Art Bead Scene: May 2016

This month's inspiration for the Art Bead Scene challenge is "On a Shaker Theme" by Charles Sheeler.  Overall, it's a bit more modern and angular than what I am usually drawn to, but I do like the color palette.  For some reason, the white of the buildings coupled with the blue tones makes me think of the Greek isles... but that's neither here nor there!  You can read more about the artwork and the artist over on the ABS blog HERE.

"On a Shaker Theme", 1956

by Charles Sheeler

oil on canvas

I decided that this challenge was a perfect time to pull out one of the remaining little house beads by Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead that I've had squirreled away for ages.  The one I picked has nice cream and grey tones to it with some subtle blue undertones.  I grabbed a set of lampwork glass by local glass artist Jeff Barber to pull in the blues and found several wooden beads to round things out.

I used a mix of blue and brown waxed Irish linen to knot the necklace.  I'd hoped to use two strands of each, but I couldn't quite get them all through the house bead or the oblong wooden bead.  I ended up using a doubled over length of blue linen and managed to tie on one strand of brown.  The round wooden beads have been in my stash since my first year of beading so it's nice to see them finally find their way into a design.  (Although per my usual neurosis, I'm sad that they are almost gone now!)  I used a larger round link chain to finish off the back of the necklace... I usually save this chain for bracelets, but I like the balance here.