March Art Bead Scene Challenge

Totem poles standing in a forested setting. Pencil and watercolor by Canadian artist, Emily Carr.
Color palette by Brandi Hussey

The colors in this month’s Art Bead Scene Challenge painting remind me of summer days – the earthy ochres and siennas, energized by that bolt of ultramarine.  Those were the colors I pulled out of Brandi’s palette to create my focal.

This collection of Hot Stix beads by Two Sisters Designs beautifully captures the organic shape of the totems and the background colors in Carr’s landscape. 

The heat patina on the copper leaf shape by Tanya McGuire adds the range of ochres from orange-red to yellow to brown.

The layered focal hangs from a chain of peyote- and brick-stitched silver and bronze links and twisting strands of delicate copper, bronze, and silver charlottes.

I had a day full of meetings yesterday, the perfect chance to take the necklace on a test drive to make sure the focal was well balanced and the necklace was easy to wear. I was early to my first event and spent a few minutes chatting with one of the leaders. She asked about my necklace, saying she was sure there must be an interesting story attached to it.  As I explained that it was designed around Emily Carr’s painting of the totems, she was surprised to learn that I had made it, but not as surprised as I was to hear that she not only was familiar with the totems, but had actually seen them! What are the chances…that I would be early…that she would ask…that a new friendship would be made! I would have gifted the necklace to her after our meeting, but hadn’t taken photos for this post yet. It’s packaged up for her now. After all, I have two more Hot Stix beads – I’m thinking I’ll use the lovely coppery one at the top of the photo, with a secondary focal in blue.

Take a moment to click over to the Art Bead Scene Pinterest board to see all the designs posted for this month’s challenge.

Art Bead Scene November Challenge

One of the highlights of my month is clicking over to the Art Bead Scene blog and checking out the entries inspired by that month’s art challenge. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to participate, but who could resist the great fall colors in Martin Johnson Heade’s tropical landscape?

"Cattelya Orchid and Three Hummingbirds," color palette created by Brandi Hussey

I had the palette in mind on a trip to Austin earlier this month. A visit to my sister-in-law, Kathy, always includes a foray to local bead stores and I know I quite literally gasped out loud when I stepped into the charmingly named Lapis Lane Beads and discovered a strand of Nora Pero’s  polymer clay petals.  They perfectly captured the painting’s richest pinks. Focal beads found!

Deciding on a freeform, double spiral necklace, I began my design by creating a bead soup of the darker, muted colors on the right side of Brandi’s palette.

Wanting lots of texture to represent the lush forest, I included seed beads ranging from size 11’s through size 5’s, in matte, metallic and Picasso finishes. I tossed in some chunky rondelles, keishi pearls and black gold-plated copper nuggets and my soup was ready. My rope uses only the darker colors in Brandi’s palette until the center section, which bursts into pinks, amethyst, and deep gold, and, of course, those gorgeous petals.

I’ve made double spiral necklaces before, and while I love their organic look, they can prove to be a bit fussy to wear. Even stored in its own box, the larger, graduated loops that form the bottom of the design can flip over the smaller loops that form the base.  I don’t know how hectic your mornings are, but by the time I reach for an accessory, I’m already running late. There’s never time to sort out the loops, so I never wear the necklace. With this design, I incorporated some chain, woven into the base beads and the beads of each small top loop. Problem solved. The chain adds structure, and those bottom loops stay perfectly in place on their journey into and out of my jewelry drawer. It even spilled out ready-to-wear from my travel bag! This necklace I am definitely going to wear a lot!

To see more jewelry and art beads designed around this month’s painting, be sure to visit the ArtBeadScene blog on November 30th and follow the link-ups.

February ABS Challenge - It Started with a Charm

My month was jam-packed, leaving me no time to participate in this month's Art Bead Scene Challenge. I was just going to take a peek at the art that was selected, and then simply couldn't resist the chance to design a piece around the geometric patterns and rhythms of Paul Klee's The Rose Garden.

Once, at an exhibit of Klee's work, our guide told us about his artistic approach, that Klee started with a point, expanded it to a line and then took it for a walk wherever it wanted to go. Haven't you heard jewelry artists explain their own process that way? "It started with a bead…"

Or in my case, a charm! The starting point for this design was an elegant bead embroidered charm I received from Nancy Dale of NEDbeads. Nancy originally created the charm for an artisan swap, and when she realized it fell outside the project dimensions, thought it would be a great component for a mixed media piece and offered it up in a giveaway to her readers. I was the lucky recipient, and when I saw this month's painting, I realized I was already testing many of Klee's colors on my bead tray with Nancy's charm. Now, I would just be taking them down a different path.

Nancy's component included a Swarovski chaton and bicone in the new Crystal Lilac Shadow, set against the rich purple and warm bronze found in the painting. I added slim pave beads in the same soft lilac, front-and-center in the focal, and at the back to accent the plum silk cord. Berry and wine tones combine with gold and bronze in the dangles.

Wanting to work Klee's spirals into my design, I used Cindy Wimmer's birthday bow links to connect luscious merlot nuggets by Studio Juls and speckled red-orange spacer beads by Jessica Herrell. (The links are from Cindy's, newest book, The Missing Link, and you definitely want a copy for your wirework library!) The links, jump rings and wavy discs were all made by me in vintage bronze.

Many thanks to Nancy Dale for generously gifting me with her charm. You can read about the edging techniques she was exploring while creating it here, and find more of her tutorials on her website (many are free!) and her Etsy shop. And after treating yourself to NEDbeads, click over to the ArtBead Scene Flickr page. There are some truly phenomenal designs on display this month.

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.

October Art Bead Scene Challenge

 

Ohara Koson's woodblock print chosen by Art Bead Scene for this month's challenge was the perfect October inspiration. I love the way the warm grays give the whole scene a gorgeous glow!

And I had the perfect etched gemstone focal in the print's blacks, whites and grays. I think it suggests a full moon in a star-filled October sky.

Handmade glass disc beads by Susan Kennedy and Kimberly Branch, along with lampwork beads by Juls Beads and April Larson provide the accent beads for the Russian Spiral-stitched rope. The brick-stitched bail, embellished with branch and leaf from Nina Designs, gave me the opportunity to include just a touch of the painting's muted peach and golden yellow.

Now, click over to the Art Bead Scene blog to see some really fantastic designs by this month's challenge participants!

May Art Bead Scene Challenge

The inspiration for this month’s Art Bead Scene challenge is Vase with Flowers in a Window by Dutch artist, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder.

Every time I look at Bosschaert’s still life, I’m reminded of my grandmother’s house, with its dark-paneled vestibule that smelled of aged wood and fragrant roses. A small table in the entry hall always held a vase like the one in Bosschaert’s painting, overflowing with flowers from her garden. Each August, we set out from Kentucky to her house in Scranton for a week that included mouth-watering pies made from the cherries we picked from her trees, glasses of sarsaparilla from dark bottles kept ice cold in her cellar, and cozy talks on her front porch glider. Great memories!

 

 

My focal for this month’s challenge piece is by California artist, Erin McAlister, and features the mustard yellows, warm browns and red-oranges of the painting. Erin handcrafts each glass bead with sand and donates a portion of all her sales to the Surfrider Foundation to protect oceans and beaches.

The central section of the neckstrap combines  peach-toned seed beads with carnelian teardrops in brown, maroon, deep oranges, peach and cream. Firepolish beads and Czech glass give additional texture. This was my first attempt at freeform spiral stitch, which can be found in Carol Cypher's Mastering Beadwork. It was great fun to experiment with, and the perfect stitch to convey the lush, opulent feel of Bosschaert’s flowers! The neckstrap is finished with calcite chunks and carnelian agate roundels.

Many thanks to Art Bead Scene's editors for choosing such a fabulous work of art to inspire us this month. You'll want to click over to the ABS Flickr group to see all the entries!

February Art Bead Scene Challenge

This month’s Art Bead Scene challenge, Tōshi Yoshida’s, Heijinja, 1941, offered so many design possibilities! Leafy trees, delicate blossoms, an intimate moment between a mother and child. I was especially drawn to the strong colors and the use of line in this woodblock print.

My design began with a sea glass triangle pendant in the print’s deepest red, which I received in a giveaway from Suzette Bentley of Ellie’s Bijoux. The sea glass is layered with a bronze spiral charm by THEAtoo. I cut three lengths of 16-gauge gold-filled wire, hammered and then wrapped them in columns of blackest-black, right-angle-weave to serve as a bridge to a second sea glass bead, a crystal donut bezelled in soft black and the print’s dominant, brighter red.

Once I had my focal, I wove a neckstrap, pairing the deep and cheery reds with matte and glossy grays. (The simple adaptation of herringbone stitch is a free pattern, the Strappy Strip, from Gwen Fisher and Florence Turnour.) A base metal chain gives some additional weight and shine. And is there a better way to wrap up a design than with an elegant bronze toggle clasp by THEAtoo?

You’ll definitely want to click over to the Art Bead Scene Flickr page to see all the terrific designs submitted for this month’s challenge.

A Little Winter Romance

December’s inspiration for the Art Bead Challenge, Sleeping Beauty by Erte, offered some spectacular color combinations! I love its twist on the primary palette, with the darkened red and blue, muted yellow and the surprising addition of soft lavender. I decided to create a bracelet this month, and focused on an expanded complementary palette of rich red through orange-yellow, accented with the print’s deep blue.

The center strand starts with two Czech glass beads patterned very similarly to the dress in the painting! Vivid lapis rounds surround the center bead, which is one of Erin Prais-Hintz’s frosted flake charms in ginger and bezeled in brass. A brass disc bead completes the strand. I designed this strand to be reversible; warm and classic in the photo on the left, the bracelet takes on a frosty, elegant feel when the focal charm is flipped to reveal a second snowflake in steel with a silver bezel in the top, right photo.

A second strand is made up of vintage glass rosary beads in the same deep red, etched with delicate gold swirls. The last strand is a length of bronze chain embellished with bright red rondelles tipped with deep blue. The strands, which combine the rich gold of the 3-cut seed beads, the cool silver of the rosary, and the warm bronze chain, are joined by a curved bronze cuff connector handcrafted by THEAtoo.

This is one of my favorite projects of the year - what a great inspiration print to end the Art Bead Scene challenges for 2012! There's still plenty of time to join in the fun! Click over to the Art Bead Scene’s Flickr page to see all the entries for this month.

Three Worlds

This month’s Art Bead Scene challenge featured one of my favorite artists, M.C. Escher, and his 1955 lithograph, Three Worlds.



From the Art Bead Scene: Three Worlds depicts a large pool or lake during the autumn or winter months, the title referring to the three visible perspectives in the picture: the surface of the water on which leaves float, the world above the surface, observable by the water's reflection of the forest, and the world below the surface, observable in the large fish swimming just below the water's surface.

My design began to take shape when I spotted a large (2 ½”) sterling silver fish pendant from Luanne Keen’s Eton Street shop on Etsy. Perfect to portray the world below the surface!

I created a large teardrop shape in matte black and steel delicas to frame Luanne’s focal. A second teardrop, inset with a peyote pattern of fish scales in the lithograph’s many shades of gray, nests inside the first and shimmers through the cutouts in the fish.

A single silver leaf floats in a peyote and herringbone frame, depicting the surface, and a Taina Hartman white bronze woodland pendant represents the forest. Adding luster and contrast to the matte elements, a handmade pearl chain brings in the picture's pure black and white.

I had so much fun with this challenge! Take a minute to click over to the Art Bead Scene Flickr group to see the amazing range of designs based on Escher’s work.

Three Acrobats and a Dog

Yes, I know Picasso’s celebrated painting, and the ABS July Challenge, is entitled Two Acrobats with a Dog, but it required the help of a third acrobat to get my design off the ground.

I envisioned a fluid cuff in a harlequin pattern, but every sample I stitched was a false start: deep blues and soft grays that looked fantastic on my bead tray turned dull and disappointing when stitched together. The addition of the painting’s soft rose and yellow-green rendered the pattern too distracting.

I set the project aside and welcomed a nice, week-long visit from my sister. We headed to Fresh Market one afternoon, on a quest to replicate our mother’s perfect pork chops, and I encountered this acrobatic wonder in a display at the checkout counter.

Of course! Stick to two colors, and outline the sections in white! (It’s always nice when inspiration and chocolate collide!)

All that remained was to embellish the surface. A Marsha Neal earring-size bead in the colors of Picasso's sky was bezelled into a button, and serves as both the closure and focal of the cuff. A ruffled loop and accents of silver filligree topped with the painting’s blues and yellow-greens inject a bit of whimsy.

And now it will be wrapped, packaged and sent off to the 7000 Bracelets for Hope project. Take a moment to click on the ABS Flickr page to see all the inspiring entries for this month’s challenge.