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~

THE CHRISTMAS ROSE.

Helleborus niger, is the Christmas Rose and I was thrilled to see ours were out this Christmas day there are lots of buds still to come as you can see from the pictures. I took the photos this morning when I went out to feed the birds and my dear little fish, although I was saddened to find a beautiful Sarrasa Comet dead one morning last week it looked as if he had died of fright as he was squashed up in a corner but there were no marks on him and he looked his usual healthy self, only dead! 

I wish everyone a healthy, peaceful and harmonious New Year.

~Jackie~



 

DECEMBER ART BEAD SCENE CHALLENGE!

The last picture of the year to take our inspiration from was I thought, rather different see it below! It is a painting of Paris by Maria da Silva.

I had another challenge, to design and make some pendants for a local gallery where I exhibit some of my work so this painting partially inspired those as well. The pendant made for the Art Bead Scene Challenge was this one.

Below are several of the other pendants I made that are also available, I did enjoy designing them to add to my hand painted Impressions Series like my Tai Chi pendants and brooches. Each pendant is signed on the back and decorated or embellished in some way for your eyes only!

The rest of the pendants I made have not been photogrephed as yet I will add more at a later date!

Can you spare a moment to leave me a comment? I would love to hear from you, thank you.

~Jackie~

                           

                     

OCTOBER ART BEADS SCENE CHALLENGE!

October has come round so fast my birthday last Saturday has come and gone and the year seems to have flown by.!

The challenge picture for this month was a beautiful Egyptian painting see the picture below.

I loved the colours in this painting and as I really enjoy designing Egyptian pendants I knew this would be fun!

I started with a large open winged brass scarab stamping from B'Sue, I bought a few of these some years ago as I love using them, I decided I would paint the wings then glaze them to give an enameled effect but first I made a cartouch shape, cut off the flat piece on the bottom and turned it on its side and cut my Polymer to shape it made a perfect base for the scarab, I had decided on a lapis colour for the polymer, I also made a pair of coin shape beads and added an Ank to each, these I would be using during the stringing process. The scarab holds in its claws the rising and setting sun.

To string I used a pair of brass Lotus stampings again from B'Sue and painted these. The beaded necklace was done with a number of different beads I used faceted Lapis, Carnelian  and Sodalite cubes, turquoise, different sizes and colours of glass seed beads and six of my precious Roman glass tube beads. 

I doubt if it is something anyone would want to buy so I shall probably end up keeping it myself but I don't mind, it was an enjoyable if lengthy process and looks great on!

I am enjoying these challenges and look forward to next months.

 I hope you have enjoyed taking a look and I would love to read a comment from you if you can spare the time.

~Jackie~

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.

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~
I would love it if you spared a moment of your time to leave me a comment, I always read them and it is much appreciated.
 

ART BEAD SCENE AUGUST CHALLENGE!

Goodness I am very late getting this written this month so I will start by showing you the amazing Navajo tapestry Summer Thunder that was the inspiration this month and the link to Art Bead Scene. 
http://artbeadscene.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/august-monthly-challenge.html

I thought it would be nice to make some beads as well as a necklace, as I found the tapestry quite inspireing, I think it was partly the colour and something about the energy in the piece, the colour reminded me of our soil here in Devon it is just about that exact colour! 

So really my beads and necklace ( which is double sided ) are very much about the colour. The energy made me think of cave paintings and ancient art well I researched that a bit but finally went with my own thoughts, so the people in the beads and pendant and the patterns are  just my interpretation of animals and people going about their daily lives. Not sure if it has worked or not as I have never done anything like it before, I hope you will find it at least interesting even if a rather poor attempt.

 ~Jackie~
 Comments are gratefully received I don't get many but treasure every one, thank you.

ANOTHER ORGANIC NEKLACE!

Well I am back in the organic mood again, I have recently made another necklace for the Portland Gallery.

I found a wonderful carved wood bead and bought several of them as the website was closing down, that was the inspiration for this necklace as the carving had holes in it I thought what a good idea it would be to suspend some thin leather through them and add beads, well that took almost a full afternoonm they kept making their way out of the centre hole instead of the ones at the side   ...!!! I did get them through the holes eventually as you will see in the picture below, although I was terribly tempted to give up!

I wanted to use some more of the lovely Labradorite as theses beads are quite heavy I use them spareingly. I added some coconut heishi and several of the fair trade hand made beads, all lightweight beads and to bring out the splash of colour in the lovely little cloisonné Ladybird I used one of my polymer beads. I used hand dyed silk and a hand made clasp to finish, I hope you like it!

I love to get your comments and always read them, thank you.
~Jackie~ 

THE ART BEAD SCENE CHALLENGE!

I decided I really need to get back to making a bit of Jewellery again and perhaps a few beads too so I have joined the Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge, http://artbeadscene.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/july-monthly-challenge.html.

Each month a picture is chosen for you to take inspiration from, just what I need right now, my biggest problem is having too many ideas all at once and never knowing where to start so I never get started. Joining the monthly challenge gives me a better way to stay focused on just one thing. 

There is a Pinterest board....................
https://www.pinterest.com/artbeadscene/jewelry-monthly-challenge-entries/ and I have pinned my offering for the month of July, just the one to start with.

I have put the necklace below, the heart is hand made by me in Polymer.

~Jackie~

PAINTING ON PAPER AND CANVAS!

I have not been around much lately which of course means I have not posted on my blog for a while, there has been much to do in the garden and I have also started painting again and am really enjoying it. 

Watercolour is the medium I enjoy most with coloured pencil and mixed media but lately I have been trying out acrylic paint in various forms on canvas, it started out as a challenge from Maggie a friend who owns the gallery at the bottom of our road, so I accepted her challenge and decided I quite enjoyed painting again although for me it is all back to front from watercolour, I do use a watercolour technique though, I can't quite get to grips with pallet knives and such. 

Below you will see a watercolour and pencil Cambria Poppy that I did for my phoptograph album, the little bear standing by the page is one of my own design, hand made, mohair jointed bears from my soft sculpture days!

Under that a little Hare and butterflies on canvas which was rather fun to do. 

Hope you enjoy!
~Jackie~