YOJ Week 20, 21 and 22

Coral Reef or Beach Scene was the theme for week 20 and this is what I came up with. A coral floral! alternating with coral crystal beads....I think these stones are fossil beads and were wire wrapped in sterling silver....
Week 21 Ocean Deep, Big Blue and these lampwork beads that I made feel very much like the ocean. The focal pendant is
PMC fine silver that I call a "fragment" with a bit of text and the texture with its swirls add to the wave feeling. The lampwork alterntes with blue/green beads and a SS butterfly and sunface.
Week 22 Water to Drink was the theme and the dichroic cabachon bezel set in sterling silver is delicious. The depth of the glass sparkles. The rope is hand crocheted seed beads with Bali SS end caps and venetian glass hearts.....

Weeks 17, 18 & 19 of the YOJ

When I fail to come up with a piece to follow the theme I can always come up with these fibulas (pins). I LOVE making them.
This one uses an articulated fish in turquoise and brass tones. The wire is brass as well..
For Mother's Day, a simple pendant using sterling silver and swarovski crystal heart and freshwater pearls...and finally I found these wonderful turquoise organically shaped stones that do remind me of tide pools....since this pic was taken I have re-worked this design to include three of these stones so there is more stone and less chain...I'm much happier with it now and will post the new pic soon.....

Weeks 14, 15 and 16 of the Year of Jewelry

We're into Spring at this point and the themes are of water:
Week 14 - April showers bring May flowers - couldn't get that little rhyme out of my head when trying to design this piece
so I took it quite literally and embossed the links with those words alternating with a little bouquet of pink glass flowers.
Week 15 - Often simple is the prettiest - and was a cinch to fit into the theme of Drifting, Sea Foam, Rolling Waves.
Week 16 - Ripples, Depths and Shallows - I had this piece of silver that I tried reticulating (torched until almost molten) and it
fit the Ripples theme very well I thought.

Weeks 11, 12 and 13 of the Year of Jewelry

Week 11 I submitted a crochet and pearl necklace in bronze and gold tones with two oval faceted carnelian stones wrapped in a herringbone pattern with sterling silver wire.
Week 12 is of copper, forged and wire wrapped with pearls and crystals. It actually started out as a pair of earrings!
Week 14 has a two-by-two chain and wire wrapped spirals of sterling silver with aqua stones, as well as a pair of wire wrapped hand made glass beads.

Year of Jewelry - Part III

This one is one of my favorites - a glass charm with a baby photo of my dad...

Week nine was a collection of handmade glass pendants...

...and the grey tabs with dangles is called "Atmosphere"

Year of Jewelry Summary - Part II

Stormy Weather

Wild Winter Winds - this is what I did while the "Wild Winter Winds blew". :>}

Year of Jewelry Summary

Here is a summary of pics posted for the Year of Jewelry Forum that I belong to - we had themes we could follow, but only as an option: The following themes were: Morning Zephyr, Kisses in the Mist, Flight, Faerie Wings & Baby's Breath. If you haven't already picked up on the common thread, the theme is based on the elements and this quarter represented Wind.

Ocean Blue

Blue glass is always wonderful to look at. I've used up all my blue lampwork beads making two necklaces...this is one of them.
Pairs up beautifully with silver....so it's time to hit the torch and make some more......problem is I get easily distracted by the
other colors of glass rods...

Two new necklaces....

Two new necklaces that I've added to my Etsy shop. The first one is a 40" plus beaded crochet lariat that is great to wear with jeans. It has a supple, sensuous feel to it too. The other is a triple strand of pearls alternating with hex cut bronze tube beads that glint and glitter...a nice counterpoint to the lustre of pearls. The pearl colors are pinks and shades of bronze and moss green. A nice departure from the usual pearl necklace......

How Artists Color Our Lives

No, I'm not that conceited! This is the title of an interesting internet site on the history of pigments. Make a point of checking this site out - it is incredibly informative.....
http://webexhibits.org/pigments/

Peony Painting

The peonies are just finishing in my garden but live on now in my painting. Here it is, 98% finished. Now I'll compare the painting before me to the reference material (the pics I took of the still life), let it simmer a little bit until I can judge more clearly and put a retouch varnish on it! I'm still always surprised how my first blocking in of colors
(I call it color mapping) and done with wild abandon is still pretty accurate when I return in the later stages. My oil paintings are a counterpoint to my acrylic paintings. I'm rather sedate when painting in oils but am more experimental with acrylics. There are more gestural brush strokes, layers, texture, color, etc. What I'd like to work on now is a stronger brush style. Even all these years later I approach a new painting with trepidation as if unsure that I can pull it off. (I think most artists feel the same way).

Painting Peonies

I've been showing you the floral inspirations I've photographed, and now I've finally settled on painting peonies this week.
I started it before these flowers actually bloomed so all I had to work with were the leaves. I knew the color palette I wanted to work with and thanks to the weather lately, by the time I really needed to look at the real flowers, our local florist was able to get some. (My own are not particularly colorful but I do enjoy them in my garden). The pic of the painting in the frame is far from finished but I tried it out in the room it was meant for to see how it will look. I'll post the finished painting hopefully in another week.......

Women In Art

Enjoy this video clip - it is amazing. I particularly enjoy the choice of music. Be patient, it may be a little slow to load, but will be well worth the wait.....

A Little Inspiration from the Garden

I regreted not having planted tulips last Fall (I usually have at least one nice grouping) but despite that, the few that managed
to return provided me with this inspiration for a new still life.....

I can't believe we're nearing the end of May and over the winter and spring my focus has been on jewelry (with only occasional dabs of paint). It's an instant gratification pursuit. But I must return to my easel....I miss it and I'm not quite right without it.....and with inspiration like this I'll be back at it this week.....

More Pins.....

At the end of last March I posted some pins that I had wanted to try and here are a few more....As a piece of jewelry these pins allow me to really be creative. Special beads can be paired with silver charms as an alternative to wearing a charm bracelet....

April Showers Bring May Flowers - FINALLY!

Well you can see I have "flowers on the brain" this month......my latest entry into the "Year of Jewelry" group I joined earlier this year. Each forged segment has a word from this well known phrase embossed and patinated and linked with two groupings of tiny glass flowers. Made of sterling silver of course and a little SS bee dangling from the clasp. Now I'm going to go and paint some flowers..........

After this dismal week in the middle of April I've been dabbling with photographing more of what I hope to be seeing in the coming months.....lots and lots......of flowers. This is of a potted pink lilly that I gave my mom on Easter Sunday....and hopefully will use in a large scale painting. I haven't decided yet if it will be in acrylic or oil. I'm leaning more toward oil
for the subtle color shifts in this pale pink color scheme that will enhance the delicacy of the petals. Acrylics are great for
bright and bold but this needs a more delicate treatment.......In any case, I'm sharing a little bit of inspiration with anyone who
visits me here at my blog.

Copper and Pearls

A new design just completed - a prototype really but I like it so much I'd wear this one everyday whereas the next one made in silver will be more dressy. It has a very delicate lacy appearance when worn.....

One thing leads to another - I had played around with soldering images between bits of glass ages ago and decided to
try my hand at it again......also have been designing fibulas (pins) to use my lampwork beads with and the two seemed
to merge. I love the creative possibilites......the pic of the baby is of my dad around 1910. I'm already working on
several others....

I was asked to do an illustration for a book cover recently and needed a view beyond the window. I chose an image from
some photos I had taken years ago on Lake of Two Mountains looking toward Oka. It's always interesting to see how a
photo translates into an illustration expecially when I know the area so well.........