Art Bead Scene Challenge: March 2014

As I eagerly awaited the reveal of the March inspiration for the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge, I was hoping for something that really screamed Spring.  Like many other folks, I am so sick and tired of this eternal winter we are having and want to surround myself with images and dreams of flowers and new greenery.  So, I was initially a little disappointed when I saw the choice.  What?  Snow???  No more!

Birds On Riser, 1944 

by Adolf Dietrich

Oil on wood

You can read about the art and the artist over on the ABS blog HERE.  The more I looked at the painting, the more I came to terms with it (much like how I view the weather outside my window).  After all, there are birds, lots of birds, and that is an early sign of spring.  Plus, the reality is that here in Minnesota we won't see anything even approaching spring for another month or more.  Sigh.  Time to suck it up and find an appropriate art bead.

I had several really nice contenders, but I decided to go with this great ceramic bird pendent from Tracee Dock at The Classic Bead.  It's actually one that I bought when I visited Kansas City last year and got to meet Tracee in person.  The soft colors of the glaze work well with the colors in the painting and have a cool, early spring feel.

While the birds do have some color to them, I decided to focus more on the icy blues and tans in the painting.  The pendant is a larger scale so I knew I could pair it with some decent sized beads.  I pulled together a mix of black tourmaline amazonite, ceramic beads from Gaea, an enameled filigree bead from Andrew Thornton, and a couple of other odds and ends.  Vintaj natural brass is my usual go-to metal and it worked really well with the colors in the painting.  This was also a good opportunity to use some of the larger sized etched chain... it's not every design that can hold it's own next to that!

Hopefully this time next month, we will be seeing some real changes in the weather.  For now I just have to be happy with the fact that some of our snow mountains are finally starting to melt!