“Like the seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring” – Kahlil Gibran
“The snow has not yet left the earth, but spring is already asking to enter your heart” – Anton Chekhov
These two quotes perfectly capture how my heart is experiencing spring fever in the midst of snow and highs in the teens. I feel quite sure that green frilly things and tiny pink buds are supposed to unfurl tomorrow, but the plants in hibernation have no intention of awakening to this snowy scene. Even the squirrels have disappeared into their snug homes and the stoic Canadian geese are starting to look irritable. That’s why I was delighted to find this artwork featured on the Art Bead Scene Blog as the subject of their monthly challenge.
Oh lovely, spring-saturated scene! The painting is called Anapolas and was created by Edward Julius Detmold in 1913. He and his twin brother Charles were born in London in 1883 and enjoyed painting wildlife scenes together. The blog includes a history of the artist and readers are invited to design a piece of jewelry inspired by the painting. The jewelry must incorporate an artbead, which is a bead made by hand by an independent designer. I don’t participate in these challenges because (confession) I don’t have a supply of artbeads – most of my stash comes from craft stores.
However, I loved the lush romantic look of this painting, especially because of the subdued color scheme. I really wanted to create something that captured the feel of the painting and indulged my desires for spring. So I made my own artbeads and designed these earrings.
I made the roses from clay. I tinted the clay a pale rose color, but it looks more alabaster than pink and pulls from the creamy overtones in the painting. I tied long lengths of hand-dyed sari ribbon to the rose. I just acquired this ribbon for use in jewelry and love the subtle shading – rose, mauve, marsala, brown, and tints of green all combine in a luscious ball of ribbon. And it matched perfectly with the colors in the painting. To contribute to the romantic feel, I made short lengths of pearl chain and dangled them from the rose. A brass butterfly charm fluttering about the ribbon and pearls is reminiscent of the butterflies seeking nectar from the poppies. The earrings are quite a bit more dramatic than what I usually wear, so I’m not sure yet if I’ll ever don them in public. But I did enjoy being able to reconstruct the colors, imagery, and feeling of this lovely painting into jewelry.
Surely Spring, you can’t be far away?
Blessings to you,
Sarah
anordinarymiracleday 