To Fresh Starts

This is what the work surfaces in my bead studio looked like a few days ago. The holidays had taken a toll! Seed beads commingle with metal files and hammers hover perilously close to stacks of delicate rose montees. Some packages await opening, others need posting.

And here's my bead table this morning. It's home to just one project … and my list of goals for the new year. I'm using Lisa Jacobs' 2014 Creative Business Planner, which asks for 25. I've committed to 16, some mini-steps, some serious strides. All promise a very creative 2014.

Intent on a goal-friendly environment so I can concentrate on said creating, my clean-up extended to the entire studio.

My thinking corner, which just 24 hours ago was piled high with the detritus of
December projects, is now a quiet spot to dream and plan.

Books and catalogs are tidied on their shelves.

Beads are closeted away by color and size in their bins and boxes.

Who doesn't love a fresh start and a clean slate?

Winter Blues - December ABS Challege

 

Ever since  Wassily Kandinsky's "Winter Landscape" was selected as the inspiration painting for the Art Bead Scene's December challenge, a copy has graced the wall of my studio. It has saved many a drab and dreary December afternoon - during a bout of the winter blahs, a glance at the wall is all it takes to remind me just how dazzling a winter day can be.

Kandinsky uses bold lines and colors to create the mood. My eye was immediately drawn to the winding road, and the bottom strand of my necklace is woven in a Beadinfinitum variation of herringbone to mimic its curves and colors. The focal bead, by Jessica Herrell, brings in the dark blues, purples and reds of the hillside.

The blue, yellow and green brush strokes in the sky are echoed in the accent beads in the top strand, also by Jessica Herrell. Following Kandinsky's lead, I made liberal use of pinks along with small pops of red to warm up the coolness of all that wintry blue.

If you're looking for some bright hues to chase away the winter blues, head over to the Art Bead Scene Flickr page to see more of this month's Kandinsky-inspired designs.