The indiExhibit Member of the Week! Wired Hanger: Refreshingly Original Jewelry

This week's The indiExhibit member of the week is Wired Hanger! This mother/daughter team of Erica Molina and Gloria Piracci create unique, original bead and wire jewelry, including earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and more.

 

Check out some of their beautiful pieces below!

  

 You can find them on Facebook...

...and at their website.

Stop by and visit today!

The indiExhibit Member of the Week! Babcia's Heart: Inspired Custom Crochet

I have mentioned before that I am a part of a wonderful, global group of independent artists and craftspeople called The indiExhibit (or IE). IE members come together to provide gift or 'swag' bags for a variety of events including everything from celebrity red-carpet events to local and national charity events. 

As a group, we would like to help get the word out on it's members and the terrific, varied talents each of us bring. This week, the featured member is Joanna Lesinski of Babcia's Heart. Joanna crochets beautiful items including traditional blankets and throws to wonderfully whimsical hats and purses. Check out her Etsy shop for more details on these and other items!

Joanna created a custom coupon code - use IE4ME20 to receive 20% off of items in her shop. Great ideas for Mother's Day, upcoming birthdays and more!

 

 Cozy Circle Afghan

 

I Speak For The Trees Earflap Hat (adult and youth sizes.)

 

Cupcake Purse

Wrap Bracelet, Necklace...or Both?

When is a bracelet not just a bracelet?

They say necessity is the mother of invention. My cousin emailed me today with a wonderful idea illustrating this idea. She received one of my bracelets over the holidays as a gift and here is what she said:

"Last night I was looking for a necklace to wear with a gray/black/white outfit.  I was going to wear your bracelet, which was laying on my dresser." Here was her solution - ingenious!

Basically, if you have any jewelry lying around with different charms, necklace focal pieces, etc., that can be removed from it's chain, then you can do this, too! Perhaps many of you have already thought of this, but I thought it was very clever. :) 

By the way, this was a double wrap bracelet with 4mm cat's eye quartz stones (very beautiful chatoyant quality...), black leather and a simple, black button closure. Here's what it looked like when I sent it off at Christmas:

Have you ever had an "ah-ha!" moment with your jewelry or art? Something you just never thought of that came to light like this? Let me know! I would love to hear from you.

 

My Feature on Artists in Blogland!

Are you curious to know a little more about me? Check out Artists in Blogland to see the post about me in today's Creatively Featured article:

 

Be sure to bookmark or follow the site to see other artist features and enjoy the wide variety of talented folks who are a part of this site. Thanks very much to Heather for coordinating and posting the article!

Happy Easter!

Wishing all a very Happy Easter! 

Some tulips in our front bed...enjoy the day!

Busy with Bracelets!

Happy Spring, everyone!

Are you enjoying the weather lately? We have had unseasonably warm temperatures here in southeast Michigan with a couple of gorgeous weeks in the 70s and 80s. It's back to closer-to-normal today with some rain and temps in the 60s. Very pleasant, actually, especially now that it is officially SPRING!

I absolutely love spring. It is my favorite season. All of the new growth of plants and the world waking up after winter (what there was of it this year, anyway!) Obviously, with an interest in botanical art and illustration, I love seeing the trees bud and flowers bloom. So much material and inspiration!

I am working on the second trillium drawing - the one with the open bud - but just barely started, so no photos yet. 

However, I have been working on more bracelets for my Etsy shop and have completed quite a few. I am also excited to report that I have had 3 more sales! Thanks to all of my customers who have purchased so far. I hope that some of my new items will catch some attention now that we are heading into the short-sleeve time of year!

Some of my most recent creations are listed below. If you want to see more photos, click on the item to get to my Etsy shop and further details!

Dumortierite Single Wrap

 
With a gorgeous silver-colored leaf motif 
button closure.

Dumortierite Macrame

 

Simple and elegant in dark navy s-lon thread. 

Safari Jasper Double Wrap

More great earth tones in this beautifully patterned jasper.

Red Flake Jasper Single Wrap

 

This deep, fiery stone paired wonderfully with dark red leather and an antiqued gold button.

 Rhodonite Triple Wrap

This one was just posted today and uses one of the new buttons I just acquired in my stash. I have many more interesting buttons, so stay tuned for new bracelets!

Trillium - Done!

Here is a scan (not just a photo as I had posted before) of the final version of the trillium in ink and colored pencil:

I continued to work on the shading and dark areas with dark indigo, but most of what I did was "paint" with my kneaded eraser by lifting out areas of color where there are highlights and then doing a tiny bit of blending after that.

Here is a detail shot of the center (per Irene's request!) :) I am embarrassed at how much clean-up I need to do around the edges!! However, it is helpful indeed to see a close-up.

 

I really like how it turned out. Is it perfect? No, but it feels "done" to me. I don't want to compare it exactly to the reference photo, but rather just look at it on it's own merit. I know from past experience that I will set it aside and catch a glimpse of it later and continue to be very pleased with the end result.

I have a second reference photo and line drawing in ink of another trillium - this time with an open blossom. So, that will be next on my list!

What do you have on your drawing table or workbench this week?

Update - Trillium Almost Done!

I have been working more on the trillium and am getting closer! 

This is what it looked like yesterday (above), as I continued to add layers of color on all three leaves.

And this is what it looks like today, after additional layering, mostly the olive green. I added dark indigo (9201-157) to the mix to deepen the shadow areas and still need to blend those in more as well as darken more, especially on the leaf on the far right. 

As I have read in many instruction books, using a dark blue/indigo or sepia is a better way to deepen shadow areas as it provides depth and doesn't make it as flat or stark as black.

I need to set it aside and look at it with fresh eyes later or tomorrow, pull out some highlights and further darken shadow areas, then make sure the blending works overall.

This is the part that I find most difficult and most rewarding. If it continues to come together and I can 'see the end' then it gets exciting. However, often at this stage, I find that I blend too much and it gets overworked.

What do you find to be the most difficult part of a painting or drawing?

Making Progress - Trillium in Ink and Colored Pencil

I am making a bit of progress on the trillium (Trillium grandiflorum). I have continued to layer the permanent green olive (#9201-167) over the darker deep cobalt green (#9201-158) layer. 

 

I will continue to layer until I get all three leaves colored. Then I will work on refining the shading, deepening shadows, lifting out highlights, etc. Stay tuned!  

What are you working on these days?

 

Happy March! 10% off in my Etsy shop!

Happy March, readers! Are you ready for spring? Get a head start and celebrate by taking 10% off of anything in my Etsy shop between now and March 15! 

Use coupon code: THINKSPRING12 

There are lots of great gift items, including natural gemstone wrap bracelets, jotter journal sets and a hand-bound blank journal made with heavy-weight Wyndstone art paper. Take a look!

  

 

Brecciated Jasper Leather Wrap Bracelet 

 

Leland Bluestone Macrame Bracelet

African Daisy Jotter Journal Set