Steal like an artist!

Catchy title, isn't it?  No, I'm not recommending that you steal other artist's designs, but instead use their art as a trigger, to make something spectacular of your own!  If you're in love with photography, there's nothing wrong with allowing it to influence your work.  Of course, most of you are thinking jewellery, so why not take the colours in a photograph, and interpret them into a new piece of jewellery?  All the greens in nature, seem to go together, so why not make a lovely, springlike green necklace?  Or, if you're in love with something else, how about changing colours, and then adding &/or subtracting design elements?  I once made a felted piece, and then free motion quilted it, influenced by the pattern of raindrops, on a lake (the original photograph was mine).  Of course, I can't find the photo (lost in a computer crash), but instead, I'll need to show you an entirely different piece, influenced by the work of another artist (&/or medium).

When I Googled "Steal like an artist", I was surprised to find a book, by Austin Kleon, titled "Steal Like An Artist, 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative".' It's apparently a New York Times Bestseller, and peasant that I am, I wasn't even aware of it!  I spotted the term, over the holidays, on either a blog or Facebook post (but who's, I have no idea?).  Perhaps the author wrote it, because of Kleon's book, but as I only skimmed the post (as I've been known to do), I didn't even notice.  If you'd like to read more, there's an interesting article on the subject, on brainpickings.org.  Apparently, the book opens with the following quote by T.S. Elliott - "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different".  You can insert jewellery, fibre, lampwork, mixed media, polymer clay, metal clay, painting, and every other type of artist, where he mentions "poets".  We are all the same!  For my part, I like to think, that I do make it into "something different".

I don't "steal" all that often, but when I do, it's normally a colour scheme, a technique, or the overall mood, of another artist's work.  I take workshops (mostly technique driven), and always find my mind, wandering off on it's own path.  I dive into the experience, explore the other artist's techniques, and then go off in new directions.  I also flip through blogs and Facebook, looking for images, with interesting techniques and colour combinations.  I skim these as well, because reading everything, would take far too much time!!  The fleeting glance, is often all I need, to spark an idea! The following pieces, were all influenced by other artists, and are still quite close to my heart!

I'm thankful for the generosity of the other artists, who have been confident enough, to let me "steal" from them!  I encourage you  to "steal" a little, and turn your next piece into a magnificient "something different"!