Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge - October Reveal... and giveaway!

Hello everyone!

Sorry for disappearing these last few weeks... This month's challenge took much more of my focus than I anticipated. I'm really happy with what I made, however, and am super excited to share it with you.

As a reminder, the Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge this month was to make jewelry based on this painting by Pablo Picasso in the Cincinnati Art Museum:

Fun fact: today is actually Picasso's birthday!

...I didn't plan that at all--doing my reveal on his birthday, or actually picking this particular challenge for this month in the first place--but what a fun coincidence! I was floored when I found that out this morning. :)

This particular painting is called Still Life with Glass and Lemon, and is an excellent depiction of the cubist style. Now, I am admittedly not someone who gets drawn into the more abstract modern art, but I'm also not one to turn away from a challenge... and I was definitely very challenged to make jewelry to capture the essence of this painting. First off, it's extremely geometric. Secondly, finding those shades of brown was rather difficult. 

Still, I managed to make three different designs for this challenge--and, without any further ado, here they are!


Necklace #1

For necklace #1, I decided to break down the painting into one of its most defining characteristics: the straight lines. Now obviously there are curved lines in the painting as well, but it is the straight lines that are most readily apparently. 

So, to capture those straight lines, I went with straight-edged cube beads. (Bonus points for having cube beads for a cubist painting, am I right?) However, just like the lines in Picasso's work, they are not perfect cubes--they have slight variations, and are a bit more visually intricate.

I decided to go with silver beads... well, honestly I'm not sure how to articulate why. My options were a bright yellow gold and the silver, and the bright gold seemed a bit too gaudy for what I was trying to achieve. The cooler silver matches the more calculated appearance of the painting.

Oh, and interestingly, the curved lines do actually show up in this necklace... The curve of the necklace while being worn captures a bit of that shape.

So, while extremely simplistic, I actually gave a lot of thought to this necklace--and I figure that's a fitting way to start this reveal. :)


Necklace #2

This second necklace is all about color. Remember how I said that it was ridiculously hard to match the browns in the painting? This is one of the projects that really highlighted that. 

Ultimately, though, I'm really happy with how it turned out:

...and yes, I just had to make something with a tassel. :)

Materials include lamp work glass, shell, glass, wood, and stone. I tried to mix up sizes and shapes, just like the painting--a rectangle focal, saucer beads, rounds, ovals--to give a more varied geometric appearance.

I'm pretty happy with this necklace. After all, Picasso's work doesn't really scream "tassel," so it was an interesting exercise to take it and translate it into my style... and I can now say that I have made a geometric tassel. :)


Necklace #3

This final necklace is my favorite of the bunch. It was also the one that took the most time.

While I was looking for components to go into this necklace, I was a little frustrated when I couldn't find something exactly like I was looking for. So, I did what any artist would do: I decided to make my own.

And to do that, I went to my local crafty reuse store, Scrap It Up, and found some little wood pieces:

...which I then proceeded to paint:

Now, I am not a painter. Not in the slightest. But, for being a non-painter, I actually have a lot of acrylic paint--and I thought it would be fun to try my hand at actually making what I had in mind. I tried to match the colors and the small-straight-brush strokes of Picasso. When I had the pieces made to my liking, I then got to assembling what I had in mind. 

This is the end result:

...I am so ridiculously pleased with this necklace, I can't even describe it--mostly because the vision in my head actually worked.

A bit about the construction: I used black waxed linen to secure the wood pieces. I chose it because it blends in nicely with the black lines that I had painted on the wood--and the black lines that Picasso used to represent his lemon and glass from all the different angles. 

I then secured the linen to some awesome chunky geometric chain--which matches the size and visual heft of the wood pieces without overpowering them. 

I am thrilled with this necklace. It is bold and geometric and actually captures some of the feeling of the painting. It is also outside of my normal style... and it is always fun when I tackle something outside of my comfort zone and have it work. 


Bonus and Giveaway!

...But wait, there's more!

I didn't actually end up using all of the pieces that I painted in the designs I showed above. So, I turned them into pendants:

And that's where the giveaway comes in!

I am offering one of the below golden-bailed pendants to one lucky commenter:

...which one, you ask? Well, it actually depends on which one my mother claims. I will try to update here when I find out from her which one she wants. (The other two have already been claimed by best friends.) :)

So! To enter, just leave a comment on this blog entry! Oh, and be sure to leave an email address, so that I'll know how to contact you. In three weeks, on November 15th, I'll draw a name out of a hat. I'll post the winner here, as well as contact them via their provided email addresses. 

Phew, I think that's it. This is quite the long blog post, but I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed working on it. I really enjoyed this challenge, I enjoyed stretching myself as an artist, and I enjoyed explaining my design decisions in this post. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today... have a wonderful weekend, everyone! And Happy Picasso's Birthday! :)