Tree of Life - Autumn

Hi, this has been my weekend. Not only did I finally get my pictures on my computer and then post them on the blog, but I finished my October page. This is called Tree of Life - Autumn. Wikipedia says the tree of life has to do with immortality. I am not going for immortality, although we all do that through our art, I just liked the concept and it seemed to fit this month. The tree of life is another symbol I have always liked. When I doodle trees are one of the things I always doodle (along with flowers.) Wikipedia also mentions the tree of life in science as describing the relationships on earth from an evolution standpoint. It is a very old symbol. I am just going to think of it as meaning we are all interrelated. I think our work on the Bead Journal shows us that.

I used another technique from Robin Atkins book, Heart to Hands, Bead Embroidery. That was the tree trunks on page 8. I almost used the twisted lines as a border but decided to go with the beads the way I did. I had the bead soup beads from a leaf necklace I made a year or so ago. I kept them together just in case as I liked the colors all together. There are at least 10 different colors of beads in there.

I neglected to mention for my September page that I used Robin's bezeling technique from the same book on pages 52 and 53. I have seen similar techniques in other books. The thing that Robin talks about that worked for my page was the advantage of this technique on cabs (or items to bezel) that are not uniform. You probably can't tell from the picture but the bezels are ammonites (nature's spiral.)

Have a good night everyone, happy beading and in case I do not post for awhile please vote on November 4! Nancy

Here are my pictures, one with flash and one without:

October page

Finally, I am done with my October page. I had a lot of fun doing this one. Truly felt like I was journal beading. The colors matched the season and also my mood. And boy did the beads talk to me. I have done beading in pink and started adding orange the past couple of years, but yellow (not counting amber or gold) is really new. I think part of that has been inspiration from one of the Curious Creek yarns I like, Sunrise on Daffodils. (See the link to the right if you want to check it out.) I have included some in progress shots, and some close ups. This piece was very hard for me to photograph, so the pictures do not do it justice. I have a vintage button which is really cool. And I love this material. There is so many great quilt material out there in the market place, just like beads, very addictive.

There are techniques or pieces I learned and adapted from Paula Walter (class,) Diane Fitzgerald (book,) Marcia Decoster (class) and one from the newest Beadwork, which of course I could not find at the moment. I even came up with another way to bezel a rivoli, so that was pretty cool.

I also discovered my page could be turned two ways. Since I like bead weaving so much, it was fun to bead some of the pieces separately and put them on the page.

Finally, I am hoping I can get my knitting idea together for November's page.

We will see! Happy beading and knitting everyone, Nancy.

Inspiration - recent trips

Hi everyone, I am hoping to complete my October page this weekend and will post when done. I have included some pictures from my recent trips to central Illinois and Missouri along with Port Townsend, WA. The lighthouse is in Hannibal, Missouri which is along the Mississippi River.

The Japanese Maple tree is from the front of the house. Two closeups and one of the whole tree. I love to watch it change colors. Happy beading and knitting, Nancy

Greetings

Hi everyone, have not posted for awhile. I have been working on my page. It is slowly coming along, but I like it. I was in central Illinois over this past weekend for a fall color drive festival. It was a nice time, unfortunately the trees had not changed too much. This coming weekend I got to Pt. Townsend, WA for a knitting weekend, then to Phoenix for work. So no posting for awhile. When I come back I need to finish October and on to November! Have a good few weeks everyone, Nancy

October day

Today has been a grand day so far. After I took my Disco to the park this morning, I went back home to get my camera so I could take pictures of some flowers I always admire. When we went back out, fog had rolled in, which rarely happens where I live in the SF bay area. I ended up taking over a 100 pictures. When the sun came out it, the pictures I took looked like they were at night. I posted my favorite ones at photobucket. Here is the link: http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u82/thunderdog101/An_October_Day/

I have added three of my very favorites out of all of them. That was hard to pick, I was really happy with all of them. Even a lot I did not post.

I also got my beaded face pin from the swap today and some cool goodies, which will probably find their way to one of my pages. Can't wait till next year for the next swap. Swaps are a lot of fun, you get to make something you like that is fun (although you have to give it up) and get something cool in return. I love to get things in the mail. I have posted that picture too, and here is the link from the website for Sassy Art Goddess: http://www.sassyartgoddess.com/Beaded%20Face%20Swap%20V.3.htm

My pin is by Connie Welch.

On to beading and knitting for the rest of the day. I have to finish my sock for my last class. I will post a picture when done.

October page - flower

I should add that the flower on my October page is from techniques I learned from Paula Walter.

October and inspiration - pictures

Better late than never, the pictures I referred to in my last post. My October pages and the inspiration.

Inspiration

Every so often I look at things (artwork by others and things of my own) and realize how I like to work around threes or odd numbers. Part of this has to do with balance for me, but also from early photography classes I took and the law of threes, about not centering your main object, putting the horizon in the top third of your picture, etc. That has stayed with me a long time.

I played Morwyn's color game. (http://anothercountry-morwyn.blogspot.com/2007/10/52-inspirations-heres-1.html.) My colors are burnt umber, silver, cobalt blue and ivory. Nice combination. I will need to make something in those colors, either knitting or beading or for a page. I think I even have all the colors in beads anyway.

I am using different colors in my October page. I will post a picture later today. I will explain the colors now though. The piece is called Dahlia, and there will be no dahlias in it. Just the colors. I picked up some dahlias several weeks ago at our local farmers market (good thing about living in CA, mine is year round) and the colors were yellow, orange and pink and I determined I would make a page in that color scheme and October is the month for that.

As far as September goes, I also noticed (again) how dark it looks in the picture. For now, September sort of represents a dark time for me so I am going to leave it as is unless something really jumps out at me later on in the 12 months of this project. But there are 3 sets of three in there, three black briolettes, three main beads (well one is a pin and the other was a button,) one of which has three beaded arms or beaded strips coming out of it. I was really happy with that as it was totally a spur of the moment way I beaded it (beads talking again) and it came out pretty cool.

Another thing looking at everyone's work and my own blog reminds me is how much joy I get out of beading and the other craft/art work I do. It is a good thing to remind myself when I am feeling down, or feeling sick.

No farm tour last week, but we did have a nice time at the beach.

Happy beading everyone, Nancy