Welcome to the art of curiosity; my personal amble through the worlds of art, crafts, books & all manner of other curiosities. You'll find examples of my jewellery & art work plus an account of how I'm attempting to confound depression & my bipolarity by pursuing my creativity. There's a lot of whimsy too; my mind set is distinctly frivolous at times!

So, Dear Reader, won't you join me on my journey?

Thursday 10 May 2007

interpreting roses


Ellie's Roses

I want to tell you a little story. It's quite cute so if you don't like cute, please pass over.

My daughter Ellie may only be 8, but she knows her beads. She can identify beads by Melanie Moertel, Laura Sparling, Emma Ralph & Beverly Hickin with ease. She enjoys browsing bead artists' websites & is desperate to play with the torch in the fullness of time. One day I may pass the bead baton on to her & make her my bead heir. The collection of art in my bead trays deserves an appreciative curator who will cherish & cosset the beads as much as I do now.

Of course it's not just beads that are stowed. There's the silver, Swarovski crystals, pearls & semi-precious stones plus the backbone beads that we all have to hand. What are our families going to do with our treasures? Should any potential heirs be reading this post (unlikely?), let me advise you that there's the bead equivalent of gold dust in our boxes & tins & cupboards. Call in the auctioneer & send the house clearance man on his way.

As is my habit, I digress.

Last year, she alighted on Emma Ralph's website & eventually opened the door that led to the Customers' Gallery. If you follow the link & look in the Gallery for yourself, the first thing you will see is a beautiful bracelet made by Jean Yates which features some fabulous polymer clay beads by Emma. You can also spot more examples of Emma's roses in Jean's entry for Art Bead Scene's competition in May (I've entered too. I'm forever copying Jean. I know I should desist, but I'm hooked on her ideas!)

Ellie was enthralled by Emma's depiction of roses & decided that she wanted to draw her own interpretation of the rose. She doodled & sketched diligently and eventually settled on the design up above. This sketch is an early example. She's firmed it up & it's become her trademark - Ellie has 'ellified' everything with her roses. Naturally I'm biased, but I love her roses & I've even taken to doodling them myself. Roses bloom throughout the house so thanks to Emma, via Jean, through Ellie to me, we have all been interpreting roses.

I wonder what the great man would think?

The rose as interpreted by Charles Rennie Mackintosh


5 comments:

Jean Katherine Baldridge said...

Oh I so love Ellie's interpretation! She is so perceptive abput what aspects are important, and what is beautiful, concerning the roses. Elle is a rose herself--a living breathing walking talking atist, and a perfect rose!

She is a remarkable person!

Anonymous said...

Spooky - those very patterns have been running through my mind the last few days, as I kept thinking to myself "I really have an urge to make more Mackintosh like rose beads"

Now I know why - I was picking up on Ellie's fantastic rose vibes! Her beautifully roses are truly inspirational - I feel beads coming on!

Emma

Jean Katherine Baldridge said...

Emma -- I see you! You left a cooooomeeeennnnt!

and your beads ARE beautiful!

the art of curiosity said...

It's wonderful to see you both here - two of my most favourite people on Planet Earth!

Thank you for your really kind words. Ellie made some polymer roses back in January. Because I've had my nose in my website for the last couple of months, I owe her several days of Shacktime (I work in my beloved Shack) and I have promised that we're going to make some rose beads.

Emma, I think she may know your most recent book off by heart. My copy of your other book is on the bookshelves in the Shack & only I have the key, but she can easily sneak into my study & steal my signed collector's edition.I've lost count of the number of times I have retrieved your book from under her pillow.

There is absolutely no doubt who her heroine is! You inspire her!

Anonymous said...

Eek - I am flattered by both your lovely comments.

They are not warrented I am sure - I keep my more warthog side well hidden from you both ( not that well says Jean!)

But I shall gobble up your compliments regardless in case the dish gets taken away. Thank you both!

Emma