June ABS Challenge

This month, the Art Bead Scene has chosen a painting called Jackknife Village by Franklin Carmichael as their theme. It's hard not to find that painting inspiring! Jackknife Village is a watercolor with subtle yellow, shades of blue, and purple with dark shadowing. It depicts a beautiful seaside scene with dramatic rockscape and lightly tinted clouds in the background.

In my piece, I picked up on the shades of blue, yellow, and purple from the painting. I had the perfect African trade beads, sent to me by Solange of Ahowin, and found some gemstones to match. The trade beads were just right for the graduated blues, and the smaller ones are a soft yellow with dots of greens, blues, and even a little red to mirror the houses.

To continue the beach feel, I used waxed linen and knotted the beads along the cord. It's almost as if the materials could be found along a beach somewhere.

The houses in the painting stood out to me. And, at first, I wanted to make a clasp depicting a house. I decided to keep it simple and, instead, make a long macrame necklace that could be slipped over the wearer's head. I made a little polymer clay house and painted it with similar colors - a distressed ocher to brown wash with red and orange highlights. I placed the house just by the blue African beads, like the houses on the seaside.

To reflect the jagged rocks and hills in the painting, I used natural gemstones. I chose three large fluorite chunks (I've wanted to try this cut for so long!) alongside three, smooth citrine chunks.

I love the soft colors of the gems, and they add a little extra light to the piece. I've really enjoyed making my piece this month and already had lots of compliments on it. Hope you've enjoyed it, too!