Hibiscus sketches

I had a wonderful chance to do some sketching this week while relatives were in visiting, so I wanted to share. This is a beautiful hibiscus plant that had a big blossom and many unopened buds. I love the shape of the buds and couldn't get enough of sketching them. As always, I wish I had more time to spend on it, but I did manage to get a quick color study in as well. I took many photos, so perhaps I'll be able to do something more finished another time.

I did sketches on several different sheets of bristol board, but compiled the best ones on this one page in Photoshop to save space on the post.

Hope you enjoy!

April Bead Journal - finished

I have finished my April Bead Journal piece. Yes, I'm clearly a bit behind, but plugging along! I did not encrust the whole piece this time - partly to save time and partly because I chose a more planned, geometric design, and I think it looks nicer with a bit of white space.

I originally wanted to do a beaded version of a pysanky (a Ukrainian Easter egg that is 'written' on with a stylus and beeswax, and dyed from light to dark colors). I chose a star pattern design with a red background. I began beading on white felt, as that is the background you would have if you began with an ordinary, raw egg (if you were doing pysanky.)

However, my beads (mostly size 11) were a little large to get the detail to fit into the relatively small piece of felt. So, I just beaded what I could of the design and improvised the rest. I had some lovely Mookite stone beads in various shades of dark red as well as tan, so I worked those in, too. Overall, I think the piece came out nicely and definitely reflects the sunny bright feeling I had in April with the onset of spring as well as the Easter season.

March Bead Journal Project - finished!

Good morning! I have finally finished my March Bead Journal Project piece. I really enjoyed the bright colors and flowing pattern. I still haven't figured out how to sew down the big orange stone under the turtle - I'm certain there are instructions in one of the many books I have on beading, but I haven't had time to flip through them to find out! Any tips are welcome.

I have a specific plan for my April piece, so I am hoping it goes a bit more quickly (once I get it started.)

Have a great day!

March Bead Journal Project - in progress

I am still plugging away at my March Bead Journal Project, and thought I would post an in-progress scan. I'm not sure when I'll finish it, but I am enjoying just doing whatever comes to mind with this one.

The fabric is a darker mossy green/brown piece of ultrasuede. I am using brighter colored beads this month, which I think stand out nicely on the background. And I had this neat-looking turtle bead that I wanted to include. So, I have sort of ended up with a turtle on an orange rock with a very colorful body of water around it. At least that's how I see it! I'm always interested in everyone's interpretation, so feel free to leave comments. Have a great week!

Happy Easter and a daffodil!

Happy Easter! Here is a bright daffodil drawing done in pen and ink and colored pencil. This was one we picked from the front yard flower bed. I love these with the orange center and yellow petals. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

"Sun Star" or "Orange Star" perennial - graphite drawing

This is a graphite drawing of a beautiful perennial plant that I picked up at the store the other day. It is called the "Sun Star" or "Orange Star" (Ornithogalum dubium). The flowers, though you can't tell here, are a bright orange color with some bits of dark green at the tip of the flower petals.

The tag says that it is native to South Africa and blooms from one to three months. It takes bright, indirect sunlight indoors and you have to keep the planting mix moist. Once the flower spikes are spent, you remove them from the base, rather than just the blossom. I really like the structure of this plant and how the flowers emerge from the cone-like structure in the center. Hope you enjoy!

A little bit of spring

Happy almost-spring! I bought some beautiful tulips at the store and had to draw one. The bright red and yellow colors are just so cheerful. This is pen and ink and colored pencil. I'd like to do a more careful study sometime, but for now, this quick rendering will do just fine.
 
UPDATE (Dec. 2010): I have added this illustration to my Zazzle shop. Take a look at the beautiful sterling silver necklace, card, coaster, magnet, or tote bag featuring this illustration. Come by the shop to see more!

February Bead Journal - finished

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!

January Bead Journal - finished!

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.

January Bead Journal Piece - in progress

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!