Earrings and Contests

I was trying to make earrings for a trade being sponsored by Beading Daily. Its supposed to be mailed by August 31, but I'm afraid its just not going to happen. Too much to do and not enough time to do it.

Hubby said they are to nice to send away, and I should keep them and wear them. *sigh* I'm hoping to open an Etsy shop, but if I keep everything I won't have anything to sell, lol

I noticed they also have a challenge for "Stringing" magazine as well. I'll have to give that one some thought over the next couple of days.

And speaking of contests, Art Bead Scene, is having a giveaway for some wonderful beads from Green Girl studios. There are also details for a mixed media design contest being hosted by Green Girl studios. They have some incredible entries! I'm going to see what I can come up with, but boy there is some stiff competition.

Well, I have some "important" celebrating to get ready for. Everybody have a great weekend! I probably won't be posting again until later next week.

Necklace Finished!

The Art Bead Scene challenge inspired me to use colors I don't normally use. And I am very pleased with how the necklace turned out.

I got a little stuck putting the necklace together. Actually it was more a case of procrastination. That and fussing over it too much. I tend think about it too much and make the stringing process more complicated than I need to.

I spend to much time worrying about how to put a piece together instead of "just doing it". Sometimes, simple is better. I really enjoy using waxed cotton, waxed linen, hemp and leather. Perhaps it is because they are inexpensive materials I'm not so afraid to experiment.

I have more beads for at least one more necklace. I also have some beads that need to be finished. So I can play more with this. I have some shell heishi and dyed mother of pearl I may try to incorporate.

So, off I go to play!

Summer's End

A tale my Mom use to tell about my brother (16 years my senior) was about a paper he had to write in grade school. The topic was what he like most about summer and what he liked least about summer. What he wrote was something like this:

"What I like most about summer is when it begins. What I like least about summer is when it ends."

I never like when summer ends either. Even now, I tend to get a little melancholy as summer winds down. I like and look forward to autumn, but at the same time I don't like summer to end. As I worked on these beads I thought about those carefree summers and days at the beach growing up in Southern California.

Really, the colors of these beads aren't quite right for Southern California. But that didn't matter. As I worked on them, I still thought of the foggy beach mornings giving way to warm sunshine. And playing in the waves of the cool Pacific waters. And the inevitable sunburn.

A picture of the woodcut print that is the inspiration is at August monthly challenge.

The bead colors were inspired by the print for the challenge. Somehow while working on these beads, I found myself thinking about the Southern California beaches and never wanting summer to end.

Back in the "Groove"

I'm such a naughty blogger. Okay, my New Years Resolution is to blog a minimum of once a week. What? It's already August, nearly September! Well I blew that resolution.

I've been getting back to working with polymer clay - it's such a fun medium! Last year at Polymer Clay Central, one of the topics was groovy. I started these beads last year and recently finished them. I made this fun little necklace with some of the beads.

Currently, I'm working on some beads for a monthly challenge at this blog: http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/

After I get the beads buffed, I'll take some photos and post a little more about it.

I also have some quite a few beads I need to photograph and post. As well as some random knitting things. (It's too warm to think about knitting very much right now).

And maybe I'll think about finishing the painting. Maybe.

Painting progress

I finally worked on the darn thing today. I thought I would show some pictures that highlight the steps up to this point.



This is a pencil sketch that is in my sketch book. Nothing more than a doodle, but a lot of fun to do.


This is the sketch that was done on canvas. First with pencil, then black thinned with turpentine.



This is a quick wash of color on the canvas. The oil paint is thinned with turpentine and dried fairly quick.


And this is where I left off a little while ago. Basically, the canvas is covered with paint. Some things I like how they are working out. And some things don't look so good.

First thing, I don't like the blue - it is going to go away. The bottom left corner fails miserably. Then there is the round blob centered near the bottom. BLECH! There are some other things that bug me - those are the ones bothering me the most. Well, I'm going to go take my brush and "draw" some corrections I know I want to make, and then think about it a bit.

My Order Arrived!

I received my order from Dick Blick! It was waiting on the front porch shivering in its little box when we got home from the doggie doctor. It was 29 degrees and trying to snow!

I ordered burn sienna, burn umber, sap green, yellow ocher, cadmium yellow, cadmium red and ultramarine blue. All that and all I really needed was yellow, lol. There was a special if you order so much, and 6 bucks for shipping no matter how much your order, and yadda, yadda, yadda.

Ok, Micheal's had cadmium yellow for about $34.00 for a 37 ML tube and I had a 40% off coupon which would have made it about $20.00. But, at Dick Blick a 200ML is 36.43. Same brand - Windsor Newton Artist Oils. If I went to Micheal's 5 times with a 40% off coupon and bought a 37 ML tube of cadmium yellow each time, I would spend $100.00 for a total 185 ML (that doesn't include sales tax). Blah. So much for Micheal's and their stupid coupons.

I'm still waiting for the paint on the bottom of the painting to dry so I can turn it right side up and work on it! I checked it earlier (oh, about 20 times when I moved it looking for my garden notebook) and some of it's dry and some of it's wet.

I could start another one, but I really would like to work on this one.

Painting again

Well, I'm finally back to working on the painting I started almost a year ago. Unfortunately, I'm at a bit of an impasse at the moment. Its on a gallery wrap type canvas and I painted the bottom and it needs to dry so I can turn it right side up.

The other thing, is I order some more oils from Dick Blick which should be here tomorrow. I'm running out of yellow and won't be able to finish with out more. The only place around here with any type of art supplies is Micheal's ( blech). Every time I go there to by art supplies it just fails.

And oils are so expensive! It's downright painful. I probably get my little paint tubes and just stare at them 'cause they cost so much. *Sigh*