Oct Art Bead Scene Challenge

This month challenge was really good in that even though it didn't have those "Halloween" colors, it was symbolic of the season.  Owls are fascinating birds.  The ability to swivel their heads amazes me.

Owl on Gingko Branch (Scops Owl Under Crescent Moon) 1915

Ohara Koson

Woodblock Print on Paper

(Please note this art is copyrighted and is to be used only as inspiration.)

About the Art

Skillfully executed "bokashi" shading throughout; nicely visible woodgrain entire background; the crescent moon's edges, owl, and ginko leaves raised in "gauffrage"; "burnishing" to owl's black eyes; sharp key-lines, much fine detailing.

A delightful image of a little scops owl perched on a ginko tree beneath a thin crescent moon. 

About the Artist

Ohara Koson - (1877 - 1945) was a Japanese painter and printmaker of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, part of the shin-hanga (new prints) movement. He was born Ohara Matao in Kanazawa, Japan. It is thought that he started training in painting and design at the Ishikawa Prefecture Technical School in 1889-1893. He also studied painting with Suzuki Kason (1860-1919), although accounts differ on whether this happened during his school years or after he moved to Tokyo in the middle to late 1890s. In Tokyo, he produced some woodblock triptychs illustrating episodes of the Russo-Japanese War, but most of his production was prints of animals (kacho-ga). He worked at first with publishers Akiyama Buemon (Kokkeido) and Matsuki Heikichi (Daikokuya), signing his work Koson. Starting around 1926, he became associated with the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo, and signed his work Shoson. He also worked with the publisher Kawaguchi, signing his works Hoson. Through his association with Watanabe, Oharas work was exhibited abroad, and his prints sold well, particularly in the United States. He was active designing prints until at least 1935, and died at his home in Tokyo in 1945.

For this challenge I knew what I wanted to do.  My brain has been in creative overload lately and it running full steam ahead whether I am with it or not.  Anyway, I have met a new creative artist, Sydny Sierra, that is dipping her toes in the craft ocean and asked her if she could do up this pendant piece for me.  I wanted something rustic and I think she did very well.  She hasn't quite got a site up yet, but I am mentoring her. Her site will be called Blue Rose Crafts. She is into photography also and has a FB page called Blue Rose Photography.  

So she did this piece for me and I made it into a necklace with matching earrings.  I used orange cotton braiding cord, wire, and beads that I had in my stash.  I am soooo trying to use up my beads...but funny thing....as fast as I use them...the more there seem to be. 

I did find some coppery glass beads that I decided to wrap around, I tried to take pictures so you could see it.  I "very carefully" put some wire with green beads on the real stick she put on under the owl.  Then I hung the orange leaves below the owl. I was very careful also drilling the holes in the corners to hang the leaves and the rings to hold it on the cotton braid.  For being her first piece, I am impressed and she truly captured the owl.  I will be posting on flicker and abs.com for the challenge.  Thanks for looking. 

And I have several more challenges coming up that I will posting about, so hop back around this weekend. 

 

Thanks for stopping by.  May you have a blessed day!

V
ABS Oct Challenge

Creating with Cabochons Challenge/Blog Hop

As if she doesn't have enough to do....our esteemed leader Sally has once again given us a challenge.  Create with Cabochons.  Ok, no big deal....unless you really don't understand how to make them.  Hmmm...Sally to the rescue again!  She posted some tutorials for us newbies so that we could understand this wonderful art.

I had a stone that used to be on top of a ring my mother always wore.  She passed this year so I wanted to make it into something I could see and wear to remember her by.  So using Sally's great instructions, I created the cabochon you see below.

I didn't put it on a fancy chain or doll it up.  I don't think I am quite ready for that step yet, so I put it on a satin cord with coordinating beads, tied knots between the beads and then attached a simple chain.  Very simple and just like I like them.  So I will wear this quite often.

I do plan on doing more as I have seen some beautiful patterns I would love to try.




For more beauties, check out the links below. And thanks for looking.

Pearls, Pearls, and More Pearls!

Michelle from MiShelDesigns has thrown down the gauntlet for those of us brave enough to accept it. The challenge...PEARLS!  We were to make jewelry (or not) using PEARLS.  We could use other beads also, but I got the feeling she wanted PEARLS, PEARLS, AND MORE PEARLS. So....I went though my stash...and man do I have some PEARLS.  I didn't realize I had so many.  Big ones, little ones, colored ones, and the list goes on.  After days of going back and forth I knew I wanted to do something out of the box and with crochet.  (I have been crocheting for oh....30+ years).  I had found some faux PEARL button covers, so I took off the backs, found a pattern to crochet and then sewed the button covers on the finished piece and then added a few accent PEARLS. I sewed a couple of PEARLS on the edge to fasten it with.  The yarn is silvery white. I also crocheted up a ring with the last button cover.  Around a size 9 - 10...

Then I decided to do a second more conventional piece using PEARLS and Swarovski crystals.It is a three tiered necklace with matching earrings. It has a PEARL chain closure set so that it can be adjusted. The earrings are just simple dangle.

Thanks for looking and for more delicious PEARLS hop over to Michelle's.

Art Bead Scene - Sept 2013

For this months challenge I really wanted to try some new techniques that had been swirling in my head. They involved clay and wire.

First I had seen some clay pendants that Erin at Treasures Found had done that I fell in love with.  She gave a link to Stroppel Cane to show how she did it.  I went and reviewed it and was hooked!  So when this months challenge came out, I was like, ok , perfect time to use this technique. Of course....I didn't do it quite the same since I was relying on my memory to do it.  But making mistakes is how you learn!

As you can see....my clay design didn't come out quite like I wanted, and I think I used to much red. Plus since my pasta machine died....I didn't the thinness required. BUT, I put my pendant on the back of washers that I had to give them some stability.  Then I put black felt over the backs after running the satin ribbon from the bottom up to use for the hanger.

I also have a Coiling Gizmo that I like to use. I coiled copper wire and used it in the design. I wanted to see how clay and wire looked together so I encased the copper wire in between the clay.  Then I drilled holes in the clay disks and ran the coil through two of them, connecting them on each side. Then I used the coils to make earring dangles...I put the clay on the ends of each coil before baking.  If you look at the bottom right picture you can see what NOT to do when baking beads and that is to lay it on a flat surface....it burns.... Anyway I then used my wire to make another coil but this time with beads on it to use to hang the pendant on. I love working with the coil and beads. Maybe I'll make some to sell.....

Any way this is my submission for this months ABS challenge.  I think I am going to hang it close by, so I can make sure NOT to make the same mistakes.

Thanks for looking.

For more info hop over to ABS Monthly Challenge

Blogger/Non Blogger Challenge

For this challenge we were given two photos to create jewelry from

. 

(One day I will figure out how align these pics)  Any way, being the over achiever, that I can be....here is my offering for the pictures.

 

These were done based on the Teal Goddess.  Love those colors! The collage picture of the necklace shows where I crocheted silky fabric strips from a dress my daughter was making.  That was fun and I am definitely going to do it again!

These (below) were based off the Time Fly's picture. I is a pin. As you can see the top is free form wire wrapping with seed beads. To that I wired in the watch with the charms. Some one said it almost look like a head with wild hair.  How funny.  I didn't notice that until it was mentioned. Any way,  these were my offerings.  Thanks for looking. 

Summer Color Surprise 2013 Blog Hop

Here is my final pieces for the Summer Color Surprise hosted by Lisa Lodge of Grateful Artist.  She sent all of us varying color of beads to use our creative juices while hopefully stepping out of the box....

When I first received mine, I loved the colors...

My first thought was turquoise, yellows, reds. The islands, calypso, bright, bold, totally out of the box with color.  So I started digging through my stash.... Yeah, I had all those colors....I shop at Walmart a lot, (who doesn't) and they have these packages of acrylic beads in all the primary colors and more.  So I pick some up every time I go.  Acrylic is light weight, and I hate jewelry that is so heavy, I have a headache when I get home.

So I put everything out on my work space. Figuring I would let it stew awhile.....

can you see them stewing??????

I also wanted to try something with crochet wire so I got out my wire and put on some beads and gave it a whirl.  Here is what I came up with...

 I am not sure how well you can see the crochet, but I used the smaller beads in the crochet and then hung the other beads with head pins.  I think I need to do a bit of tweaking. My daughter says it is a little long.

The rest of the beads I worked on for days, putting them on head and eye pins, working on different combos, undoing, redoing...well you get the picture...but finally this is what I came up with.

It has colored chain, colored beads, head pins, eye pins, and just about everything but the kitchen sink.  It was fun working on it.  I had it strung across some hooks on a pole I use in my craft events so that I could see what I was doing.  It helped...some.  I kept moving things around and finally my daughter told me to stop, it was suppose to be a fun necklace so quit trying to make everything equal.... (She's 19)

So I did, to me, it is very bold, calypso looking, colorful and out of the box!

I did a pair of earring too!

So here is my offering for this blog. Had a great time an can't wait til the next one...

For more great designs hop over to Lisa's website to check them out!

And thanks for looking!

Art Bead Scene - Aug 2013

Painted in 1970, Tres Personajes is regarded as a masterpiece of the artist’s mature period, the synthesis and culmination of a career and a celebration of his approach to universalism in art via color, abstraction and texture. It is an abstract depiction of a man, a woman and an androgynous figure in a rich palette of purple, orange and yellow, with Tamayo's signature rough surface texture, made of sand and ground marble dust mixed into the paint.
Carmen Melián, Head of the Latin American Art department at Sotheby’s, said, “Tamayo introduced abstraction as a possibility in Mexican modernism at a time when the prevalent style was figurative work. Tamayo emphasized formalism while illustrating Mexico’s indigenous past, managing to combine aspects of the modern avant-garde with the language of the native Amerindian cultures, making use of the colors of Mexico in a modern way.”

This painting is featured on the cover of the 1974 book by art historian Emily Genauer, Rufino Tamayo, the most important monograph in English addressing the artist’s career. The work was exhibited in a 1974-75 exhibition, Cent Oeuvres de Tamayo (One Hundred Works by Tamayo), in Paris at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and in Florence at the Palazzo Strozzi.

Tamayo was born in 1899 and began his career as a figurative painter when he was in his 20s. In the 1930’s, Tamayo began visiting New York, and he continued to travel between the United States and Mexico for much of his career. Tamayo’s lasting legacy to art history is the re-examination of Cubism and the explication of Mexico’s pre-Columbian history while incorporating elements of the mainstream movements of 20th century art. Tamayo is known for his vivid coloring and innovative use of texture, often incorporating sand and raw pigment into his works.
Tamayo himself was an extensive collector of American post-war artists. One of his lasting legacies is the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City, which not only displays his works and a collection of 20th century art, but also is one of the premiere collections of Contemporary art in Mexico City. The museum will hold a Tamayo retrospective, Tamayo: A Modern Icon Reinterpreted, from October 26, 2007-January 21, 2008. In his native Mexico, Tamayo is known as a pioneer of modern art and as one of the most important painters of the 20th century.

When I first saw this months challenge, I thought WOW, something with color!  I had been wanting to try something new with crocheting and ribbon. So I crocheted up a large disk and put a black pendant in the middle...

But when I asked Erin about it...she said not it didn't quite fit...so back to the drawing board.  My daughter likes it so I'm going to make it into a necklace for her.

So I decided to try my hand at clay again... In the picture I see a head/face....no one else in my family did....anyway I worked away on creating my face....

after th 4th try I finally had a decent face, so I crocheted a smaller disk and attached the face to it...

Isn't he purty???? Needless to say, I think I need more practice....but...I have a hand made bead that I glued into the  bottle cap...so hopefully it will pass muster....  Thanks for looking, below are more pictures...

Thanks for looking! Have a blessed day!