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week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio,
creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our
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Every month I make a new limited edition Simple Truths component for the members of my Simple Truths Sampler Club. I use this as an excuse to play with the clay, experiment with new technique and learn something new. I also use this as my creative play time with the monthly challenges here on Art Bead Scene.
I was extremely busy with a super-secret special trip to Colorado in September to film four hour-long videos on jewelry making techniques for Craft Daily (read all about it here!), so I missed my chance to make something in a timely fashion for the members. But I made sure to get the October piece done early and send them together, maybe too late for them to make something for September but I hope they liked the piece nonetheless.
I have to admit that I was quite stumped with the painting for September. It is a beautiful piece of art, and a few years ago, that would have been the only colors I would have used, but I embrace color in all it’s glory now, and these muted tones were a bit sad to me. Still, I knew that I needed to come up with something related to the theme. It is not called a challenge for nothing!
I had to squint a bit to notice the roses and the colors were a bit dour to me. But I really do like this painting now that I have had a longer time to sit with it and absorb the details. I love the deco stylings of the figures and their porcelain skin. I adore the threads that are woven throughout with what look like little beads, pearls and sapphires, dotting the surface. And there is a fair bit of color… from the cream and golds to the bright blue, the sage green and the wine-stained roses.
The following is a little photo safari of my latest Simple Truth creation inspired by The White Rose and The Red Rose.
but lately I have started to venture into using some colors, playing with mixing them and
using more traditional polymer clay modeling techniques.
[Bad nail alert!]
it, never really sure what I was doing.
twirls resembled teeny-tiny rosebuds.
special limited edition pieces, so for this one I decided it should be
more sculptural, as if those roses were popping off the page.
an antique bronze color to pull out that veil of antiquity that covers
the inspiration.
of color and texture.
petal,
applied by hand.
including the only ones I have left and will not part with:
white roses, now crumpled like so many old newpapers, and yellowed with time, roses that I carried on my wedding day, 22 years ago on October 24, 1992, still wrapped in a vintage handkerchief from my grandmother.
I was a baby, I was born premature, about 5 weeks. I was just about 5
pounds when I was born.
my parents used to call me ‘Rosebud’ when I was a baby. That is such a comforting image, of my mother cradling my teeny body and naming me something so precious.
labor of love.
Has it stuck with you?
