I have finished my February Bead Journal piece. I started out wanting to do something with these neat looking tiger-eye rock chip beads. I just love the browns and golds in the stones and initially thought I would try to make a bison out of it.
Why a bison? Well, here in Ann Arbor we have Domino's Farms up north of the city. It's an office park, but they also have a petting zoo for kids and herds of other animals, including bison. The bison are out grazing everyday in the pastures surrounding the office park, so at least once a week this winter, when we are out and about, we swing by to see the bison herd. My 2 1/2 year old loves it and it's one of our favorite things to do - and it is easy for me since she and our 6 month old are all cozy in their car seats.
So, I tried seeing how I could make a bison out of these stones and actually had a lot of trouble, so I abandoned the idea. I just started sewing on the stones in a sort of swirly S pattern, as I apparently tend to like, and outlined it with some gold beads. I also had some nice matte brown seed beads, so I added a few of those, thinking that I would just add some variation. No idea where it was going. 
Well, the funny part is that my 2-year-old, who likes to see what I am working on, saw it and turned it around and said, "it's a horse". I flipped it upside-down and wouldn't you know, she was right! I realized that it actually was starting to look like a bison - talk about the subconscious at work and the beads telling me what they wanted to be!
So, I flipped it around, took out some of the brown line of beads and did what I could to make it look like a bison. It was sort of 'standing' on a downward slope, so I left the whole piece a little off-kilter. I think it turned out rather well, considering I didn't have a plan when I began. I wanted to leave the main S-curve of stones since that's how it all started (didn't want to edit it too much.) So, it may look a little crooked, but I love it. I used some of these pearly off-white seed-beads to add some snow to the ground and flakes in the air. All in all, a very interesting experiment and something that really journals a part of my life with the girls this winter. Hope you enjoy it!
Well, here it is! I've finished my January Bead Journal piece. I scanned it (rather than taking a photo), so the fabric looks a little lumpy because of the big bead. Eventually, I hope to bind all of the pages together somehow into a book of sorts. I still need to add a backing and possibly a border around the whole thing.
I really like the colors of this piece, though I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the layout. I keep looking at it upside-down and liking that better! So, I may flip it. Who knows! I'm just happy that I completed it. I would love to hear any comments/suggestions anyone may have.
I've started work on my January Bead Journal piece! I am working on rectangles of ultrasuede that are about 3.25 inches by 4.5 inches. I took Robin's suggestion and added some acid-free paper to the back for stiffness, and basted that to the ultrasuede with a margin around the edge for finishing. I'll hopefully bind all of the pages together at the end of the project into a little book (binding will be on the far left, so I have a slightly larger margin there.)
Like many folks, I like the idea of various white beads conveying winter/snow. But I decided that I wanted some color, too. I went to one of the local bead shops here and found a nice piece of purple ultrasuede and some pretty little Rhodonite stones, so I began by putting those on. I then added the long tube beads around the larger stone and have been adding seed beads from there. I am still not sure where this will end up, but I like it so far! I have some pink seed beads and some metallic looking purple-ish seed beads that I hope to add. Hope you enjoy seeing the progress!
I've completed the trial bead embroidery piece that I posted yesterday. I was thinking of doing a border around the edge, but I sort of like that it is irregular and not perfectly round. I'm looking forward to switching gears and starting to think of how I want to approach my first Bead Journal piece for January. I'll be sure to post pictures as I go!
Happy New Year! I am excited to have joined a project called the Bead Journal Project. It was created by bead artist Robin Atkins and involves creating one bead embroidery piece per month for the year 2010. The rules are loose and creativity encouraged - one just has to pick a consistent size for each monthly piece. Otherwise, let your inner artist emerge!
The project has several blogs - I'll be participating in the More Bead Journal Project Three.
I have just recently started dabbling in beads and am absolutely entranced by seed beads and an encrusted style of beading. So, I think I'll be working small (maybe 3 X 4 or so) and just see what mood strikes me each month as I work on each piece. It will be fun to see how it evolves.
I started a trial piece last month just to see how it might progress and I'm nearly done with it. It's a round format and only about 4 inches in diameter. I'll post another picture when it's finished. 
I hope to continue with botanical drawing and pet portraits this year as well, so stay tuned to see what I'm working on. Looking forward to a creative 2010!
Are you looking for a unique holiday card? Consider a botanical art card that can be customized to include your holiday greetings. The American Holly above is available for ordering through my Zazzle page:
http://www.zazzle.com/ccreech21*
Cards are available in the traditional greeting card size or in a smaller note card size. Bulk order discounts (in as small a quantity as 2) are available, so the more cards you order the lower the cost per card. It's a great way to obtain distinctive cards this holiday season.
UPDATE 2010: I have also created matching return address labels that can be customized with your information as well as a beautiful ceramic ornament, stickers, and stamps - all featuring my American Holly painting.
It feels like it's been forever since I have posted! It's been a busy few months as I gave birth to our second child late in August. I haven't had much time to draw, but I found this is a sketch of some curling fall leaves in an old notebook of mine. I love seeing both sides of the leaf in a sketch like this - it seems that much more 3-dimensional. Hoping to get back to some regular drawing soon!
I just love the look of poppy buds, but wasn't enjoying trying to render them on white paper because of all the little white hairs on them. So, I found a nice little piece of smooth, green matboard and went with colored pencils. This sketch is the result - I love how it turned out. 
These are some of the actual raspberries from the plant I'd been drawing lately. This was done on Strathmore drawing paper, not the hot-press watercolor I used before. This paper has a bit more tooth and so the texture if a little rougher. I used ink to do the base drawing and then colored pencil over that. It's a more of a rough drawing than the full plant, but I think it is still a fun piece showing the berries as they ripen.
I have finally finished this illustration of a raspberry sprig. This was done from a clipping taken last month, so there were just some blossoms on it, but no berries yet. I layered three different greens on the leaves and just added a bit of ivory over the pen work of the blossoms themselves since they are white/ivory in color.
Well, the funny part is that my 2-year-old, who likes to see what I am working on, saw it and turned it around and said, "it's a horse". I flipped it upside-down and wouldn't you know, she was right! I realized that it actually was starting to look like a bison - talk about the subconscious at work and the beads telling me what they wanted to be!
