Gardening, Beadmaking and Painting

It's been a little while since I last stopped by my blog, mostly as my time has been spent in the garden tending the patch when not working.  We had such an abundance over Summer which was quite surprising as we started late in the season getting ourselves sorted and secondly, as we were just seeing what would thrive or fail not knowing what the summer temperatures and the amount of rainfall would be like impacting production.  Ummm .... all I can say is we haven't needed to shop for fresh fruit and veggies since early January.  We've only needed to purchase the staples - onions, garlic and avocado - but that is it, which is massive as three-quarters of all our meals use fresh vegetables.  Am remedying the onions and the garlic with seedlings growing already for next season and will attempt a test run on avocados by building a suitable environment, so keeping fingers crossed for next year.

Since early March, I've only had a chance to work on two projects.  I recently completed the design and made the dangles for my next "Findings of Nature" necklace:

And over the last few weeks, I finally plucked up the courage to paint a painting in colour.  Now I've painted before in my dot-like style, however, I've never actually painted something 100% with a brush.  So dealing with serious handshakes, constant confidence questioning and concerns of stuffing it all up was uncomfortable, but fulfilling as I finished it by pushing my boundaries way out.  It is a bang of colour ... perhaps too bright for some, but I wanted something seriously vibrant and weirdly interesting to adorn our plain, stark walls with dark brick in places.  I've named this piece "Woodland Faerie", acrylic on canvas, 40x30cm.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend ahead :)

New Piece from the "Hint of Tribal" Series

Awhile ago, I handpainted some wooden pendants with two feature beads to each pendant as part of a component kit I was trading.  A couple of them sold, but I kept my favourite of them all in hopes to use them in a piece.  Like with many of my pieces, the materials I wished to use sat waiting (the story of my life!) until recently, where I've been on a major creative push.

This piece wasn't created from a story, an expression, a feeling or something I saw which inspired me, but simply, texturally.  The pendant was my favourite for many reasons: it inspired a painting using the same texture as the feather; the design came so naturally that once it was finished, I literally jumped for joy and it prompted me to extend on the idea to sell the kits; and more importantly, I loved painting it so much that each time I hold it, it makes me smile.

I had made a cute wirework bail which was perfect for the chain to pass through which was sprinkled with some wire wrapped seed beads.  Next, I added the feature handpainted beads, a singular Tagua Nut cube, Czech glass and some Mykonos Greek ceramic spacers, all wire wrapped together.  I finished it with a hand macrame and seed bead neckpiece and wirewrapped embellished clasp.

It measures 40 cms from the base of the neck to the bottom of the pendant.  It is quite light-weight and texturally delicious!  I love how the pendant pops, all the other pieces add to its warmth and the soft cashmere blend neckpiece completes the piece.

Completing this piece was a triumphant moment for me as it was another design I'm seriously proud of.  It was also the last piece for me to complete from a collection of designs and materials to use I had grouped together back in 2015.  Yep, laughably, it takes me that long to get around to finishing things!  But I trust in myself enough that one day my ideas will transform from a sketch, to singular objects that will connect together so meaningfully and materialise into something a person will one day wear against their heart. 

When I test drove this piece, I felt the energy of my love of creating it almost like a protective shield, so this piece naturally became a part of my "Hint of Tribal" series. 

The Bowl That Inspired The Necklace

Back in January, I blogged about an offering bowl which inspired my new "Dream Weaver" necklace series.  In the throws of creative energy, I had stopped working on the offering bowl and jumped straight into making the pendant for the necklace.  Here it is below:

I was terribly unsure if it was too outside of the box, however, reassurance came in the way of a tremendous amount of positive feedback and the above piece sold straight away, which totally floored me!  

So after what feels like yet another week from hell, where absolutely everything that could go wrong does go wrong, I needed to calm my mind with some meditative creating and ended up finishing the offering bowl last night.  I love the way it sits in the hand, tightly coiled with splashes of colour, with its warmth permeating the fibre.  The only downside to it being a bowl is the fact it's so difficult to photograph hahah so here it is top down:

It's almost the weekend (yayyyyy) so enjoy every minute whatever you choose to do :)

New Wall Art Piece - 2

My favourite colour palette acts as a safety net when it comes to my creations as my designs come freely and I know the finished piece is going to be as I imagined.  So, excited to create another wall hanging in a similar style to the one I made for myself, I decided to use a colour palette I wouldn't normally choose.  I had used it once when creating my handpainted bookmarks (middle bookmark in the below pic) and I loved the outcome.  Wondering how it would look on a much larger scale was what piqued my muse:

One good thing about painting the discs is as each piece consists of multiple layers which require dry time in-between each layer, I can work on them in short bursts which suits my schedule wonderfully!

I finished painting the discs earlier this week and pondered on what selection of beads to use and how it was going to hang:

And this morning, I finished linking it altogether using an array of Indian glass, semiprecious gemstones, Mykonos ceramics and Czech glass:

And it's all complete!

Have a wonderful week ahead :)

New Piece from the "Elements: Water" Series

On my work table I have clusters of beads I've pulled out whilst working on other projects that have piqued my muse to use "later".  Sometimes those beads sit, occasionally being picked up, turned over in my hand and then returned to its spot where it continues to sit for what feels like a lifetime.  Such is the case in this instance.  A wirework dangle, a lampwork bead and a ceramic droplet made by the wonderful Scorched Earth have been picked up, fondled, stared at, hoping the design would miraculously appear and yet they've been returned to their spot for two years and one house move.  

Two weeks ago, Heath and I wandered down to a local reggae festival where we crossed over a creek.  Stopping to see if it was running, I was so inspired by what I saw -- gently swirling water delicately gliding over and under sun-kissed river pebbles whilst dragonflies hover a bee's breath above the surface and the lyrebirds sound their meditative song through the magical shards of listening glistening amongst the tree canopy.  And when I returned home, I knew.  Finally!  And I finished it this weekend:

This one of a kind piece features my handmade polymer clay connector and spiral dangle, a Scorched Earth on Etsy bronzy droplet, seed beads, Acacia seed, coconut, lampwork, leather and hemp cording, Vintage Bronze wire and antique brass findings.

Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

New Wall Art Piece

Today has been an awesome day!  You know those days where everything works out and there's sunshine and rainbows? Hehe. Yep, today is THAT day for me.

I started the day waking from a wonderful sleep-in with no alarm!  And I spent most of my morning having such a soul-filled conversation with a dear friend of mine which left me in such a great space.  I had planned to spend the whole day creating but it was such fantastic weather that I did some garden tending until lunch and spent the afternoon finishing off a piece of wall art which makes me tingle all over :)

See, I continue on the bandwagon of finishing my unfinished projects.  As each one gets completed in its due time, I'm buzzing to see ideas from recently or from years ago form afore my eyes.  Sometimes these materialisations are stonewalled as I get stuck not knowing how to continue and for some ideas, they just wait patiently.  So is the case for this one.  I designed this on 21 August 2003 carefully cutting out photocopies of my drawing to create the bigger picture:

So over our recent Christmas short break, I brought out my wooden discs again, painting each one.  Then I started the construction:

And last night, I finished the construction:

Then today was the fun part of figuring out how to hang it.  I wanted it to sit flat on the wall so after fiddling about for sometime, I ended up by dressing one of my canvases with Dupioni silk in the most magical sage green and affixed the piece to the canvas.  It is marvellous.  Well I think so anyway hahahha. So introducing "Sun of Yang":

Enjoy your weekend ahead :)

 

New Year to Try New Things

It's been some time since I last wrote and it's all the crazy season's fault.  However, despite all the madness, we spent a wonderful day at my sister's place who put on an amazing lunch and we all left with full bellies and warmed hearts. We were able to have a few days off work to unwind and just be.  To switch off from the world and not adhere to a schedule. Much needed rest was had to heal, reset and recharge.  

I spent most of my time in the garden working on our vegetable patch. Tending to plants is something I find great joy in and as it was also my birthday, we added my favourite berry fruits to our collection, growing it to 42 different varieties of food.  I had intended on building a beehive, however, I feel my knowledge of keeping bees is not enough so I wish to research more until I feel I can handle any issue that may occur.

I did spare enough time to finish my mixed media wall art piece that I started in the September.  For me to have completed 15 projects since moving to the farm is a massive accomplishment and honestly, I'm so proud of what I've achieved.  This mixed media wall hanging was inspired by the way I make my vessels.  I had wanted to try an inlaid coloured shape on a flat surface and I also wanted to see how a larger piece would hold together when done flat.

Embellishing it with shell, wood, sea glass and seed gave the piece more depth and I really love how it turned out, especially being my last completed piece for 2016.  It now hangs in our lounge room

So with the beginning of each year, I like to think about all the new skills I want to build on and new ideas I want to try out, in my growth as an artist.  As I've mentioned so many times before, the list will always be never-ending.  But one thing I enjoy doing is expanding on my ideas using different mediums. 

Continuing with the theme of my style of basket-weaving (btw, it is in no way a traditional method lol), I recently became inspired by another vessel I'm currently making.  I had just finished the base and thought it would look so cool as a pendant.  So I ran with it.

I had visions of it being the first in a new "Dream Weaver" series but I'm unsure if it's on the wrong side of too different. I like stepping out of the box but have I gone too far??  I've had some feedback from family and friends who say they really like it but I dunno.  We'll see.  I'm going to attempt another in a different colour scheme so stay tuned.

Enjoy your week!