Ups, Downs, and Beautiful Spaces

A new year. The chance to start fresh. Start over. Keep up. A burst of hope, and then we find ourselves in the thick of things, living a life and here come those ups and downs!

For my first Bead Journal project (first ever!), I chose a small section of Georgia O’Keefe’s Evening Star IV because I saw it as a colorful representation of the peaks and valleys that await all of us in the 366 days of 2012. Quiet stretches of calm purpose, surges of renewed energy, periods when new ideas are born and puzzling times when our creative process seems fallow.

Georgia O'Keefe's Evening Star IV

Georgia O’Keefe had not painted in several years when her sister persuaded her to visit an old friend and teacher, Alon Bement. Georgia considered him a very poor painter, but a brilliant teacher, and was much influenced with an idea he gave her: “The idea of filling a space in a beautiful way - where you have the windows and door in a house, how you address a letter and put on the stamp, what shoes you choose and how you comb your hair.” Her examples are very much of her generation, but still a valuable idea for us today. It sparked Georgia to say things with colors and shapes that she couldn’t say in any other way.

My first pendant, based on her painting, will remain on my bead table - a reminder to stay in balance with the rhythms of life – and to create beauty in the spaces.