Beading En Plein Air

Half of the beads for my next freeform piece.

In painting, "en plein air" means to paint in the open air, or outdoors.

Yesterday, the weather was so gorgeous, so warm and sunny, that I decided to pack up my beads and go sit in the park next to the lake.

Ahhhhh.......beading en plein air.  I highly recommend it.

Lots To Do!

How did it all of a sudden become February?!?

But it is, and along with shivering through the snow and ice (and snow, and ice, and then for good measure, snow), there are a couple of challenges that are percolating on my worktable for reveal in the next few weeks.

First up is a challenge dreamed up by the fabulous Karen Williams on the Facebook Freeform Peyote Beading page.  Called the Color Red Challenge, it's an invitation to create a piece, using shades of red and at least partially using freeform peyote. There will be a mini blog hop as well, and the reveal is February 15. So next Saturday, while you're recuperating from all the Valentine's chocolate, be sure to check it out.  I'll post my piece here, and I'll have links to the other blog hop participants as well.

(By the way, if you haven't already heard, Karen has a kickstarter project running to fund her second book on freeform peyote.  If you're familiar with Karen's skills at teaching and inspiring others to chase their creative muse, check it out.  If you're not familiar with Karen, you owe it to yourself to check it out!)

The second challenge is the February She Made/She Made, which this month has expanded beyond the two usual participants, the lovely Therese Frank and the equally lovely Christine Altmiller, to include a few others who will be working with wonderful clay faces made by an Alabama artist. The reveal for this one is February 28. This face is a bit of a challenge, but I'm so excited about my idea for it I can hardly wait to reveal it (of course, that means I'd better get off my butt and finish it!).

Mark your calendars, and come back to visit for these two reveals.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna pile up on the sofa under a nice warm blanket and watch the Olympics while I work on my creations.

Break Out The Crayolas!

When you were little, was there anything more exciting than getting a new box of crayons?  Remember the rush when you broke the seal and opened the box to see those glowing, vibrant crayons with their beautiful pointy tips, just begging you to create something fantastic (hopefully on your drawing paper, not on your bedroom wall...)?

I can almost smell the aroma of fresh Crayola wax, just thinking about it.

And now Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime has created a big-kid opportunity to play in the crayon box again  -- the One Color Crayon Challenge!

The challenge is to choose one of the colors in the original crayon box -- red, orange, yellow, blue, green, purple, black, or brown -- and create a monochromatic piece using only tints and shades of your color.

Yep, no accent colors.  No gold or silver beads.  No multi-color beads that happen to contain your color.  It's a deceptive little challenge, but it's turning out to be a lot of fun!

I chose red.  And I set myself an extra challenge of only using beads in my stash.  (What was I thinking?!?) 

The reveal date is May 5.  I can't wait to share what comes off of my drawing beading table, and see what the other 66 people in the hop create as well.

When I'm done, I may have to go buy myself a big ol' 64 box and play.

You Are Invited To Join Me In A Happy Dance (and You Won't Worry My Neighbors)

Some really great news came in the mail over the weekend, and I've been bursting to share it with you.

This piece, named "Aphrodite, Born of the Sea," was accepted to be part of a juried exhibition called "About Face" at the Kentucky Artisans Center in Berea, Kentucky (ok, that was a little obvious - as though the Kentucky Artisans Center would be in Tennessee or Arizona).

When I opened the envelope, there was a happy dance outbreak on my front porch.  Yes, once again, I worried the neighbors.  Bless their hearts, I'm really sorry they live so close to a crazy woman.

Y'all watched this piece grow from its status as a UFO hidden at the back of my beading table, and you encouraged me to finish it.  So thanks for keeping me honest on getting it done.

And thanks for letting me happy dance with you!

Drunk on Soup

Have you been Bead Soup-ing?

Do you know what Bead Soup is?

If you do, then you know exactly what I mean. I've spent many happy hours over the past week, getting bleary eyed and incredibly inspired, enjoying the beading creativity of 210 artists. The list of blogs I'm following has exploded.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, get thee to Lori Anderson's Pretty Things blog, http://www.lorianderson.blogspot.com/ and check it out. You'll be glad you did.

What a fabulous idea. What a great way to spend several hours, filling up on eye candy (watch me mix those food metaphors!), reading blogs, finding new artists to enjoy.

It sent me back to the bead table with a renewed sense of fun and possibility. Last night, I tackled a project that's been sitting, partially done and taunting me, for weeks.

So if you were part of the Bead Soup Blog Party, thank you for sharing your artistry, your creativity, and your sense of humor.

And look for me in August, when I hope to be swimming in the soup with everyone else!

Searching For My Flip Flops

The weather today is gorgeous. Flat out, full sun, warm your bones, find some sand to wiggle our toes in, play hooky from your obligations gorgeous.


It's putting me in a summertime mood. Even though I know we're probably going to get hit with at least one more cold spell and maybe more snow before it's well and truly Spring, I'm starting to feel like I should get ready for summertime.


This necklace, which is named "Salsa Spiral," captures the feeling of today perfectly. Can't you just feel the warmth of the sun on your face? (and for the beady folks, it's tubular netting and Dutch spiral - breezy fun!)


And really, if we're talking about getting ready for summer, putting on a necklace is so much easier than exercising to look good in the bathing suit...