The Colourguru

Pure Heart

The sky is still murky - but no longer 'pea soup' - I have been struggling a little to find my creative voice - I haven't missed it - which is more worrying than it not being around.  Usually if my muse is resting, I keep working through until she returns, sorting supplies, creating backgrounds, working on digital imagery & photos.....however, I have been deep in 'self' preservation mode & haven't even noticed her gone.  This piece has slowly emerged from a quiet reflective place of slow progress..... the pure heart is NOT mine - in fact, I think it is when we are at low points that we can see ourselves for who we really are - without veils....& I have been saddened to see malice & hatefulness in my heart born from my grief - I was saddened to discover it - such debilitating character flaws........things I need to attend to............

anyways - the PURE heart is a friend's - a precious person who challenges me to do better - & to press forward. I have found great cathartic pleasure in beating, drilling & cutting up bits with my Dremel lately.  I have enjoyed the tactile sensation of working with heavy & solid things - metal & stone.  Paper seems so flimsy at the moment........I have been drilling little stones, working my way slowly through some marble pieces (hard work on the dremel) & creating some bits for later use from old cutlery.

A Heart Entwined

   

        I created this piece over the weekend for my gorgeous DIL's birthday today, but I didn't want to post it until I had given it to her, JUST incase she happened to peek at my blog!  The detailing of this necklace is rather long (approx 6 inches) & has been designed with a short neck chain so that the centre piece hangs quite narrow at the top and then spreads into a fuller expression as it gets longer.  The composition is quite intricate & includes green agate, green glass beads, hand blown glass hearts & a hand cast pewter heart in the middle.  Of course one of the key ingredients is another one of the gorgeous 'frames' from Alpha Stamps.  I used a large & small square.  The small square has loops top & bottom which I really like because there is more flexibility of it's placement.  I used the reversible metal tiles & hammered it into the square. I really like these tiles, because they aren't 'flimsy' and they have 2 different styles on them.  It was a little tight, but not difficult to do.  I have found with the last necklace I made that the 'frame' section turns as you move around & it is facing the wrong way as much as the right way.  So with this one, I created it double sided, equally co-ordinating, using the Butterflies Collage Sheet from Alpha Stamps.  I have really enjoyed creating this piece, & although I ended up doing it differently, I was inspired by Deryn Mentock's bead wrapping on this special piece.  Thanks Deryn for your encouragement & support.

Natural Beauty

   UURRRGH...I AM SO OVER PLAYING WITH THIS FORMAT........I am sorry these pics are all over the show!  This is my latest creation, called 'Natural Beauty'.  It has natural stones, dragon flies, bees, glass beads & a little leaf pool. I have intentionally mixed the colours of the metal because I wanted to make it more ecclectic looking than perfectly matched.  It is very long....it hangs 25" long & the main section is about 5" long.  It is made from bits from old jewellery & from Alpha Stamps...the stones are real, I thought that they were a form of jade, but I have looked it up in my book & it doesn't look like that.  It has definite black, peach & green & is quite veined.  The other thought I had was that it might be a quartz - I don't know really, I just liked the colour & the shape!

A change in direction

I have been somewhat incapacitated this week, not that you would have known, but I have torn something in my knee that has really done me in.  The main challenge is that I have not been able to sit upright for half of the week, & this has been driving me silly.  The art for my Skinny book postings from this week were all done over easter, so I actually haven't been in my studio all week.  Yesterday I ventured out for the first time, but was not too well & had to abort that adventure, but I was well enough to sit up for a while & do some beading.  I have these fabulous new 'frames' which Alpha Stamps will be stocking that are from Nunn Designs.  I adore them, they just have so many great applications.   Blue's not a colour that usually works out too well for me, but I like it with silver, & this little pic from Alpha Stamps was really inspiring.  I haven't done any jewellery since I made all of those charms for the Gothic Arch Swap about August last year.  It was fun to swap glue brush for pliers for a bit of a change...... I think I haven't satisfied this urge though, I think there will be a couple more pieces with these frames still to come.