Monday, January 21, 2013

January Art Bead Scene Challenge Piece

Black Peacocks with Japanese Persimmons
Jessie Arms Botke, 1940
Oil and Gold Leaf on Panel
32 x 40 inches
(Please note this art is copyrighted and is to be used only as inspiration.)
Mom and I were excited with this month's challenge because it was peacocks again - yay!  I think mom had a design thought up right after I sent her a link to the challenge


We are calling our piece "Tail Feathers".  The whole necklace is actually based on the "eye" of the peacock's tail feathers and the colors found in the inspiration piece.


The focal pendant is based on peacock feathers and the colors within.  I used the enamel colors I am calling "Peacock", cobalt blue and chestnut brown.


These pendants are based on the shape and "eyes" in the body feathers.


I had a lot of fun with the beads - I made up six sets of test beads to decide on what colors we wanted to use for the necklace.  We decided to go with the "Kuiper Belt" beads and accented the necklace with purple Freshwater pearls, brass accents and brown seed beads.


We didn't have a big enough clasp to go with this piece so we used one of the extra "eye" pendants as the clasp and just made a loop of seed beads to go around it.


Mom tried the necklace on, with her black turtle neck, and it was stunning.  Both mom and I are really excited and happy with the way "Tail Feathers" turned out.  It is always good when you like the piece you created, though we tell each other if we don't like it someone else will :)

8 comments:

  1. Those Kuiper Belt beads are gorgeous! (I didn't know what Kuiper Belt meant, so I looked it up - I'm even more impressed now!) I was totally captivated the first time I saw this month's inspiration painting, and you've interpreted it stunningly.

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  2. Stunning interpretation.. you have done beautifully girls!

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  3. Very pretty piece! love the colors in this

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    1. Thanks so much - I call that my "Peacock colors". I use three different colors to get that color combination and I love it. Mom says I need to try different colors and get outside of my box :)

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  4. Your peacock feathers are incredible - you have fantastic control of your colors! If I tried to enamel 3 pieces and get them to match like that, I'd be SOL. LOL. Are you sifting? Using stencils?

    I'm amazed!

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    1. Thanks so much for the wonderful compliment :) I sift most of the time, but I do have a little gadget that I can use that gives me a little bit more control, but takes forever to use, so last resort! I have not tried stencils but I want to give that a whirl!

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  5. Wow Beth, Gorgeous work!! I love those Kuiper Belt Beads with the peacock colors. I would love to know the story behind those. I haven't been online blog reading for months been really busy with my job. But I covered a cigar box with tiles and polymer clay last week and decided I really need to find time to do my art. whenever I can squeeze it in. I miss talking to you and seeing your work. say Hi to mom too.

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  6. wow this is gorgeous. So many beautiful pieces. I keep going back to look at all the pretty accents. Well done. Love it.

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