Friday, October 8, 2010

Back to Blanches

Well not literally, I just had so much good material from my excellent weekend there, I still wanted to share. I may have mentioned that it was a stellar weekend.

Although it started with a rainstorm which created some severe traffic challenges and a lot of folks were late in arriving. This meant I didn't have my usual chance to get to talk and know a bit about the students before we started. Although I did smile when Monica took the time to change from the 'rain' shoes to the cute shoes. The class was unusual in that there were many new people I had never met before.

So it was that three friends from the city settled in quietly and got started. I was struck by their color choices and especially struck by a necklace that Monica was wearing. As the second day continued to unfold, and Monica wore yet another beautiful necklace and chose yet another sophisticated color palette, I asked how long she had been beading. The answer of under two years surprised me. Later in the conversation it came up that she had been a knitwear designer and then it made sense. Her design and color sense were well informed from her past endeavors.

I asked to take a picture and wish I had taken one with Monica in the picture.....but I didn't.



Here is the necklace from day two. I asked Monica if I could use the photo in a blogpost and she responded 'This was inspired by Diane Fitzgerald but I continued on and on until they were almost round or until I got tired of adding any more. The silver one, I call Winter, then I have three others - all monochrome in tone and color - Spring, Summer and Fall. I wore them every day to cover a scar from open heart surgery!! I used all beads from my stashes that were "left-overs" from other projects. That's why some are bigger than others. I simply ran out of beads!' Beautiful job Monica and thank you for sharing!

2 comments:

kate mckinnon said...

What a great interpretation and new direction for the Gingkos.

I love seeing other people's work at this level. So impressive. Thanks for posting it and all of the rest, I felt easily like I was back in Blanche's comfortable classroom again.

Ababeads said...

Wow...amazing work!