Mackinac Spring

"Mackinac Spring" is my entry in the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge. March's challenge piece is by Paul Gaugin, entitled Nave Nave Moe (Sacred Spring, Sweet Dreams). Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin, 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903, was a leading French Post- Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer. His bold experimentation with colouring led directly to the Synthetist style of modern art while his expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings, under the influence of the cloisonnist style, paved the way to Primitivism and the return to the pastoral. He was also an influential proponent of wood engraving and woodcuts as art forms.

I choose three colors from the painting, red, yellow ochre and pewter grey to use in my piece. I decided to reinterpret the idea of "spring" and island" to fit Mackinac In northern Michigan, spring is slow and subtle and on Mackinac, one of the first signs of spring is the gradual exposure of the limestone rock which forms the island.

Our first plants to appear often do so from the protective cover of the previous seasons growth. This is the inspiration for the color palette of this necklace: a base of a neutral pewter grey, with touches of subtle, yet rich wine red and ochre yellow. This base is highlighted with two lampworked floral beads, peeking from a freeform backing."Mackinac Spring" is a beadwoven necklace starting with a herringbone chain in three colors and sizes seed beads. It is enhanced with freeform peyote stitch "leaves" and two lampworked floral beads from Lisa Kan's "Botanical" series.

Available for purchase here.