Art Bead Scene February Inspiration Challenge

The ABSblog inspiration for this month’s challenge was this beautiful watercolour piece, called Amapolos. It was created by Edward Julius Detmold in 1913. There are shades of coral and cream that dominate the work, with the coral varying from pale and toned down to bolder and saturated. The creamy parchment background brings a calming influence to the artwork. The variation in tone is slighter with a more muted somewhat grayish cast when compared to pure cream.

Amapolas Watercolor, by Edward Julius Detmold, 1913, 208 by 124mm

Published in “News of Spring and Other Nature Studies”

I was very inspired by the colours used in this painting and put together many pairings of art beads and supporting beads, chains, cording, etc. I was only able to complete 2 pieces, so now, I have many inspirations to use in the future – at least until I decide I need to clean off my work bench again. Without further delay, here’s the first piece I made:

Early Spring Necklace

Ironically, the first piece I made did not even use cream or coral in the design. The jumping off point was these two ceramic focal flowers made by Natalie McKenna of Grubbi. The pendant focal is a lovely rose outline with shades of brown and green for a rustic, grungy look. The seafoam green ceramic flower hides the lobster claw clasp, giving a nice finished look to the piece.

Larger Zebra Jasper beads, glass aqua green and rough cut variegated beads were selected to complement the lovely focal flowers. I used an antiqued brass chain to bring a lighter feel to the necklace and finished it off with antiqued bronze wire for the pendant bail and centre of the clasp flower.  When I posted this piece on Pinterest and in my online shop the necklace was 24” long but didn’t quite feel right. I have brought the length down to 22” and it makes a huge difference, especially since the pendant hangs down another 2”.

My second piece is this pretty necklace:

Lovely HibiscusNecklace

The pretty porcelain hibiscus flower from Suburban Girl Studio is highlighted in a soft pinkish coral. The lovely creamy ceramic shines under the glazed top coat.  Fire polished faceted glass beads in a yellow red colour combination are a supporting element for the pendant. Pulling from the leaf shades again I added faceted fire polished glass beads in an OP green lustre colour.

Black leather cording adds a grounding colour to the necklace. I decided to finish it off with 2 copper plated and patinated feathers from Stinky Dog Beads, along with one more of the yellow red glass beads. These hang from an antiqued brass chain made from jump rings. The final touch is the use of antiqued gold plated clasp and bail.

Now come and check out what everyone else made.