Sunday, February 6, 2011

July, 2010 BJP AMD

It's been a long time coming, but now it's finished and I'm more than happy with the outcome. July and it's warmth is but a faint memory, so this BJP is more of an impression than a journal. It whispers to me of warm summer days, long walks, lying by the shore and visiting spectacular gardens. My thoughts turn to pink roses, sea shells, lush greenery, boardwalks and a riot of spectacular colour.

The first photo was taken upside down so that you could properly see the tiny pink apple that someone gave me. Isn't it sweet? Was it Deb? Or perhaps Marilyn & Rain?? Or perhaps I found it in some lonely basket or box tucked away at the back of the cupboard. Doesn't matter, because it's now been found and takes pride of place in the month of July.



The stone is a Yellow Turquoise that I purchased years ago, just because I liked it. I know, it doesn't really look yellow, but that's what the ticket said on the package. I peyote stitched a bezel around it in size 11 seed beads and the final row was done in 15's. A lovely, tidy finish for a simply delightful stone!

Did you notice the vintage button, lovingly nestled against the stone? That one, I'm pretty sure came from one of Marilyn & Rain's early forays into the wild and wonderful world of E-Bay.

At the very bottom of the photo, is a little brass finding that Kaite sent to me from Australia and a silver key from Marilyn & Rain.



The star is from one of Marilyn & Rain's trips to Seattle and the shells from a strand I picked up a couple of years ago. They had been pierced through the sides but I preferred to glue them to the substrate. I think they give a spirally, whimisical quality to the piece. What do you think? Did you notice the vintage jewellry piece at the top of the photo? Again, I think that was courtesy of Marilyn.




Another shot of the stone and the vintage button. Aren't they lovely?



The complete piece!! At the bottom, you will notice a little teeny map of Canada. Believe it or not, it was sent to me from Candy in Syracruse, NY. It came in a set of other Canadiana pieces that will more than likely show up in future months.

My original intent was to make a green and blue piece. But much to my surprise, the soft pink showed it's shy but persuasive little face. Another case of the piece having a mind of it's own. Or is that the muse? I was half way through peyote stitching around that great big focal, when I realized that I was doing it all in 15's and pale ones at that. What the heck was I thinking??? Shiny, tiny, pale beads are hard to works with, especially at night. Needless to say, I was saying very unkind things to myself all the while I worked on that part!

This BJP contains a selection of beads that include, but are not limited to seeds in size 15, 11, 8 and 6 (or were they 4's?). I also used bugles, drops, magtanamas (if that's the way it's spelled), pearls, cubes, bits and pieces of other beads, crystals and a broken pearl necklace (Did you spot it?). Of course, I also had to raid the button box!

My regular posse of bead stitches were used. Peyote, stacked, back, fringe and bocce/boucle.

The focal is one of my serendipity landscape, monoprinted with acrylic paints and then free motion stitched. It's fun to do and if you paint and stitch a larger piece, you have extras for the component box. In this case I have a postcard, an atc, a couple of twinchies and three or so inchies, all stitched and ready for finishing off. Of course, all I need to do is remember where I put them!!!!


I hope that you've enjoyed my little taste of the early days of summer!

22 comments:

Judy Ferguson said...

I just don't understand how you come up with all these wonderful, fantastic works. Each one more beautiful than the last.

kaiteM said...

It's very romantic, in the days when that sort of romance was alive and well, very beautiful.
The teeny tiny map of Canada is a real treasure, but the whole piece is a treasure as well.
Now moving on to August.....

Crazy Mama said...

wow! this is just beautiful. it has such a romantic, victorian feel to it for me. just wonderful!!!

Beth@IHaveANotion.com said...

S T U N N I N G!!!

Karin said...

Gorgeous!

Sweetpea said...

I began swooning over this piece the moment I saw those spirals...they are like tiny bead-filled cornucopias! Anne Marie, you have such a wonderful aesthetic for the direction of line and form, not to be outdone by how your sense of color holds these bitsy jewels together...absolutely MARVELOUS!

blandina said...

Absolutely amazing, a work of patience and love.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

You teased with tiny pics of your wonderful beading. I was thinking a breath of fresh spring air on this frozen morning. Then the entire pice appeared and bowled me over. The landscape was a surprise and makes this truly unique and even more special are the trinkets from friends that you have added to the beading.
Be warm.

Roberta Warshaw said...

This is so beautiful. It is wonderful and amazing.....
How you get all those various components to work so well together. And the colors are just luscious......

Anonymous said...

A beautiful piece! And I'm giggling at "What was I thinking?!" Think we've all said that, but these things do seem to have a mind of their own sometimes. Lovely!

Unknown said...

This is a truely beautiful piece, full of interesting and exciting elements. I am looking forward to seeing more.

Rachel Murphree said...

Anne Marie, this is just exquisite. The stone and your FME just complement each other beautifully, I love the shells and the canada map, the parts are gorgeous and the entirety takes my breath away!

Lody said...

Such a stunning wor of art! It always amazes me when buttons are used on a creation like this. I love everything on this piece!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Definitely a little ray of sunshine in the midst of gloomy winter! Amazing how the voice of that little muse talks you into changing your mind, isn't it.

Unknown said...

Wonderful

Anonymous said...

One of my faves!

Dandelion Dreams said...

This is stunningly beautiful. It's like a painting. Exquisite!

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Thank you all so much!!! I've been very bad at commenting this time, so I'm afraid that I'll need to do a blanket one. I've been away from the beading for a while, so was happy to finally get back into the flow state. I believe that someone asked how I come up with these pieces, well I don't really know. I work improvisationally, starting with the fibre piece. Then I just follow the muse.

BTW, I never thought of this as romantic, but I do see what you mean. I like to challenge myself to keep coming up with different colour schemes. It keeps me from getting stale.

Penny Berens said...

Gorgeous AM! And those 15's were worth the effort! Love the way you use acrylics in your stitching. Oh, and of course the map of Canada just fits in there perfectly! The curved line of spiral shells is gorgeous too. There is so much to look at in this little piece.

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Thanks, Penny!! I'm a little late in replying, but now I am. More to come, but it's slow going with everything else I'm doing right now. I've gathered my pallette of colours for the next piece, but have no time to actually work on it. Soon, I hope!

Ati said...

Just found your blog. Amazing work !!

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Thanks, Ati!