Inspired by.......Collaborations

If you are a frequent visitor to this blog, you know that I love to create pieces with other artists. Last summer I collaborated with four artists in a bracelet round-robin and I really became hooked on the concept of increasing the level of creativity by combining efforts with other creative people.

In the past year, the other passion I've embraced is interpreting two-dimensional artworks in jewelry. The Art Bead Scene  has presented their blog readers a diverse selection of works of art in a monthly challenge -- from prehistoric cave paintings to contemporary folkart-- as inspiration for jewelry using art beads and I've amassed a respectable body of work over the past year, something I've never managed to do before in all my years as an artist.

So when one of my online artist friends, Erin of Tesori Trovati invited me to participate in a project of hers using new and unique artwork as inspiration, I jumped at the chance to combine both my passions and create a completely new group of art beads for her to use in her designs for a one-woman show.

Here are the watercolors by Ann Singsaas that were my inspiration.

Siljan Glade by Ann Singsass

This one was a bit of a challenge because the colors were definitely out of my color "comfort zone". But I tested out a new technique with alcohol inks that I'd been wanting to try and achieved the watercolor-y effect I was going for. I decided not to go too literal and to leave the black and white elements to Erin, since she was on her way to the Bead & Button show and was sure to find lots of accompanying elements that would work well against the texture and color of the polymer beads.

Red Ponies by Ann Singsass

I'm a big fan of the red and orange family of colors so this one wasn't hard to interpret. I again used alcohol inks but this time I decided to provide two sets of beads, both using the same colorway in very different styles. So the jewelry artist can use one set or mix them both together in one piece.

The show is called “Inspired by...” and runs at Gallery Q in downtown Stevens Point, Wisconsin from Friday, August 13, 2010 with a reception from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm to sometime in September so if you're in the area, please stop by. Erin's invited Heather Powers and Kerry Bogert to play with her too, so there's a lot to see and enjoy.