June Art Bead Scene Challenge June 13, 2013
Hello, everyone!
Art Bead Scene hosts a wonderful monthly challenge with inspiration from a fine art piece.
The one caveat is that your original design must include at least one hand-made art bead.
June’s art work is a gorgeous watercolor that simply makes me want to pack my bags
and go spend a month at this seaside village!
Jackknife Village, 1926
Franklin Carmichael
Watercolor on Paper
Color palette by Brandi Hussey
About the Art
In step with the fashions of the times, his work increasingly reflected the flat, simplified design popular in the 1920s.
During the late 1930s and 1940s, he branched out and worked on wood engravings and linocuts, all with the same precision and rhythmic quality of his paintings.
About the Artist
Canadian artist, Franklin Carmichael, May 4, 1890 – October 24, 1945.
The youngest and original member of the Group of Seven, Franklin Carmichael was born in 1890 in Orillia, Ontario. His father was a carriage maker. Carmichael arrived in Toronto at the age of twenty and entered the Ontario College of Art, where he studied with William Cruickshank and George Reid. In 1911, he began working as an apprentice at Grip Ltd. for $2.50 a week. He then joined Tom Thomson and other painters who were training to become serious artists, joining them on weekend sketching trips. He moved to Belgium in 1913 to study painting but due to the war soon returned to his native Ontario to rejoin the other artists. Carmichael was greatly influenced by Tom Thomson and shared space with him at the Studio Building in 1914. He was also on the fringe of the group because of his difference in age and was closely associated with the newer members of the Group of Seven.
Along with A. J. Casson and F. H. Brigden, Carmichael founded the Ontario Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1925. He also founded the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933, which several members of the Group of Seven would later join. He taught at the Ontario College of Art from 1932 to 1945.
Famous for his watercolours, many of his paintings depict Ontarian landscapes.
This painting that calls back a bucolic life was a delightful inspiration with so many directions to go.
I finally decided to go purely with the colors on this one.
Especially the lovely purple mountains and azure waters.
When I started dabbling in the acrylic paints for these two polymer clay beads however,
I’m afraid I got a teensy bit carried away with the vibrant side of these hues.
I seriously thought about toning them down to more closely match the colors in this painting,
but in the end, fell in love with my original choices, plus a dash of gold for the rolling hills.
Wouldn’t these be perfect for a seaside summer vacation?
Library Outreach June 8, 2013
Our local library branch offers so many community outreach programs…
besides the venerable preschool story time…
they offer literacy and computer classes, yoga, needle work class, anime club, mystery book club,
and I love this one…Paws to Read with Buddy (a friendly Schnauzer).
What kid wouldn’t love reading to a furry friend!
There are so many more.
For several years now, one of the librarians has organized a jewelry making class.
To fund this twice monthly offering, she receives a small amount of money
from the library’s used book store to purchase tools, beads, and findings.
Dianne also donates her time scouring bead stores and the internet
for the best deals on beads to stretch this money.
About 20-25 folks have a grand time sharing ideas, learning how to create wonderful jewelry, and socialize.
At no cost to them!
At the end of the month, the library will host its annual tribute to the Fourth of July,
with an Old Fashioned Independence Day Festival for the community.
Music, Food, Games, Crafts, Half-Price Book Sale, and more…
The jewelry class will be selling some of their pieces as a fundraiser for more class supplies.
If you live in the San Diego area, do come out and support the wonderful outreach of the Rancho San Diego library.
Saturday, June 29th, from 11:00-2:00.
At the most recent session, one of the ladies brought in some sweet bamboo tiles.
We were ooohing and aaahing over these.
And she said that they were originally from a place mat she bought and took apart,
but thought they might be repurposed into jewelry. How cool is this!
(Found this place mat on line at Amazon..set of 4 for under $16. That’s a ton of tiles!)





































