January 2014 Bead Journal Project

Bead Journal Project created by Robin Atkins moved over to Facebook which makes it so much easier for people to share ideas and display their Art.  I hadn't participated if over two years so when I saw the jump to FB, I decided that it was time for me to take some time each month and create something special and meaningful for each month of 2014.  Though members don't have to chose a theme or a format for each month, many do chose both or just one.  Some focus on ATC size portraits of their inner self or special journeys of self discovery.

For 2014, originally I wanted to try my hand at painting pictures with beads.  I had taken two classes from Rena at Byzantium years ago and loved the technique.  I've seem some fabulous pieces done by bead embroidery artist out there that just make my fingers itch.  But then I thought that instead of doing twelve individual pieces each month, bead painting needed more commitment and time.  I'm not throwing this idea out for 2014, but I decided to delay this project for later.  I went down to the Art Cave and started opening draws of beads and supplies.  Then I walked over to my wall of seed beads trying to get some inspiration.  I walked back to my work desk, and randomly started opening draws handling some cabochons that I'd hoarded over the years.  As if a spark bit my finger and coursed up my arm, I had the inspiration to take some of my prized cabochons, lampwork beads, seed beads, and other items I'd bought and lovingly put away for that "rainy day".  How many of us have tons of beads or fabrics or fibers hoarded away locked away in drawer, boxes or closets saving them for a day when our skill level was good enough to justify their use?  I know I am guilty of that.  Cyndy Sieving and I talk about this sometimes about why wait!  Why indeed?  Will our skill levels ever be good enough in our own minds?  We are our worse enemies when it comes to doubting we are good enough.  She always encourages people to open up and use those items you had bought and then hoarded away to use another day.  Use them NOW!  So I decided that for 2014, my theme is NO MORE HOARDING.  Each month, I'm going to take a special item from my hoarded stash and create something from it.

Hoarded gemstone cabochons

Hoarded seed beads I bought at Fusion my first trip to Seattle

For January 2014, I made a bracelet and matching earrings using some of the prize stone cabochon's I'd bought at the first Bead and Button show in Milwaukee I attended.  These colors of the stones just pulled me to the booth, and I wasn't satisfied until I left with at least a few of these clutched in my hands.  I hadn't used any of them until last month when I created a special necklace to wear on my birthday.  Plus, I hadn't realized that I had not made a bracelet in over a year, and I can't recall the last time I even attempted to make earrings.  I just love the colors on these stones.  Every time I picked them up, I would be whisked away to our trip to Canyonland in Utah.  We went on a private trip out of Moab with a guide and four other guys in an old VW bus.  Since I was the only woman in the group, I got to sit up front with the tour guide.  We climbed cliffs, we hiked, we talked, we all had a marvelous 8 hours driving the back roads deep in the canyons carved out by the Colorado River.  I can't forget one snapshot of that day, when all the men decided to go out and hunt for dinosaur fossils.  They left me all alone with the VW bus.  I heard their voices diminish as they climbed down the trail.  Then their voices were gone, and I was all alone with all the spectacular colors washing over me.  I turned my head up to the warming Sun and watch as birds circled over head.  Then a big wind roared through the landscape and throwing my arms I felt as is I was flying over the canyon.  The quiet was filling me with such a sense of peace.  I know it was probably less than an hour before the men all came back, but to me it was a eternity of inner peace and contentment.  After that trip, whenever my life would get stressed or insane, I'd picture myself standing there with my wings unfurled flying like a raptor over the canyon thinking of nothing but the joy of being PRESENT. 

I notice that I do use this color palette in many of my works, and now I realize it is because of that moment in Canyonlands when I was focused on the moment.  Perhaps I try to recreate that image constantly so that I can whisk my way back to that time of inner joy.  You?  Do you have any colors that thrill you and take you to a place or a time that is special?  Please share with me if you have.