January Monthly Challenge Recap

What a way to kick off the new year creatively! There was an abundance of awesome entries this month....some inspired by the colors....others by the stars or the landscape....all with a great reference to the art by Henri-Edmund Cross. Doesn't it just pulsate and shimmer like the night sky?

January 2016 Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge - Kizoa Online Movie Maker

Now it is your turn! Add your link to the InLinkz code below and be entered to win some great prizes! Thank you for lending your talents to this wonderful world-wide party!

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Get the InLinkz code for your blog!

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September Challenge Recap

Looking at this month's painting, I was struck by the varied swath of colors. The strong coppery red color of the curtain... the cool reflection of the pond.... the warm walls... the utilitarian grey ceramic pitcher... the fresh sun-kissed green yard. Sometimes when I am unsure where to let my Muse lead me, I turn the picture upside down. As I created my own interpretation of this painting for September Simple Truths Sampler Club, I flipped the image so that I could select different areas of the painting to focus on for a bead set that I made.

Do you see the inspiration I drew from the painting? The curtain....the grasses and fence posts....the handle on the pitcher....the view from above, like when flying in an airplane and seeing the shimmery reflection of ponds, the winding black roads and the rolling hills.

I loved seeing the variations in this month's challenge, both beads and jewelry designs. The color palette for this month was unexpected for the fall, but really couldn't be more perfect. There is a riot of color exploding all around us, and the textures that this, my favorite season, displays makes it hard to succumb to the inevitable. The last days of summer are waning and the warmth is fleeting (first frost advisory of the year tonight!), giving me glimpses of the cold and barren vista that is to come. But I need to fill myself up with the beauty of this season to make those wintery nights feel less stark. So let's take a last lingering look at the changing landscape of autumn to store the rich colors and textures until we meet this season again.



September Challenge Recap by Slidely Photo Gallery 

Be sure to click the image to make it full-screen and to listen to the beautiful song Autumn Walk by Brad Jacobsen.

Now it is your turn! Show us what you made so we can celebrate you!

An InLinkz Link-up

Get the InLinkz code for your blog.

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September Challenge Recap

So, we have decided to shake things up a bit.
 
I will still be highlighting the designers of the week in something new I will be starting in October called Perfect Pairings :: Designer + Bead Artist (formerly Designer of the Week). I have already been doing that so that we can give a shout out to designers and the art beads artists that they love. We are the Art Bead Scene after all!  

At the end of the month, I am going to make a photo collage of all the entries on the ABS Flickr group, not just the ones that have the blogs. The problem was always that I might miss adding someone because they didn't post their exact URL for the blog post, or it was buried and hidden in the comments. I don't like the feeling of letting anyone down. And this way, everyone who submits a picture to the Flickr pool will be highlighted in the end of the month recap. Just a kind request...in order for the end of the month collage to work, it will be best to have at least one picture you upload be a single shot of the piece. You can always upload a second one in a collage with closeups, but for this use, we will need one single shot. I did a lot of research this week on collage making applications, and have decided to use Ribbet for making the collage directly from the Flickr pool. Pretty cool!

As for the blog posts that you reference in the Flickr description... it has always been hard to be sure that we were getting that right, and the exact URL is very important. And not everyone blogs. We still want to encourage you to blog about your process, your inspirations and most especially the art beads. This way, you can get your picture posted to Flickr without the worry of having the blog post done and then go back to finish that later. Hopefully, that will encourage more participation!

I am going to start using the InLinkz system for you to add your blog post to the monthly Challenge Recap post (the former Monthly Challenge Blog Tour). That way we can check out the eye candy and then hop around to different blogs. So... it will be up to you to add your blog to the monthly recap post.

We always had two sponsors, with two generous prizes. Going forward, we will split the sponsor prizes into two: one prize winner for a random picture on the Flickr pool and one prize winner for a random poster with a blog link. So if you want to be considered for the blog link prize, be sure to use the InLinkz code at the bottom of the post!

So without further ado (and there will be much less ado in subsequent months) here is our inspiration and our amazing creations inspired by this painting.

 The flowers and grapevines, the flowing tresses and the reclining beauty, the golden hues punctuated by sage greens and merlot reds. This painting gave us much to encourage our creativity.

Your turn! Click the InLinz Link-up below to add your blog post to the hop! And thanks for all you do to make the Art Bead Scene a place for celebrating art and beads!

An InLinkz Link-up

P.S.I am currently completing this in a hotel room in D.C. for the ArtBliss weekend. I am actually leaving for the airport, but if you would like to contact me directly my email is enjoytheday @ tesoritrovati .com. I hope that you will come to enjoy this change and I promise that I will work out any kinks for the next one. Thanks for your support!