ABS DECEMBER CHALLENGE!

I have not been able to blog for a quite a while nor make any of my Polymer pendants, as things at home have been moving along with my husband now on the critical list with his heart and still no appointment to get it sorted, and he is no longer able to work.

I find my time taken up where before my days were my own to order, I had a schedule I followed, now I find I have become a bit aimless and get quite frustrated, that time I would have laid aside for my clay, experimentation, Tai Chi etc no longer works in that once smooth way that it did.  These things happen in life and I did spend my usual time in the summer painting in small grabbed moments of pleasant solitude listening to music as I painted and I have been enjoying a little claying last week, till my darling daughter passed on to me a virus so here I sit at the computer hoping I can finish this before I have to go back to bed lol!

Below you will see the result of my little clay experiments. the organic oval beads I impressed quite heavily and added sparkle and mica powders. The pendant has quite a lot going on as you can see with some painting a little stamping and some engraving, it was fun to do. The Inspiration was from this gorgeous stained glass . See it on..
http://artbeadscene.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/december-monthly-challenge.html

 America Windows, 1977,  By Marc Chagall

Stained glass, 96 x 385 in. (244 x 978 cm) (overall)

 

Here are the Beads

 

This is the pendant

 

I would love it if you would leave a comment.

~Jackie~

 

 

ABS CHALLENGE FOR AUGUST!

Sadly I missed last months ABS challenge as I was myself challenged by a nasty attack of bronchitis, I ask you in the summer how weird is that! I don't suffer with that sort of thing, but these things happen sometimes for no apparent reason.

I am also very busy at present as we have guests arriving on Thursday which is always exciting and we are looking forward to it.

The challenge this month was art work by Paul Klee.

  There are a lot of colours here so I picked several and got inspired!
 
I thought I would make something fun and cheerful with a sea related theme so what better than a fish, I have not made him into a necklace as yet so I will put him up on Pinterest as a bead, I added baroque freshwater pearls and there is a hole for stringing.
Here is the link to the Art Bead Scene challenge. 
http://artbeadscene.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/august-monthly-challenge.html

 Would love it if you could leave a comment, thank you.
~Jackie~

BEAD SOUP BLOG PARTY REVEAL!

Today is the day for revealing what we have made with the bead I received from my partner Tracy Stillman. 

The bead from Tracy was a beautiful green color and as soon as it arrived I knew exactly the main beads I would use for a necklace some Australian chrysoprase a great match for the focal, I have had the beads for ever and now I am so glad I kept them as I think they look really nice, I also used Tourmaline rondels and some silver beads, the dangle is Jade with a silver bead cap. I hope my partner will like the necklace and I hope I have done justice to the bead you sent me Tracy!

Here is the link for the rest of the folk and I just want to say Thank You Lori Anderson for having the courage to start up your awesome Bead Soup again, so just click on the link below scroll down the page to take a trip round some great blogs. 
http://www.prettythingsblog.com/…/welcome-to-bead-soup-blog…

~Jackie~

ART BEAD SCENE CHALLENGE FOR JUNE!

I very rarely make bracelets, necklaces are what I enjoy designing and making most of all but hey a change is good. So I decided to make a bracelet for this month, the picture was very inspirational I liked the colours and composition, it was from the  Century Magazine Cover for June by Louis Rhead you can see it below.


I decided to make a triple strand bracelet so chose Citrine nuggets for one of the strands. I had some really nice shaded blue tablet shaped Czech glass beads with gold flowers picked out I had bought when I made an order with a friend and had not used yet. I got out my box of hand made Ugandan paper beads out and found some with a nice smokey purple running through them and added a few silver beads this was my second strand. The third strand proved a problem and I was beginning to wish I had stuck with just two, I tried several things but I felt they were just not right, till I thought of some leather which I have in several colours I used gold to carry through. I knotted and added four of my hand made Polymer saucer beads in blue and gold and a tablet bead with an imprint of a rose on both sides. The clasp is a very pretty floral toggle. Here it is you can see it below.

 Until next time take care.
~Jackie~

ART BEAD SCENE CHALLENGE FOR MAY!

I did get to my ABS challenge a bit earlier this month thank goodness, as I had sold my Tai Chi Impression brooches at the Art Trail, I decided to make more brooches and also a few more pendants, as I really enjoy the minature painting, getting the movement into these small figures is fun!

The painting chosen this time was by Charles Sheeler and it was on a Shaker theme which is rather different, the buildings have lots of angles and shadows making interesting shapes within shapes as you can see in the picture below. If you would like to read more about the artist or the ABS Challenge here is the link - http://artbeadscene.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/may-monthly-challenge.html

I decided on a pendant and mixed a softer silvery blue clay from the left hand angle of the painting for my background, I use white to paint the figures but add in tones, ( I like doing this bit ) a branch of dark wood cherry blossom picked out some more of the colours from the painting, being spring and the cherry blossom is just about out here I thought it would be nice to add some. You can see my finished painting on the pendant below.

I am off to add paintings to some more brooches this afternoon if you are interested in any of my Tai Chi Impressions or any of my other work you can email me they are for sale!

I would love it if you could spare a moment to leave me a comment I do reply personally to all comments unless you are on google + and I am unable to do so, be assured they are very much appreciated though.

~Jackie~

AFTER THE ART TRAIL!

Now that the Art Trail is over I can look back and honestly say I will never do it again at The Space, it was not a good venue for some reason it really didn't work well a great disappointment to most if not all of us and it won't be held there next year. 

I sold a little mostly and surpriseingly my Tai Chi Impressions brooches went well and some little cards of my art paintings. So this is a very short post as there is really nothing to tell, it was an experience but next year its back to my open house or share one with a friend, are well you live and learn!

 Tai Chi Sword.

~Jackie~

THE ART TRAIL IS HAPPENING!

This year I am taking part in the 2nd Ilfracombe Art Trail, we are not doing an open house this year though. I am at The Space and I will have my daughter who is an artist and published author with me on Sunday but Saturday I will be mostly on my own, there are a number of artists exhibiting as The Space is large so plenty of room.

I am not ready at all as my work room has been having a makeover and the ceiling had to be replaced as the roof above was leaking so that got fixed first, I ended up with a large hole in the corner of the ceiling and it has been on-going for over a month now and everything has had to come out so the studio is full with stuff so no Tai Chi either...!!! The weather has been too cold and windy to train in the park so I will be so glad to see it all finished and everything back in the workroom again.

I will be taking some of the pendants I made for the Art Bead Scene challenges with me as well as some of the Impressions collection of pendants also maybe some hand dyed silk Kumihimo necklaces and some gorgeous vintage silk scarves I made along with some of my art cards of my own paintings.

 Love to get comments if you have a minute, thank you.

~Jackie~
 

 

BEAD SCENE CHALLENGE FOR APRIL ETC !

I have just squeaked in with my Bead Scene challenge this month, I was not sure whether I would be able to complete it as my work room is still being worked on, the windows and window sills are finally finished and the filling has been done the ceiling has been painted this morning and the woodwork is ready for its undercoat I think, I am not sure when I will be back in but sometime next week I think. I was so hoping it would be sooner as I have the Art Trail coming up on the 7th & 8th of May and there won't be time now to finish all the things I had planned so I will just have to go with what I have designed and made before I lost my workroom.

The Art Bead Challenge this month was a lovely bold oil painting by Helen Frankenthaler called Jacob's Ladder.

Although the colours are bold they have a softness about them so I chose to design my beads with flowers, vines and a hummingbird. 

I added embellishments of Swarovski crystals and for stringing I used beautiful freshwater white pearls, Jade beads and gold vermeil, I love designing something a bit different and so really enjoyed this. Though it almost didn't get finished in time!

So there you have it, I love to get comments so if you have time don't be shy, I really do look forward to hearing from you . Thank you.

~Jackie~

REDUNDANCY AND ALL THAT!

This is not the most cheerful post I have ever made but I shall be late with the challenge for the ABS this month. 

The reason! Things have been getting a bit challeng in my personal life, well perhaps a little more than a bit, my husband is going to be redundant soon and his health has got much worse recently, he will be going back to the cardiology unit to see if anything can be done for him at some time in the next few weeks ( we don't know when ) he is not of retirement age but old enough to be unlikely to get another job in his field.

Now we have just heard the firm my daughter works for is closing down! So she will also be out of work, quite a shock really, as you can imagine we are all wondering how we will cope as employment is scarce and moving at present is not an option.

I am trying very hard to stay positive but it is difficult and the new indoor market we are trying to utilise to help out has been a complete no go so far but maybe it will pick up, one can only hope. Sales online and at the web site are also not working, sadly at the moment.

I have no idea if it is helping to write some of this down, but if you read this far, the picture below is of a few of my miniature orchids in bloom to end on a cheerful note!

 ~Jackie~

ART BEAD SCENE CHALLENGE FOR FEBRUARY!

Well I am very late with this post my only excuse is we are very busy clearing the attic at present prior to starting on clearing the house ready to move in a couple of years, yes it will take a long time as we live in a four story big old house and it is the accumulation of over thirty years worth of art, craft and collecting with both myself and my daughter having a hand in it. So I hope I will be excused if some months I am a little late with my contributions. I am really enjoying the challenge though I think it is the only thing keeping me sane at present!

First off here is the Art Deco painting which was the inspiration this month.

I did find this one a real challenge as the colours somehow did not inspire me this time for what reason I don't know, I can work with red and blue maybe for my present mood they were just too strong, anyhoo I got my thinking cap on and came up with this pendant eventually.

The Polymer pendant has been carved with lines and the lower half of the blue has impressed dots, the circle on the blue is set with a Swarovski crystal, the gold circle on the red triangle has been sprinkled with tiny clear holeless glass beads and a trail of silver glitter the drop is a lovely Swarovski crystal. I added a chain and would have liked to hammer my own silver clasp but time was not on my side, so there you have it!  

~Jackie

JANUARY ART BEAD SCENE CHALLENGE!

Well its that time again, the Art Bead Scene Challenge. I liked how the blues and yellows in the painting made the landscape stand out.

This time I decided to use a pendant by Jean Cristin, I really like her clay work it has such a wonderfully organic feel to it, a real love of nature seems to come through and I love using her beads and pendants in my own work.

To string Jeans pendant I chose some beautiful butterscotch amber, adding pure copper beads, I used the last of my beautifully patterned sodalite rectangles separated with Karen Hill Tribe silver nuggets, I added more sodalite nuggets and finished with a silver toggle clasp. 

~Jackie~