Reflections

Not long ago I decided to make a series of beaded pictures whereby I created a beaded piece, mounted it on fabric and framed it.  Here are some thoughts I had as I created these two first pieces.

"Shadow Play" -- a piece that reflects the light and dark, the shadows and glimmer that appear each day.  Sliding into the colors in this piece I let the beads speak for themselves and they seemed to know what they were doing, where they should go.  This piece was stitched 'on the flat' which was a joy to me after completing "RSVP", the hand sculpture.  Beading 'on the flat' allows so much more latitude as to the various stitches that can be used and where the beads go.  I love a piece where I can let the beads flow - as if you come upon a form and shape in nature and it takes on a life of its own.

"On Gossamer Wings" -- this piece was a 'natural'.  I had found the dragonfly button and just had to use it.  As I beaded this piece it was late summer, a perfect time to be using these colors and this theme.  I was able to allow the summer light to creep into the work by using some beads that sparkled - much like the sun on a small pond.  As I've been in a 'learning' mode this past year I hadn't done much about adding bits and bobs on top of the beads but this time I found a stick which had some green lichen on it to attach on top of the beads.  I immediately fell in love with this idea and I know I'll try to layer more in the future. 

I know that a 'series' is not made up of just two pieces so there will be more (and more and more) of these to come -- aren't the opportunities, the inspiration and the creative freedom of encrusted beading just the most wonderful experience?

“Make visible what without you might perhaps never have been seen.” Robert Bresson

An Inspired Collection

Do you keep little things around that inspire you? I certainly do - in fact I have not one, but three dishes on my work table into which go items that please me, that help to stir my creative juices.

The first is a ceramic dish which I happily bought from a local potter during a studio tour. This dish holds all of my 'natural' wonders. A shell picked up at the beach on our last trip to Charleston; acorns picked up on my walks last fall; a feather also picked up on one of my walks. Then there is a piece of quartz with its shiny pointy things (obviously this is not a scientific definition) and more shells.

The next dish is wooden, part of a set picked up at a thrift shop. This smallest of the dishes holds little metal pieces that I have picked up along the way. In the back of my mind one or more of them will become part of a beaded piece but for now they sit there teasing me with their presence.

This wooden dish is much larger and it holds precious cabochons. Oh the inspiration in this dish! Some of these cabs are simply flat stones that I have collected, others are 'real' cabochons purchased at favorite bead shops. All of them whisper to me as I go about my daily beading.

Is there a bit of the magpie in each of us, the part of us which cannot imagine leaving a penny on the ground? Perhaps the love of beads and beading fulfills that need to capture the shiny and hold it in our hands.

I constantly add to these collections, and hope that I always will. Sometimes I even take one of these beauties and incorporate it into my beading -- but if I never did that, if they lay there forever just for my pleasure that would be okay too.

"Observe the wonders as they occur around us." - Rumi

Falling for Fall

I'm reveling in the beauty that surrounds me at this time of the year.  Fall brings with it colors and scents and sounds and feelings so particular to this time of year. 

Color - how many colors are seen during a walk in the woods?  Colors that only appear for a short time each year.  Colors to savor and remember later on when the trees have lost their leaves and the colors are mostly grey, black and white. 

Scents - the scent of stew cooking in the crockpot, of freshly poured tea awaiting its first sip, of cider and pumpkins and cinnamon and every manner of warm smells.

Pictures - because I know that fall won't last as long as I would like it to I must take picture after picture.  Pictures of the changes in the woods, of the blue sky peeking through coloring leaves. 

Sounds - the crunch of leaves underfoot as they pile up everywhere.  This is a Fraser Magnolia leaf - at least 15" long.  Its HUGE!  During the spring and summer we are blessed with beautiful white flowers - during the fall we find these large leaves on the ground, dwarfing all the leaves around it.

Feelings - who can resist the feeling of a cool, crisp October day.  This is a day to wear my favorite sweater, to sit with a cup of tea on the porch looking out over the ever changing woods beyond. 

This is fall!!

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." - Albert Camus

"RSVP"

After completion of the white glove I had to decide how to display it. Display was never a problem for me when I was creating book art -- finish the book, stand it up and voila!! However for beaded pieces the display is a whole new world for me. As I beaded the hand I had the thought that this was a bride's glove and I wanted to display it to portray that kind of image. I had pictured the glove laying on top of a vintage wedding invitation which was in turn atop a vintage plate. I was never able to find a vintage wedding invitation - but I did find an old photograph of a bride and groom. The bride is wearing white gloves and holding a bouquet of pink flowers.

Now to the plate -- which I found at a local shop "Honeysuckle Hollow". The owner makes these serving plates by affixing old plates to glass bases. The one I found had pink flowers on it which was perfect. While in the shop the owner suggested that I might want to make a small beaded heart to place in the palm of the hand - good idea!

What started out as a vague idea of what to do with this long term project became a romantic assemblage. Don't you love it when your art takes on a life of its own and becomes what it wants to be?

"Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words." - Plautus

Give Me A Hand

At long last my white glove/beaded hand project has come to an end. For this particularly monumental project I did count the hours - 96 from start to finish. I began this project on January 26, 2009. Of course after the first 46 hours when I had only finished the fingers and my own fingers were raw, it sat on its tray for a long while.

As a learning experience this one was a 'pip'!! I certainly learned a lot about beading on a sculptured object. I stuffed the hand as I went along but working on a piece that is already stuffed can be limiting to the kinds and styles of stitches you can create. Stitching through the kid leather was a little difficult at times but not as bad as I had thought it might be. Using all white beads was another challenge. At times my eyes felt like they were crossing trying to decide which white beads I'd already used, which white beads I wanted to use next and heaven forbid any 'bead soup' because it was impossible to separate them out if they got mixed up (and I have to admit that at times they did get mixed up).

Since beginning the work on this project I have received several kid gloves as gifts but I have to tell anyone who has given them to me that I probably won't be doing another one of these for a long, long time!

"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." - Emile Zola