Art Bead Scene 

August Challenge

Twelve Princesses on the Way to the Dance

Kay Nieslen

Published in 1923

Watercolor and ink

This is what I saw

                               For some reason I am very interested in this shape and was playing around with  them and lo and behold here comes the ABS August challenge 

First necklace with the polymer clay bead focal that I made. I also had been craving some cherry quartz from Lima Beads so since this one is for me I thought it was a happy addition. The lighter pink are from a site that I have to find again, hammered silver ring and the toggle from Fab Beads  on Etsy.

Eric's Honey Do Challenge

Every month Sarajo Wentling, from SJ Designs Jewelry , puts up a challenge from her husband, Eric, who posts a picture. 

This month is a peacock. You can read about  it on her site.

As of late I have had lesser amounts of energy and missed a few but I was determined to make it this month.

I have discovered that as much as I do like making jewelry because really they are sculptures, I really LOVE making the beads!

One day I will get back to ceramics until then I am happy to play with polymer clay.

Thanks again Eric and Sarajo!

Pendants

(not finished)

Bracelet bar

Charms or small pendants

Pendant and charm from another challenge I thought fit this challenge.

Charm

 

Copper and embossing enamel jointed charms, they move and are great for earrings!

 Bracelet bar, copper and clear embossing enamel.

 Copper links and charms.

My gardens 2017

 By My Front Door

 I love the garden by my front door. It's inviting and since my husband Sifus, (whose drawings I need to update so you can see what a spectacular artist he is, Soon to come), started the new front walk. 

I had to reduce some of the garden but it is a welcome answer to creating a space that we can sit and drink coffee in in the morning. Many times we see the hummingbirds. 

The Man

The dog, (not a big help).

We got these fence pieces from the farmer down the road. I love them. They have such a wonderful pattern and the clematis' have an easy time growing up them!

The other side.

The Alliums are doing especially well this year and look great mixed with the Geum.

This is a beautiful Iris that I got from my parents.

This Clematis is climbing an old arbor that is in need of some assistance. I also have added two cane roses on each side so they will inter twine.

Creeping Veronica, love the blue. 

Autumn something Vibernum. I love the warm color of the leaves which change through the year.

Globe Master Allium.

SJ Designs Jewelry May Challenge

Here's what Eric had to say about his inspiration photo.

For this month's piece I wanted to use a shot from our recent trip to Virginia and D.C.  With the recent big storm, most of the cherry blossoms were long gone, but we found this single tree with some pink flowers!  I liked the movement of the dried grasses, the metal scroll work of the sculpture, and the pop of color from the flowers.  

I was having a difficult time blending the warmth of the sculpture and the coolness of the pink flowers. It didn't help that I was not as lucid as my usual self because of surgery but I really wanted to show both. Here is a bead that I made to reflect the pink flowers. I used polymer clay.

Here is another pendant that I made quite a while ago but I always liked it. It is rustic but I like that too. I chose the warm freshwater pearls and copper to reflect the metal from the sculpture. It is very simple but I was happy to get it accomplished and the challenge met.

May Art bead Scene Challenge

Bowl of Fruit, Violin and Bottle

Pablo Picasso

1914

Oil On Canvas

Bowl of Fruit, Violin and Bottle

Pablo Picasso

1914

Oil On Canvas

I wasn't quite sure how to make inspiration from this painting my own. I decided that I would play with color and texture. I really liked the crackle sort of texture that I saw and I also was drawn to the pink and teal.

here is my necklace. As I started playing with it I realized that I wanted to play with the pink and black. My pictures didn't turn out so great except this one because of my energy level being lower since my surgery. The rest of the necklace is chain until the clasp which has a swirl pattern on it.
I made the focal and the smoky pink bead on the left. The black beads are carved jet jade. The pink beads are from a vintage necklace, black discs are from art beads czech beads. The speckled beads are ceramic from Marsha Neal. They are a win from Art bead Scene, (thank you!). She is fantastic!





 So here are my polymer clay beads. I like how they turned out.

Just when I thought that I was stuck in pink I found myself looking at the orange, probably because it was so close to red. I had some polymer clay scraps that I thought that looked like tulips which are blooming profusely in my garden, and the color worked for me. I also snipped some areas of the painting that influenced me, along with the speckles, to play with layering so here is a pendant that came about from it all.