• Click images to view larger

  I was trying to get a good photo of the beads I made for my new necklace and I got distracted by all the hummingbirds in my parents’ front yard.

  Either faceted stones are becoming trendy or I’m spotting them everywhere since they’re on my mind. I don’t plan on making any more of these necklaces, but I’ve been meaning to try one for myself. The gray beads are made out of polymer clay. There are a lot more colors and transparencies than I remembered. I like how these turned out looking more stone-like than I anticipated because of the tiny specks suspended in it. For me, it also works to hide the fuzz and imperfections that always make their way into the clay.

• Click images to view larger

  I have trouble starting drawing related projects. I know that once I get going on an idea, I don’t want to stop until it’s finished. Usually, that leads to frustration if the project is going to take more than a few hours. I get tired and, not wanting to stop, end up making mistakes that I then blow out of proportion and give up altogether. Sounds fun, huh? Understanding that, I did everything I could to break this up into pieces.

  I started with the intention to do a lot of block printing and carved the stamp of the mouth. That in itself took me a few attempts. Originally, I had a vision of making stamps and stencils in order to create a large poster size print involving an entire head. That didn’t pan out, but I liked the screenshot of the 8.5” x 11” jpgs I made in the process, so all was not lost.

  Starting over, I began with a sketch in Photoshop and broke it down into steps (pencil, paint, stamp, ink). This helped me see the whole process ahead of time, making it possible to put the project down more easily. I’m happy with how it came out and want to do more visual definitions. It might not have turned out as obvious as it seemed to me, but it is in fact depicting three definitions of the word “purse” - a bag, a prize and an expression.

  You can currently find this at the Laconia Gallery and make a dash for it at the benefit on the 12th.

• 

  You can now download my background image and a bunch of other great patterns at Subtle Patterns.

< Older