New paintings

Some new paintings I've finished recently, mostly watercolor with one acrylic on canvas. The links go to my Etsy shop where they are for sale (also more pictures!).

8" x10" acrylic on canvas

  

5" x 7" watercolor and India ink on paper

5" x 7" watercolor and India ink on paper

5" x 7" watercolor and India ink on paper

5.5" x 7.5" watercolor on paper

5.5" x 7.5" watercolor on paper

Sea anemones

Last week I went to the Oregon coast on a three-day surprise trip (YAY!!) It was so much fun, and very relaxing. I also took about a million photos :)

So here's some rather fantastic photos (if I do say so myself) of sea anemones in the tide pools near Haystack Rock.

Historical Jewelry

At long last, I have several historical portrait inspired pieces of jewelry completed! I really enjoyed looking at the paintings and trying to match the look of the beads/materials to what I could find at the bead store. I have loads more planned, but some are more complicated and will need some serious thought/figuring out before I get started.

Self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi

The Fortune Teller by Georges de La Tour

Merrymakers at Shrovetide by Frans Hals

These are all available on my Etsy shop!

Winter-y Paintings

We're having quite the snowstorm here, so the entire Portland area is having a couple snowdays :)  These are the paintings I did yesterday afternoon/evening while watching the snow fall out my window. There's more purple in the mermaid and moth paintings than it looks like here - how I hate trying to take pictures of purple things!

Viking treasure necklace

So I was recently reminded that it has been a while since my original post on the new jewelry project I'm planning. Here's an update :)

It's been slow going, mostly because of the holiday season eating up my time. I've done a fair amount of research and accumulating of images, but then I realized that a lot of the jewelry uses pearls. And most of my current bead stash is *not* pearls (or fake pearls). Also the jewelry that doesn't use pearls uses colors or styles of beads that are not part of my stash of beads (that I thought was quite large...)

I decided I had really better use at least some of the beads I already had, before going out and buying more beads specifically for a project. And there enters the Viking treasure necklace.

This is the one that I made yesterday. It follows the general idea and style of Viking treasure necklaces (more information here and here). I won't be selling this one, as it uses a couple beads I'm quite fond of, and it's a little small for over-the-head wear. Typically these would be hung between shoulder brooches on an apron dress, but I also like them worn as a modern necklace would be. 

Custom versions are available here on my Etsy shop - the idea is that you pick the length of necklace, send me your charms, special beads, etc, and I will make them into a treasure necklace for you.

New artwork

Images of some small pieces I've done/finished over the past few days:

Hermione, india ink

Little Red Riding Hood, india ink

Dumbledore, india ink

Fawn, india ink and copic marker

Reindeer, india ink and copic marker

Cardinal, india ink and copic marker

Berries, india ink and copic marker

New Project

I'm embarking on a new project. I've done jewelry making/beading off and on since I was in middle school. Lately it seemed to lose quite a bit of its allure. Also, being a year and a half out of school, I find that I miss research projects (crazy, I know!). I decided I needed a new project, and landed on the idea of recreating historical jewelry from paintings.

It's not terribly heavy on the research, but it should be fun! I'll be going through books of paintings to find some where jewelry is in existence, and is feasible to reproduce (beading mostly, as I don't have a forge). Some of it will be as faithful a reproduction as possible (using modern materials, and no pearls, gold, or precious gems - I have a budget, thank you very much!), and some will be more modern interpretations based on colors, patterns, etc. 

I'm thoroughly looking forward to examining paintings in detail, and I hope you'll come along for the ride. Eventually some pieces will make their way to my Etsy shop, and hopefully there will be other assorted things there as well, as I finish the recovery from the past couple months (not really the best time, as the retail world heads into the holiday season, and I run out of free time, but here's hoping!)

Ginevra Bentivoglio by Ercole de' Roberti, National Gallery of Art

Madame Moitessier by Jean-August-Dominique Ingres, National Gallery of Art