Category winner in Beaded Sculpture at Bead Arts Awards sponsored by Interweave.com and Golden Peak Media.
The design was shown at BeadFest in Lancaster Pa. in August 2023.
My inspiration for this window was the colorful glass beads. Having seen the frame at a craft store, I had the idea that it could be turned into a beaded stained glass window. I began with an outline of drawings and used the beads to fill in spaces. Using the beads as the shapes suggested I created a landscape.
I wanted to highlight the Czech glass beads in the beautiful opal glass colors and the also focus on the shapes - the flowers and all the beautiful leaves. The lemons were really one of the biggest inspirations for the whole piece. I had a great time beading the trees. The beads used for the cherry blossom flowers are just such beautiful pink glass. I used the Picasso finish brown seed beads for the trunks of the trees. The finish on the beads did a lot of work to convey the bark for me. For the sky, I realized the stars are out there during the day even if you don’t see them so I decided to just make sparkle and stars against the blue sky.
It was relaxing and pleasant to work on. While beading at one point I realized the pattern the beads created reminded me of Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte.
