Beaded 2 Bless

The week has slipped by without any beading being done but the inspiration is still swirling inside. Taking a passive role by just looking at magazines and books instead of creating, keeps me going.  I may still get to bead today  but I will save the progress photos to share next week.  While looking through magazines and previous journal entries, I discovered  that this has been brewing for a lot longer than I thought. I came across a journal entry created several months ago during a worship service.  It is an awesome experience! You look at the photo...seem like a coincidence to you? I used water soluble oil pastes and pen to create this journal page. I love how you can work in one medium and it inspires your direction in another. If you work with multi-media, be sure to play with them all as your inspiration allows. You will find that it fuels a much bigger fire than you had dreamed. Uhh, no pun intended ( I think). I wonder what they were saying...

As I envision a phoenix rising from the ashes I see scrolls or swirls of movement. This is one of my favorite design elements and  I especially love it in architecture and furniture. Being one of my favorite things, it shouldn't be unexpected when I incorporate it into the bead work. It really wasn't but what was not expected would be my reaction to its presence and what it added . I began the scroll work after using a moss/ bocce stitch under the flames to transition the lower half of the doll to ashes. Selecting  a matte black 11 bead for the scroll outline. I wasn't completely settled on this bead or the scrolls from the beginning,  but I made myself push through and commit to the decision that was made. I set the doll down at this point, still not certain of the direction is was taking. Later I came back to her,  looked at the black scroll of bead work and picked her up, I felt an intensity that wasn't there before. A depth of meaning. Now I am cer...

Whenever you work on a doll  you don't always have all the pieces together. I usually have more of the big picture than I did with this doll. What it has taught me is to "Take it one Step at a Time". While I worked on the flames, more and more things revealed themselves to me. I knew this doll was to have wings. What I didn't know was why. Now I DO! Follow along my thought process for a  minute. As a flame burns, there is a change created. We are left with Ashes. I remembered "beauty for ashes" and had to go find out why it sounded like I was trading beauty for a pile of ashes- when I knew it was supposed to be the other way around. When I found it,  it smacked me. I mean it resonated deep within me. Isaiah 61:3 "To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorifie...

After focusing on the flames, more inspiration has welled up in my spirit. This is what so many artist search for before they create. For me, it comes as I get quiet, busy my hands and meditate on what is in front of me as well as what is pouring out of me. The inspiration isn't just for what I am working on at the time, it overflows into everything. I mean EVERYTHING. I begin to create in the still moments before I sleep, in my dreams I am fulfilling the  promises of future appointments.  It is:  THE SWEET SPOT! The place where you know that you are doing exactly what you are called to do. Where you are fulfilling your greatest desires and drawing on wisdom that rests within. When you are led by the creative spirit instead of a  thwarted body and confused mind. Your eyes are on the prize and you can feel the hope it carries into your life. There is nothing else like it- To be exactly where you are supposed to be- No Questions asked- No Doubts remain. Blessin...

The  biggest challenge I face when I create a large project (of any kind) is faithfulness. I allow myself to toy with different ideas within the project but I am a stickler for being faithful to the vision. If it doesn't fit- it gets tossed to the side. This process is actually the part that I love. I think you might  call it problem solving but I like to refer to it as creative engineering.  When I began this doll,  I felt like I was working with a foreign medium, one never explored before. It sounds strange even to me, especially as I had my previous pieces right under my nose to contradict that feeling of inadequacy. I haven't made a doll in quite some time. I was completely disinterested with anything that had to do with bead embroidery. The last doll I completed took such a chunk of my soul to complete, I am still struggling getting over it and the events of my life that occured while creating her. So, I started to embroider on the arms of th...