate the piece upon request. Please keep in mind that each piece is a one-of-kind original and that any recreation of the original will be similar yet not exact.)
With the closure of so many fine art galleries due to the recession, all the Polymer Clay artwork is now being sold in the Debi Payne Fine Art Etsy store. You can view all the other Debi Payne Polymer Clay Fine Art pieces by going to Debi Payne’s website.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
I See You Laughing Too!
Laughing Squirrel is one of my most popular designs. It seems like almost every day somebody is checking him out. I have been very surprised by the popularity of this little guy!
Laughing Squirrel is actually just a single element from a much larger picture that I created about a year ago for my little Grandson, Conner.
I wanted to take a photograph of Conner and create a drawing around his photograph so that it would look like he was in a fairy tale storybook.
This is the photograph that I selected to use. It is a picture of Conner at his 3rd Birthday Party. He had just opened a present and gotten a big balloon that he was very excited about.
I first extracted Conner from the photo. I then began drawing the different elements that I wanted to have in the final drawing. I knew that I wanted an open field scene with different forest type animals around Conner.
I first drew each individual animal and then scanned it into the computer. Once on the computer, I then refined the lines and colored each drawing. When I had completed each element I put them all together to get this final picture:
When Conner first saw the picture, he was confused. After his dad slowly explained the picture to him, Conner started laughing and saying “I’m holding a bird”! His two favorite parts of the picture are #1 - he is holding a bird and #2 – the laughing squirrel. Conner thinks it is funny that the squirrel is laughing at him.
So Conner, this one is for you!
Laughing Squirrel is actually just a single element from a much larger picture that I created about a year ago for my little Grandson, Conner.
I wanted to take a photograph of Conner and create a drawing around his photograph so that it would look like he was in a fairy tale storybook.
This is the photograph that I selected to use. It is a picture of Conner at his 3rd Birthday Party. He had just opened a present and gotten a big balloon that he was very excited about.
I first extracted Conner from the photo. I then began drawing the different elements that I wanted to have in the final drawing. I knew that I wanted an open field scene with different forest type animals around Conner.
I first drew each individual animal and then scanned it into the computer. Once on the computer, I then refined the lines and colored each drawing. When I had completed each element I put them all together to get this final picture:
When Conner first saw the picture, he was confused. After his dad slowly explained the picture to him, Conner started laughing and saying “I’m holding a bird”! His two favorite parts of the picture are #1 - he is holding a bird and #2 – the laughing squirrel. Conner thinks it is funny that the squirrel is laughing at him.
So Conner, this one is for you!
Friday, January 7, 2011
New Art for The New Year
Cubism Art is a style of art that I have been fascinated with, but have had a great deal of difficulty in figuring it out. I first became interested in Cubism Art when I saw a collection created by Pablo Picasso several years go. The thing that drew my attention was the bright colors and odd lines. At first it was confusing to me because it seemed like there were lines in places where lines didn’t belong, but somehow it worked.
As I started finding other artist that created art in this Cubism style, I found most of them bored me and I was not attracted to it at all. However, I always kept going back to Picasso’s work trying to figure it out.
The past couple of years I have tried to create my art using the Cubism style, but I (for some reason unknown to me) could never make it work. Instead it would just be aggravating and frustrate me. I could never feel comfortable while trying to work it out.
Then last month I was trying to work on some new art, when all of the sudden, and much to my surprise, there it was. What I had just created was the Cubism style of art. All of the sudden, in that moment, I finally understood Cubism Art. I understood the purpose of the lines and what made each individual piece of the art all flow together as one. Finally, I got it! However, it still felt boring to me.
Now that I understood how it worked, my next challenge was to figure out how to bring this style of art to life. I had to figure out how I could mix this Cubism style with my Whimsical style. I am happy to announce that for this New Year I have New Art of which I call “Whimsical Cubism”.
To start with I have three pieces of Whimsical Cubism art; “Heart”, “Flower” and “Butterfly”. All three pieces turned out to be really fun, happy pieces, and for those that like bright colors (like I do) you are going to love it. I think that this is going to be one of those things where you are going to either “love it” or you are going “hate it”, I can’t see anybody having the attitude of ‘take it or leave it’.
So, which is it for you?
As I started finding other artist that created art in this Cubism style, I found most of them bored me and I was not attracted to it at all. However, I always kept going back to Picasso’s work trying to figure it out.
The past couple of years I have tried to create my art using the Cubism style, but I (for some reason unknown to me) could never make it work. Instead it would just be aggravating and frustrate me. I could never feel comfortable while trying to work it out.
Then last month I was trying to work on some new art, when all of the sudden, and much to my surprise, there it was. What I had just created was the Cubism style of art. All of the sudden, in that moment, I finally understood Cubism Art. I understood the purpose of the lines and what made each individual piece of the art all flow together as one. Finally, I got it! However, it still felt boring to me.
Now that I understood how it worked, my next challenge was to figure out how to bring this style of art to life. I had to figure out how I could mix this Cubism style with my Whimsical style. I am happy to announce that for this New Year I have New Art of which I call “Whimsical Cubism”.
To start with I have three pieces of Whimsical Cubism art; “Heart”, “Flower” and “Butterfly”. All three pieces turned out to be really fun, happy pieces, and for those that like bright colors (like I do) you are going to love it. I think that this is going to be one of those things where you are going to either “love it” or you are going “hate it”, I can’t see anybody having the attitude of ‘take it or leave it’.
So, which is it for you?
Friday, December 31, 2010
Happy New Year!
For days now I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of 2011. Finally in just a few short hours it will be here.
In 2010 I was able to start some new and exciting projects, and I am looking forward to the results coming in 2011.
For all my family and friends (old and new), I am wishing that 2011 is our best year ever! I hope that 2011 is the year where all our wishes, hopes and dreams really do come true!
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!
In 2010 I was able to start some new and exciting projects, and I am looking forward to the results coming in 2011.
For all my family and friends (old and new), I am wishing that 2011 is our best year ever! I hope that 2011 is the year where all our wishes, hopes and dreams really do come true!
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Christmas Twist
Every year since 1999 I have handmade all my Christmas cards that send out to family and friends. What surprises me about my Christmas cards is the number of people that have kept these cards from year to year and actually have the own personal collection of Debi Payne Designs Christmas cards. Several have told me about how they have incorporated my cards into their Christmas decorations and every year they add to their decoration collection. I am truly honored by each and every one of them.
In 2008 I designed this crazy Christmas tree for my Christmas card that year. I really liked the tree design and the background that looked best to me was the black background. At first I told myself that I couldn’t send a Christmas card with a black background because that just wasn’t “Christmasy”. I was very nervous about it, but since I really liked the card I decided to go ahead and send it out anyway.
Every year I always get the nicest comments about my cards and I really do enjoy hearing every comment. That year since I was so nervous about sending out a black Christmas card I really didn’t expect any comments. But boy was I surprised! The comments that year were over the top. Everybody loved the card with the most comments being along the lines of “so different”. Much to my surprise and even more to my delight my Christmas Twist with the black background was a HUGE hit!
The first year that President Obama was in the White House he announced that they would not be having Christmas Trees in the White House, instead they would be having Holiday Trees. Upon hearing that I thought to myself, ‘man have I got a Holiday Tree for you’!
In 2008 I designed this crazy Christmas tree for my Christmas card that year. I really liked the tree design and the background that looked best to me was the black background. At first I told myself that I couldn’t send a Christmas card with a black background because that just wasn’t “Christmasy”. I was very nervous about it, but since I really liked the card I decided to go ahead and send it out anyway.
Every year I always get the nicest comments about my cards and I really do enjoy hearing every comment. That year since I was so nervous about sending out a black Christmas card I really didn’t expect any comments. But boy was I surprised! The comments that year were over the top. Everybody loved the card with the most comments being along the lines of “so different”. Much to my surprise and even more to my delight my Christmas Twist with the black background was a HUGE hit!
The first year that President Obama was in the White House he announced that they would not be having Christmas Trees in the White House, instead they would be having Holiday Trees. Upon hearing that I thought to myself, ‘man have I got a Holiday Tree for you’!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Happy Harvest
I wanted to create something that represented fall. For a long time the only thing that I could think of was Thanksgiving and cornucopias which is not at all what I was trying to accomplish.
So I broke it down into single items that reminded me of fall. I first made the pumpkin and then I made the fall leaves. To me sunflowers are fall flowers and I thought that might be nice to use. I tried really hard to think of something else. What else does nature give us that reminds me of fall. Finally came up with the cattails.
The pumpkin was pretty easy and didn’t require much thought. Then came the leaves. I loved making all the leaves. Each leaf has pretty much the same shape, so the fun was in mixing and blending the colors of each leaf. After the leaves I drew the sunflowers, which were pretty simple since I had made sunflowers before. Next came the cattails. The cattails were the most difficult element for me to make.
I first started drawing the cattails, and all I could see from my drawing was weenies on a stick. No matter what I changed or what I tried, I still got the same results. So, I decided to do some research and look at some photographs of cattails to see what I wasn’t getting right. As I was looking at photographs of cattails I finally came to a realization that all cattails look like weenies on a stick. With that realization I became satisfied with my drawing and proceeded on.
After I had completed each individual element of the design I started putting them all together. That is when the magic happened. Each element just fell into place as if the piece was drawn as one. The final piece element that I added was the blue background.
Sometimes in creating a new design you have to look at it like a jigsaw puzzle. You have all the pieces in front of you and you know they all fit together, it is just figuring out how they fit together.
Overall I was very pleased with the outcome and to me this is what fall is about. When I was finished and looking at the piece the one thing that surprised me the most was how brilliant and vibrant the colors were. That was a very pleasant surprise that made me smile!
So I broke it down into single items that reminded me of fall. I first made the pumpkin and then I made the fall leaves. To me sunflowers are fall flowers and I thought that might be nice to use. I tried really hard to think of something else. What else does nature give us that reminds me of fall. Finally came up with the cattails.
The pumpkin was pretty easy and didn’t require much thought. Then came the leaves. I loved making all the leaves. Each leaf has pretty much the same shape, so the fun was in mixing and blending the colors of each leaf. After the leaves I drew the sunflowers, which were pretty simple since I had made sunflowers before. Next came the cattails. The cattails were the most difficult element for me to make.
I first started drawing the cattails, and all I could see from my drawing was weenies on a stick. No matter what I changed or what I tried, I still got the same results. So, I decided to do some research and look at some photographs of cattails to see what I wasn’t getting right. As I was looking at photographs of cattails I finally came to a realization that all cattails look like weenies on a stick. With that realization I became satisfied with my drawing and proceeded on.
After I had completed each individual element of the design I started putting them all together. That is when the magic happened. Each element just fell into place as if the piece was drawn as one. The final piece element that I added was the blue background.
Sometimes in creating a new design you have to look at it like a jigsaw puzzle. You have all the pieces in front of you and you know they all fit together, it is just figuring out how they fit together.
Overall I was very pleased with the outcome and to me this is what fall is about. When I was finished and looking at the piece the one thing that surprised me the most was how brilliant and vibrant the colors were. That was a very pleasant surprise that made me smile!
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