Merry Christmas!

What is CHRISTMAS all about and my ICON collection

I do have a big collection of real Icons painted by an Icon-artist living in the north of Sweden

I got to know her on an art exhibition where I was also showing my paintings...

We started a long friendship back then in the 90-ties and I did buy several of her beautiful artwork.

She has been learning the technique from an icon-painting  monk and using the way to make them as have been done for 1000 years. That is a lot of work with preparing the wood with textile sort of and then using egg-tempera the old way of painting and real gold is used a lot!

You can not paint what You like...Only those special icon pictures can be painted. I was going to give it a try but the way of starting out with the dark colors and than adding the light is opposite of the way I work so I made my own way...not real icons...and those I made are given away...

but I do have some paintings with motives of Mary and the Son

First picture is my first Icon and she told me she worked on it for HUNDREDS of hours!

very very veeery ...heavy this one on a big thick piece of wood

This is my favorite  (I think)  a special orde from this Icon picture I found in a cataloge from Greece

Jesus with wings ..very unusual and pretty...also more pastel colors as not from Russia

This one is also unusual and a special order with Jesus in Getsemane (spelling?)  as I like gardens

on this wall many from my collection

this is one of my own  paintings  BIG one with Jesus  on thin wood and crackle effect to look old.... I  made 2002

And finally mother Mary  the best painting I ever made so far .......also big 40 inches high on thin wood and crackle effect. A church was interested in buying this one but today I am glad they were a bit short of money as they were rebuilding..:)

So What is Christmas all about  ?

We do not have the Thanks Giving holiday over here so Christmas is a time to be grateful

• To try and celebrate LOVE and THANKFULNESS (does that word exist in engl.?)
• To share what You have with others
• And to forgive
• To remember that we are all the same  wonderful  souls trying to live good lives here on earth

So I want to thank You out there in cyberspace- who I never meat  irl - for bringing light into my life with nice comments (hint)  beautiful artwork and tons of inspiration for my creative soul !

Thank´s!

and I wish You a very MERRY CHRISTMAS

Birgitta

Art Bead Scene monthly challenge DECEMBER

This months challenge did speak to me in a wonderful way with the TWO gorgeous paintings

by  John Anster Fitzgerald

I decided to make some jewelry with this inspiration and first out was this necklace were I tried to paint with my beads to make  the painting STORM in wearable form

  a closer look at the pendant i made from porcelain


 then I created those earrings with gorgeous lamp-work beads and my own soldered hoops

and with those on ABS blog I was  Featured Designer of the Week .......


Here's what Art Bead Scene editor Jennifer Heynen had to say about Birgitta's piece...

"I love all the textures that are included in Birgitta's earrings. They are absolutely lovely."

  THANK YOU !!

As I do love those paintings so much i am going to make a line of jewelry with  this faerie theme 
I do have some ceramic I made waiting for me :)

...read more about the challenge HERE

The HEART for today

My dear cat Anton is a very loving spirit as long as I do not  use the brush to much on him.....
He has the longest and most hard to keep up fer I ever saw in a cat and I did have a bunch  (Persian)
When I work in the studio he likes to be in my lap - not a good idea as he is getting very big - soon 9 months old..
my chair is really whining out loud  when he tries to jump up and sit behind my head on top of the chair.....

well the HEART  is physical  also!!

he has a NOSE  with that shape I did not see before so clearly :)

CLAY-PLAY

It was very fun to test different glaces and oxides last time I could get a little space in Kia´s kiln / about 50 pc.

I made a few of different colors to test and some angels and beads in just white porcelain fired twice as they are and those I loooove really ...most of the experimenting turned out  ok so i know a bit how to go ahead with the lot waiting......the thing that does not work for me is decals...now for the second time as I use stonewere glace may be they need higher temp to burn ? well I will try again...

 from this colorful  lot I got the pendant to my "Storm-necklace" ....abs dec. challenge..

The Messy Beaders' Club ( who would not belong there??)

Almost everyday my intention is to clean out the space and some days i do but then when I start to create i get a lot of stuff out of my drawers and closets and even put some boxes on the floor  eeeewwwww

hm....

The words from A. Einstein on top of  the page  *The messy Beaders* club is a bit comforting though....read it HERE

and even if i do have veeeeeeeeeery much  (I started out buying wholesale as I helped some friends start a bead shop in town 2005) I  can still find almost anything in this lot...

I do sell beads but at the moment I do not put any energy into that and my bead shop at Etsy is empty

but Im planning to do something about that next Year as i also started to make my own parts more and more

I will also sell some of my handmade creations for jewelry

at the moment I can move the mouse for the computer   :)

SALE REA Julhalsband i rött

4 julhalsband finns på min hemsida till REA- pris

Friday Creativity

First I made a bracelet with some of my own ceramic ; button and charm

one more bracelet with my own flower /polymer clay

And then a necklace with Nan´s pendant

Painting with beads

I made a new piece of jewelry for the ABS december challenge  

were I tried to capture the colors and structures and feelings from this painting that was given for  inspiration

and here is my painting in beads and fibres 

And here is a link to the December Challenge

Is it Christmas all ready ??

I got a package from my supplier of stones yesterday

and I felt like a child on Christmas eve 

They do have so many wonderful beads

This selection is mostly fire agate faceted     juuummiieee

Mina Kissemissar

Tänk att Anton hjälper Bibbi med pälsvåden

inte illa  / GULLIGT  och lyckades fånga det på bild

Bibbi  har problem med sin tunga så det kan behövas

11 år gammal och ganska smutsig i pälsen då hon även får vara ute i trädgården på sommaren

Bibbi does get some help with the cleaning

Featured Designer of the Week at Art Bead Scene : NAN EMMET

My friend at Etsy shop * Spirited Eart* with her own ceramic pendant and beads here in this pretty necklace

Link to the post is HERE

I do have a drawer full of her beautiful beads!!!!

just waiting for me to create :)  THANK´S NAN !!

A wonderfully wintery treasury by Wondrousstrange designs

I really wanted to show the hole treasury here but it would not work  :(

so I give You a  link  and a picture of my earrings included 

As allways when picked with those artistic eyes of Dorcas it is a  lovely collection!

and this is a picture of my latest purchase from her Etsy shop (just hours ago) as I could not resist this key

I think You can easily see why :)

here is a link to her SHOP

Golem Design Studio Design Contest

Golem Design Studio make wonderful detailed ceramic beads in gorgeous vivid colors

On their facebook page they have a design contest

I just sent 3 pictures  of jewelry I made with their beads in . You can go there and vote for me :)  by clicking like on my items!   go there : GOLEM DESIGN STUDIO

those are my pieces : one necklace with earrings matching and a bracelet

for the love of Tulips

Out of the jungle

Du kan alltså rösta på mig i denna tävling hos Golem Design på facebook genom att klicka *like* knappen på mina bidrag .... för att gå till deras sida klicka här    GOLEM DESIGN

bidragen finns just nu nedtill på sidan till vä...

New at ABS : December Challenge

 Something to consider indeed......

lovely paintings in hot red  colors to find inspiration from 
this one is so gorgeous!

        The Storm, John Anster Fitzgerald

to read more click HERE

Todays Jewelry

I made this soft winter colored  necklace today trying to make something nice with this unusual soft pink porcelain focal  60 mm long 

I tested with some silk ribbon first but that did not turn out the way I wanted..so it ended up with lovely hand cut deer skin in off-white and some nice pink beads from Nan Emmet + rose gold wire