Art Bead Scene Challenge - Some Tahiti for Your Wrist

I made some time this month to focus on a project for the Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge.  The inspiration piece is this painting called Nave Nave Moe (Sacred Spring, Sweet Dreams) by Paul Gauguin, 1894.  According to the ABS's notes, Gauguin moved to Tahiti in the late 1800's looking for inspiration from the local culture.  This painting is an example of his work from that period.

The ABS editors pulled a palette out of the lusciously vibrant yet at the same time soft colors.  To get my own inspiration, I took a few minutes and just focused on the painting and tried to capture how it made me feel and what drew my attention the most.  I was really drawn to the red.  The spirited brightness is where I'm drawn to first, but then I noticed that I was really drawn to the red and pink together. The pink is smooth and soothing and just earthy-pretty.  The internal question for me at this point was, "uh, what about the whole cool beautiful blue and green of the fields?"  I'm realizing that since I haven't been beading all that much lately, I'm not really focusing on a favorite color or palette...think orange...but am open to different hues and combinations.  It's a little color breakthrough!  haaaaaaaaaaaa  


On that note, I went for the vibrancy of the pink and brought in the green--it's just a great complementary combination.  

As for my art beads...there are lots combined in here for a little mini wrist-gallery:


- The lampworked glass bicone focal of the group is by Catherine Steele at Art With Heart.  I found these during my Bead Soup shopping spree and I looooove them.  These are the kind of hoard-worthy beads that you put under your pillow and keep forever.
- The enameled greeny round is by Barbara Lewis of Painting With Fire.  In just two weeks I get to meet Barbara and take her enameling class up at Bead Fest Wire in Philly.  I've always been a fan of her work and got super-lucky a few months ago when I won a giveaway at Love My Art Jewelry and got the whole batch of beads that were featured on the cover of Handcrafted Jewelry in the fall.
- The enameled speckled oval is by Anne Lichtenstein of Gardanne Beads.  They're so springy!
- The lampworked glass disks are by Heather Boardman from HMB Studios.  I have tons of these in tons of colors.  They're so pretty in little piles that I like having lots of them in my stash.

All of these little works of art are combined on memory wire with rubber tubing...apparently my new favorite design...for this bangle.  There are a few Swarvoski crystals, some pink dyed wood, and some greenish seedbeads and random stones to finish balancing the color.

I've gotten lots of questions about where I get the rubber tubing.  I get it at my local bead shop, Bead Haven.  It's Beadsmith Rubber Tubing--I'm going to tell Joanne to put some out on the Bead Haven shopping site.

The rest of the monthly challenge entries are out in the ABS Flickr Group.  It's always cool to see how different people take the inspiration and run with it!