Inspiration

As a reward for completing chemotherapy I ordered myself several beading books.  I decided they would last longer than food.  Books provide me with inspiration for color, lines and components that I then put together in my own projects.  Since color is so much "my thing" I like to be able to hold the books in my hand and look at all of the nuances of color.  Then I go to my bead stash to look at the possibilities.  The actual beads have so much more depth and light.

These three are my favorite of my new books. 

Bead Romantique by Lisa Kan has beautiful, elegant, somewhat elaborate designs.  Although there is some wire work she primarily uses bead stringing.  There are a lot of Swarovski crystals of one shape or another in her designs.  Some are a little flashier than I usually wear.  There are several designs and techniques however that I am itching to explore.  The instructions and the illustrations are excellent.  I am trying to be very disciplined and finish my square face necklaces first.  I am not sure how long that will last.

I ordered some luscious Swarovski pearls some time ago and have not been able to figure out what to do with them.  I have looked at designs on the web and in advertisements.  I have a vision in my head but have not been able to make it into a reality.  I ordered two books about pearls.  The other one uses mostly wire techniques which I am not comfortable with.  This book, create jewelry Pearls by Marlene Blessing and Jamie Hogsett, is just what I have been looking for.  The techniques are primarily stringing although there is some wire work.   I love the elegance of their designs.  And they have pages throughout the book with the heading "did you know."   They provide great pictures and information about the use of pearls throughout history.  I think the problem with my projects is that I just don't have enough pearls.

This is the most fun of my books.  It is Wild Women Stitched Art Brooches by Sarah Lawrence.  I love her use of color, texture and just plain fun attachments.  Personally, I don't wear brooches very often.  I just don't seem to be able to figure out where to put them.  But I think they would be great to make a bunch of little wild women to put on a necklace.  I have all of these ideas of how to make something wild and then seem to bland them down by the time I am finished.  I would like to get in touch with the wild woman in my art.

What do you use for inspiration for your art?  Are you expressing what you want to express?