Winter Berry

"Winter Berry" is my submission for the final 2012 Art Bead Scene monthly challenge. Here's the inspiration image,"Sleeping Beauty" by Erté, circa 1983:

Erté is perhaps most famous for his elegant fashion designs which capture the art deco period in which he worked. One of his earliest successes was designing apparel for the French dancer Gaby Deslys who died in 1920. His delicate figures and sophisticated, glamorous designs are instantly recognisable, and his ideas and art still influence fashion into the 21st century. 

This particular design reminded me of bright red berries, topped with snow, against a bright blue sky - a familiar winter scene here on Mackinac.

I was most inspired by Beauty's skirt - swirls of red, white, black and grey. I created a very long "beaded bead" in twisted tubular herringbone; the swirls are also present in the trio of hollow glass beads.

I found the clasp on Etsy, created by McDaddio. It's made of anodized aluminum and is the perfect complement to my beadwork - it's also very lightweight.

This is the second month in a row that I've ended up creating rather modern, somewhat stark (for me) necklaces - is it the start of a trend?

Available for purchase here.

Deco Skyline

"Deco Skyline" is my submission for the December "Art Bead Scene" monthly challenge. I've been experimenting with mixed media jewelry and this months inspiration image seemed a perfect subject.



The Art Bead Scene editors choose a building for this months inspiration - the Chrysler Building in New York.

What started as a small speculative office building has became one of New York's most admired landmarks. Chrysler took over the lease of the office building when it was in construction, hired William Van Alen to create a monument to his growing company and, allegedly, asked the architect to build the highest building constructed to date. To beat out his competitors who were also trying to build the world's tallest building, Van Alen erected a 185-foot spire on the top of the tower which was secretly delivered to the site in sections and raised to the top in a mere 90 minutes. Only a few months later, the Empire State Building surpassed the building in height, but the Art Deco skyscraper remains an unparalleled monument to industry.

A particularly beautiful example of the Art Deco style, it was one of the first large buildings to use metal extensively on the exterior, the building's ornament makes reference to the automobile, the quintessential symbol of the machine age. Metal hubcaps, gargoyles in the form of radiator caps, car fenders and hood ornaments decorate shaft and setbacks of the white and black brick building. This aluminum trim culminates in a beautiful, tapered stainless steel crown that supports the famous spire.

For my oversized mixed media pendent or neck piece, I found a frontal view of the spire and transferred the image to silk:

I removed one of the crescent shapes:

 

I used a "found object" as my central accent - a vintage hatpin topper that was unfortunately broken from it's stem. I created a beaded bezel to attach it to the silk. I picked out details of the architecture with hand embroidery and beads.

The chain portion is chandelier beaded chain and the closure is a simple toggle clasp. It's backed with heavy wool felt. 

It's easy to wear, very light weight and a great accessory for jeans or a cocktail dress - I think the experiment was successful!

Available for purchase here.

The Green Lady

"The Green Lady" is my submission for the November Art Bead Scene monthly challenge; here's the inspiration painting:

Madonna Pietra degli Scrovigni

by Marie Spartali Stillman (1844-1927)

Watercolour, gouache and gum arabic, 30.9in × 24.1 in.

The woman is a character from the Italian poet Dante. She was described as a heartless lady dressed in green. In her hand she holds a crystal bowl reflecting the figures of Love and Dante.

The artist, Marie Euphrosyne Spartali, later Stillman , was a British Pre-Raphaelite painter of Greek descent, arguably the greatest female artist of the movement. During a sixty-year career she produced over one hundred works, contributing regularly to galleries in Great Britain and the United States.

The artist, herself:

She and her two cousins, were known collectively among friends as "the Three Graces", after the Charities of Greek mythology, as all three were noted beauties of Greek heritage.

It was in the house of a Greek businessman, in south London, that Marie and her sister Christine met Whistler and Swinburne for the first time. They were dressed in white with blue ribbon sashes. Swinburne was so overcome that he said of Spartali: "She is so beautiful that I want to sit down and cry". Marie was a tall, imposing figure, and, in her later years, dressed in long flowing black garments with a lace hood, attracting much attention throughout her life.

The subjects of her paintings were typical of the Pre-Raphaelites: female figures; scenes from Shakespeare, Petrarch, Dante and Boccaccio; also Italian landscapes. She exhibited in England and at various galleries in the eastern USA, including the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. A retrospective show of her work took place in the United States in 1982.

My goal was to create a piece that looked as if it might have been worn by the lady in the painting. I started by creating a base grid using right angle weave, which I filled with olivine fire polished glass beads. I transitioned into square stitch to form the clasp, which also incorporates an antique button.

The star of the piece is the amazing pendant, formed of bronze metal clay and a real peridot from Etsy artist Wanda Cardenas at Epiphany of a Dragonfly.

I think the result is worthy of wear by a lovely Pre-Raphaelite lady!

Round the Bend - Part 2

Just a quick update: I finished the bracelet!

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.