Kate Boyan's Gallery: March 2012

Saturday, March 17, 2012

NUMBER 2 FINISHED

So here is the finished piece. I'm pleased, the seagulls are a little meaner looking than my last ones, but they can get that way when they are after a fish head. I love the water color, and I have to thank my good friend and fellow beader Susan Anniskett because at Christmas time when I told her I was looking for dirty water colors she came through big time. She sent me some antique bugle beads that really make the piece! Thank you Susan!!! The little touch of whimsy in this one is the plastic shovel in the corner...

THE BLUE BEAD

Can an old trade bead find new life in print? Could the saga of an 18th century blue Bohemiam bead be a book that will hold interest for children and artist alike? This book "The Blue Bead" is a fictional account of a young beadworkers experience with the gift of an old trade bead and how it finds its way into her life in present day Alaska. It is based in part on historical fact. Where a bead has been and who its previous owner was often remains a mystery. The 25 illustrations were laboriously beaded, each taking over 200 hours to complete, some much more than that. "The Blue Bead" has taken 10 years to finish and is an exquisite labor of love by author/illustrator Kate Boyan.