January Bead Journal

Here is January's piece for the Bead Journal Project. I finished it well within January, but just got the photograph back yesterday. I started the piece with a blue fabric that spoke to me of the January winter days. It was a stretch for me as I usually lean to earth colors for my art.

Southwestern rock art depicting the "ancients" or "ghosts" was my inspiration for the beaded figure. I made several stamps of figures and mixed a metallic silver blue paint to stamp them on the fabric to enhance the ghost feeling. The piece is quilted, and mounted on an 8" x 8" x 1.5" stretched canvas I painted to compliment the piece.

I have been working on pieces for juried show applications. All the shows I want to do are in the late summer and fall; the juries for those shows are all within the next few weeks. I've had individual pieces for the juries professionally photographed, but one of the shows also requires a photograph of the artist's "body of work." I have been struggling to get enough pieces for that photo while still working my "pesky day job," but only three more days of work, and I am officially retired!