Monday 21 September 2015

ART JEWELRY CHALLENGE FOR SEPTEMBER!

I will be away on  holiday till the end of the month so thought I had better write a bit about the challenge now and post a bit early.

I loved the colours in the painting and found myself very drawn to the shades of blue and yellow/green particularly. 
View of the Pond at Charleston, East Sussex by Vanessa Bell

 So although time was short for me this month I set to work on a pair of rather organic earrings, I chose to use a blend of silvery blue Polymer with some Swarovski crystals in yellow shades, so that they reflect the soft colours of the painting. I hung them on Sterling silver hooks with little petal bead caps.


I would have like to have more time to explore more beads as I had ideas for a bracelet, sadly this month there was not the time due to commitments.

Here is a link to the Art Bead Scene page. 
http://artbeadscene.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/september-monthly-challenge.html

~Jackie~
Comments are always much appreciated and read, thank you.

Sunday 13 September 2015

A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE GARDEN ETC!

Going into the autumn I feel like there hasn't been any summer yet, even the plants feel the same, my dwarf beans did so badly there was only a handful to pick out of the whole ten plants! As for the peppers I have one tiny white  flower open, so no pollination there how sad! As for the garden plants the beautiful pink stripped clematis is doing rather well and has quite a lot of flowers out, the new Heucharellas have bloomed well and the leaves are so colourful and pretty. 

One tree that has done really well this year came into its own you might say, is the Eucriphia, the white honey scented blossom is exquisite and it is a frothy mass alive with bees ( there should be plenty of local honey ) but other plants have not done so well the roses are not too good, being as close to the sea as we are they are not a bit keen on the salty air but I find the old roses do much better than the modern roses. 

The ginger has grown enormous this year but there don't seem to be any flower spikes just huge leaves and lots of them and the black bamboo growing next to it has almost doubled in size probably due to all the rain.

I have been taking myself down to the little park close by us on the days it doesn't rain and the wind is not too strong, to continue to improve my Tai Chi, I am not taking students at present as I want to train and study more and my small studio is not big enough to wield the sabre or do the full fan form, so when I decided to take myself down to the park in the mornings, I have been really enjoying it, I go early enough that there is hardly anyone about. Standing in the fresh air facing the sea is a real joy and certainly helps me focus.




A little picture I painted earlier this year, it is quite small 5x5 inches as I had been painting larger canvases and wanted a change, it was a glorious sunset and the sea so calm and quiet, one really lovely evening stands out doesn't it!

~Jackie~
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