Parts of Art

       It was a summer art show in southern Indiana. We were set up in an open field in a park on a very hot muggy weekend. There was not a great turn-out of visitors, and those that did come were just too damn hot to try on jewelry. The artists in the booths next to me and across from me were grumbling, as artists tend to do when it’s not the perfect show. I spent my time drinking large quantities of water, cooling myself with cold washcloths, and doing my best to not give in to the negative vibe around me.       And then along came this wonderful lady, all sunshine and smiles. She took a real interest in my jewelry and wanted to see everything I had in her color choices. She seemed oblivious to the heat. For the next 30 minutes or so she tried on and oohed and ahhed over several pieces, ultimately deciding on a bracelet and two pairs of earrings.        Once again, it was as though I had made the pieces just for...

Olive green: Neutral brownish green, similar to unripe olives, the fruit of the olive tree, an evergreen with leathery leaves and small whitish flowers, a native of western Asia, cultivated since ancient times. If you were to mix this as a paint color, here's a recipe: 8 parts Zinc White 3 parts Cobalt Blue 2 parts Cadmium Yellow Medium 1 part Burnt Umber What makes it so special? Olive green is a muted green. As you can see from the recipe, it is made from white, blue yellow and brown. We know from the color wheel exercise that blue plus yellow makes green, and that if you add white it becomes a beautiful delightful tint of green. But to mute it, to make it more earthy and natural, and to truly earn the name of OLIVE, it needs more. It needs to reach across the color wheel and grab some red. The recipe calls for burnt umber, and if you are familiar with paint names you know that burnt umber has a reddish cast. Not as much as burnt sienna, but enough to mute down th...

In my on going adventure of finding beads I acquired a beautiful conglomerate of what I think is jasper. Not being an expert on gems, I am simply attracted to the colors and textures of stones and love the process of combining them with parts of art. This piece lived in my jewelry bead box for at least a year, waiting its turn for how it would be used. Then along came some beautiful double drilled jasper squares with hues of olive and sepia. I then found a delicious slice of acrylic paint with visual layers of spotted and marbled tans, dark chocolate brown, and pastel baby blue. It all came together with some gray pearl and clay beads. It made its debut on my Etsy store as the Natural Beauty necklace. It sat for four months, waiting patiently for its owner to find it. But no one came forward to call Natural beauty their favorite. When it came time to renew its time on Etsy, I pulled it out to re- photo it. Then it sat on my work table for a few days in the bundle of...