July Monthly Challenge

This month's challenge art, Tiger in a Tropical Storm by Henri Rousseau, reminds me of this most famous poem.

The Tyger

BY William Blake

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

In what distant deeps or skies. 

Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 

On what wings dare he aspire? 

What the hand, dare seize the fire? 

And what shoulder, & what art, 

Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 

And when thy heart began to beat, 

What dread hand? & what dread feet? 

What the hammer? what the chain, 

In what furnace was thy brain? 

What the anvil? what dread grasp, 

Dare its deadly terrors clasp! 

When the stars threw down their spears 

And water'd heaven with their tears: 

Did he smile his work to see? 

Did he who made the Lamb make thee? 

Tyger Tyger burning bright, 

In the forests of the night: 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

The tiger in this poem, and in this painting, is a fearsome sight. It is fully of raw power and unbridled fury. I see the coiled tiger about to strike in the midst of this great stormy wind. Makes me wonder if I am the hunter or the prey. A powerful poem - and art - indeed.

Loads to work with! So many greens, the shapes of the leaves, the stripes of the tiger, the lightning bolt in the sky. What intrigued you about this painting? Let's see what you created...

If you put up a post (on your blog, your Facebook, your Instagram, etc) grab the URL and upload it below for a second chance to win fantastic prizes!

June Monthly Challenge Tour

Hello bead peeps!

I am running a bit behind and of course that is when everything runs amuck, right? So I finally managed to pull together the slideshow of the beautifully colorful entries for the June challenge. Without further ado, here are your gorgeous creations!



And if you posted your creations someplace this month, please enter your links below for a chance to win some great prizes! See you for the July inspiration! Gotta dash!

May Monthly Challenge Recap

Sometimes the more abstract something is the more varied the interpretations are. That was the case with this month's challenge painting by Picasso, Bowl of Fruit, Violin and Bottle. Come along and check out the beautiful works of art that we made inspired by this intriguing painting!


Now it is your turn! If you posted about this month's challenge, enter your link here for a chance to win some great prizes from our sponsors!

March Monthly Challenge Recap

Ahhhh, Spring! How much I have missed you!

Every day with the lightening of the skies, the appearance of patches of green, the scent of fresh earth and the peeping sounds of our feathered friends all a-twitter I am embracing the changing of the seasons. Even when the wind blows the rain sideways and one moment it will be sunny, the next blustery. Spring is here to stay! (That doesn't mean I am putting away my snow-blower....we can have snow into late May and beyond!).

Isn't it a glorious time of year?

We were inspired by the birds, the nests, the thorny branches, the blue skies and the yellow blooms. Let's see what we created!


Now it is your turn! If you created a post someplace about your creation, be sure to share it here to be in the draw for some great prizes!

February Monthly Challenge Recap

This month we were treated to a feast of a painting, filled with lush tapestries, a majestic feathered mare, shining armor, adoring maidens tossing rose petals on the path and two crowns. There is so much fantastic imagery to be inspired by in this painting. Let's see what intrigued you the most about this inspiration.

Now it is your turn.... if you have a post about the challenge, feel free to add your link here to be entered to win some fabulous prizes!

January Challenge Recap

What a breath of fresh air this painting was for the month of January! This time of year it always feels so dark and dank, as if the light has been dimmed and the cold creeps slowly from your toes to your nose. So seeing these bright cheery blooms and the sunny color palette was certainly a balm for my soul. I hope it was for you, too!

Here is the slideshow....chock full of beauty!


Now it is your turn! If you posted about your creation, please add your link here! Great prizes up for grabs!

December Monthly Challenge

The time has just flown by this month. I have scarcely had a chance to play around with beads and clay to come up with my design based on the monthly challenge here at Art Bead Scene (sorry, Simple Truth Samplers have been delayed by a holiday storm of cookies, wrapping and a flurry of family!). I do so love the deep colors of the glass in these windows. I imagine that they are very restful in person, sort of like swimming under the ocean.

I adore the colors and the random shapes in the windows. There is a really calming sense in looking at these. I noticed in the pieces that texture, like the lines of lead in the windows, is something that defined what was made. See what you think...

A pretty talented bunch we are!

Now it is your turn. If you made something and blogged about it, please add your link below. And stay tuned here for the winners of our monthly giveaways!

September Monthly Challenge Recap

I think this painting by Paula Modersohn-Becker of the Old Poorhouse Woman is a fun choice for the start of fall. The garden of poppies on the field of green really grab me. The floppy heads of the poppies are mimicked in the circle pattern on her skirt and her bonnet. The colors are muted yet vibrant shades of red, pink, gold, green and blue. So much to love in this painting! Thank you to Mary Harding for pointing out this wonderful artist to me and suggesting we add her to our 2016 lineup!

Let's see what you did!

If you created something for the September challenge, please share your link with us! Get the InLinkz code for your blog: get the InLinkz code

July Monthly Challenge Recap

Whether you were inspired by the color palette (light blue shaded to dark blue, creamy yellows, inky blacks, slate grey and the vibrant pop of reddish-orange) or the subject matter (water, bridges, boats, stars, fireworks), this month's challenge inspiration of the festive fireworks display offered many different options.

Here is what you made...

Your turn! If you wrote a blog post this month, please share it here...

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June Monthly Challenge Recap

For the month of June we were guided by this beautiful art nouveau woman reading in a garden resplendent with rosebuds from a literary magazine cover. The tangles of yellow roses set against the navy blue field and the olive background with the soothing turquoise dress, her ginger hair punctuated by the pops of orange make for a dynamic color palette with a lot of subject matter to enthrall.

Enjoy the beautiful creations inspired by this art!



 Now it is your turn! Share your blog post here...

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May Monthly Challenge Tour

The clean lines. The seemingly double-exposure images of the structures. The bright blue and white punctuated by the deep wine red. The shapes of the rectangle windows. All wonderful inspiration for May.

Let's see what inspired you.....


Looking forward to seeing your creativity in June!

Your turn! If you created a blog post, link it up here. (Sorry for the delay....)

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April Challenge Recap

I really gravitated to the soft soothing colors of this month's challenge painting, Jacob's Ladder by Helen Frankenthaler. I had to think about why I liked this so...and I realized that these colors really remind me of my mother, who just celebrated her 70th birthday last week! I got to spend the afternoon with her, bringing her a cake to have for dinner and seeing the flowers we sent.

Visiting my beautiful mother Gail on her 70th birthday

I know that she would have loved this piece of art, not only for the color palette (that were well represented in her clothes closet), but because she was an art history major in college. I guess I get my love of art from her! The soft sages and the juicy peach and earthy terra cotta on the sun dappled beige background are so delicately refreshing, much like the gently warming sun and the cool breezes of this season. I hope you enjoyed this month's challenge as much as I did! Let's see what you did!
 

If you have a blog post of your own, please add that to the InLinkz below.

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March Challenge Recap

Don't you just love this painting? I was so delighted when I found it! I love the light and the soft colors. I love the jumble of teacups and the teapot. And you know I love the pussy willows!

Lots of wonderful pieces created for this month. Let's check them out!

If you have a blog post of your own, please add that to the InLinkz below.

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February Monthly Challenge Recap

I read a few blogs and posts that indicated that there was a difficulty with this month's inspiration painting. I chose it because it would be a challenge (that is what this is all about!) but also that it provided a wealth of really great aspects to consider.... from the strong geometric pattern of triangles and chevron waves to the details of the way-cool car and the compass rose to the bold colors... I really hoped there would be something for everyone in this inspiration!

I can tell you that I struggled a bit. Mainly because I was trying to teach myself how to do cane work (and that is something that takes many years to master!) and because my first attempts looked amateur at best, I ended up wasting one entire precious day this month with nothing to show but a bunch of really ugly polymer clay somethings (even I am not sure what they were trying to be!). My husband commented that it wasn't a day wasted if I found out what I didn't want to do. Truth.

So I tried again and I came up with a design that not only could I live with but was quickly falling in love with... including rescuing the mass of clay that I started out with on the wrong path and turned into something wickedly cool! I will be exploring this technique more, and although I am behind a bit in the creation for February, I hope my Club members won't mind (since I am all finished with March early!).  See if you can spot my new pendants in the slideshow (I only have so much of this cane, so there will only be a very limited number available in my shop soon!).

February 2016 ABS - Kizoa Online Movie Maker

Let's see what inspired you! Add your link to the InLinkz code below and be entered to win some great prizes! 

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December Monthly Recap

This painting picks up the perfect winter palette, soft and hazy with just hints of the spring that will come. And coincidentally, it is right on trend with the colors picked by Pantone for the coming year! Despite the quiet and contemplative colors, the angles, lines and shapes speak to a more vibrant and active scene, which I think suits the subject matter of Paris perfectly!

Come along with me and enjoy the offerings you made for this month's challenge.

Click this link to view: Art Bead Scene December 2015 Recap

As another year comes to a close, we can't thank you enough for all the support that you show to the Art Bead Scene. There is a world of amazing inspirations out there, and we are honored when you choose to come and be inspired by the art that we provide each month. We look forward to joining you on this journey of inspiration for 2016!

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November Monthly Challenge Recap

The colors dance and play on the wind in autumn, my favorite time of year. I oohed and aahed my way through the entries this month, as if walking on a sun-dappled pathway in the woods.  I selected one of my favorite musical artists, George Winston, and his song Colors Dance for this month's Slidely recap. Enjoy!



Art Bead Scene November Recap by Slidely Slideshow

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October Monthly Recap

Sorry everyone! I was away in Michigan at Heather Powers 5th Annual Inspired by Nature retreat and was completely unplugged (especially when I realized as I was on the road for 6+ hours and forgot my laptop!). So today we have the recap of our monthly challenge.

I have been having some difficulty today with technology, and I believe that I may have missed a few here and there (make certain that you are linking your Pinterest post to the EXACT PICTURE that you upload, because I cannot always access Pinterest to save the photos and rely on those links!). If your photo was overlooked, please accept my sincerest apologies... it was not on purpose! If that happened, please put a link in the comments! But in order to make sure that this gets out today, I give you the October Slideshow. (As usual, click the link if you want to view it full screen and hear the haunting flute music I found to go with it!)



Art Bead Scene October 2015 by Slidely Photo Gallery

And if you have a blog post you would like to link up to, please do so here! It is fascinating to see the variations and the processes behind the scenes.

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August Monthly Recap

The stylistic rendering of this textile is rich with symbols and a very earthy palette. But simple doesn't mean lacking, and there was a lot of direction to go in for an image so simple. I am still working my way through mine for this month (mainly because you have seen a glimpse into my actual working studio and that things that I was working on have now been buried in my attempts to get organized... baby steps! But it is coming along and I think that I will report back at my next Inside the Studio... now where is that clay?!). I hope that to have that done very soon (better late than never, right?!).

Let's take a tour of the rustic beauty that you created for this month.

August Monthly Recap by Slidely Slideshow

August 2015 Monthly Recap by Slidely Photo Gallery

Be sure to click the image to make it full-screen and to listen to the haunting Native American flute music to go with it! 

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

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July Monthly Recap

Let's go to the sea, shall we?!
We will sit with our toes in the sand, soaking up the warmth of the hot summer sun, searching for shells and investigating the tide pools. We will leave footprints and gaze on sunsets and imbibe in drinks with little umbrellas floating in coconuts. May you see all of eternity in the spirals of a shell and feel the infinite wonder of being a speck against the clear blue sea meeting the cloudless sky.
And may you wonder at the majesty of it all!

July ABS Monthly Recap by Slidely Photo Gallery

Want to see it large? And listen to the soothing sounds of the ocean? Click the Slidely to launch the gallery.

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

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June Monthly Challenge Recap

The beautiful leaves and petals of the painting Feuilles, 1928 by Seraphine Louis seems to be shimmering and moving. It is vibrant and full of life. A perfect image to kick off summer, with the abundance of flowers blooming all around. The reds and pinks, the oranges and yellows, the greens and whites... these colors feel so alive. Obviously, you agreed because there was so much creativity happening!

June ABS Monthly Challenge Recap by Slidely Slideshow

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

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