Colour Inspiration

Yesterday I was doing a little blog hopping (something I haven't done as much of recently as I would like, time constraints....) and landed on Shannon's blog, For My Sweet Daughter. Shannon makes beautiful beaded and etched copper jewellery and is also a fellow member of the Allegory Gallery Design Team. She hosts a weekly challenge - Finally Friday - one I have seen before but never really had time to join in with (although it is an EXCELLENT challenge - colour based using design seeds palettes - well worth a peek if you are so inclined). This time however, her chosen palette for this coming Friday didn't just speak to me, it practically leapt out of the computer and shouted in my face! Very beautiful shouting, you understand. 

from Design Seeds

I immediately felt compelled to create something in this beautifully vibrant palette and pulled out one of my boxes of beads and began colour selecting (I'm not quite as good at this as Heidi but I still enjoy it!). 

And here it is....

I got a lovely fat order from TheaToo on Friday, and thought that the lighter bronze shades (compared with rich copper or even antique brass) worker really well with this sparkling palette. 

Can't you just see the colourful lei garlands, or imagine a traditional Hindi wedding with all of these saturated warm tones? I just adore colour and the emotional pull it has....

Available now in my etsy shop.

Moogin

I've already told you about my slight obsession with lampwork beads so I thought I might start a new regular (not quite sure how regular as yet!) blog posting about my favourite lampwork artists and beads. If nothing else it will keep me entertained.

So, to kick it off, I'll begin with my all time favourite lampwork artiste extraordinaire - Mindy MacGregor, otherwise known as Moogin. You may have seen her profiled in Beads and Beyond recently (can't remember which issue off the top of my head) or perhaps at the Scottish Bead Fair where she regularly has a stand or perhaps you've also bought some of her amazing artwork. I first 'discovered' her in Perth at the SBF last summer. Wow! Before that, I was all about the organic, botanical lampworks. No more! Mindy really does create miniature glass paintings, I can see Miro, Klimt, Kandinsky there in the background behind her tiny masterpieces (three of my favourite artists anyway) to mention but a few;


but beyond this, she does things with glass I've never seen elsewhere. She has recently taken a move towards folk art which I never thought would be my cup of tea but, surprise surprise, it is!


Her love of colour is always evident whatever style she is working in and this is one of my favourite aspects of her work. There's so much more I could (ineloquently I'm sure!) say about Mindy's work but for now I'll let the beads speak for themselves.

My all time favourite Moogin bead - so far!

Better Photos!

Here are some better photos I snapped this morning!

I'm back!

It's been a while! My plans to blog more frequently in 2010 went slightly awry (clearly, as it's now April!) for quite a few reasons which essentially boil down to the fact that 2010 has so far been a fairly crap year for me and my little family. I won't go into it all now as not wanting to write about it is one of the main reasons I've let this blog slide but suffice to say it involves a lot of illness and hospitals! Things are on a bit more of an even keel now so that's something. But I decided today to get blogging again and reclaim my little piece of internet space. Above is a (slightly rubbish) photo of my most recent design - an embellished RAW bangle which I've become a bit obsessed with making, over and over and OVER again! These are the first five that I made; I must be up to at least 20 by now. They are great fun and I love playing with different colour combinations within each one. Currently on my bead mat is dark fuchsia, galvanized cocoa, coral opal and matt dark pinkish salmon.