Into each garden some rain must fall ...

Of course I have corrupted a line from Longfellow's 'The Rainy Day' in the title of my post today, but it perfectly expresses my feelings.  Due to family illness the Midnight Garden exhibition has had to be cancelled - but that does not mean an end to the Midnight Garden!  Unexpected and disappointing things happen.  In my real life garden a cheeky little mouse has made a tasty meal of my baby carrots and voracious slugs and snails have made short work of my runner beans - I was looking forward to eating those homegrown vegetables myself, but it was not meant to be this year and it does not mean I will not plant new ones.  The walls of the Midnight Garden are still firm,  the twisting twirling leaves and vines are still thriving and the owls, hedgehogs and turtles are still watchful and waiting for a time when new creatures will join them.  The garden was already beginning to take on a life of its own and new ideas were starting to take shape, so perhaps this change of direction was always on the cards - the gardener just wasn't aware of it!

So, although I cannot go through with the physical exhibition in September, I will continue with my personal colour challenge (albeit at a slower pace), I will still be the caretaker of the Midnight Garden and I will carry on with my freelance work.  Talking of which - I have just managed to complete a couple of new Thorn Flower bracelets in different colourways!  These will join the existing bracelet at the York Beads booth at Bead Fest in Philadelphia from August the 17th to the 19th.  And don't forget that you can purchase the pattern for the Thorn Flowers via this page of my website!

 

To round off today's post I would like to thank everybody for the wonderful support the garden has received so far.  I would also like to reassure you that although my work will no longer be displayed at Stitchncraft in September, I will still be working hard on creating this body of work and I will of course keep you updated with all news on my blog or Facebook page.

Bye for now!

Kerrie

The Gateway to the Garden!

This piece only measures 2 inches by 1½ inches (5cm by 4cm) but it has still taken me the best part of 3 weeks to make!  I've loved labradorite since the first time I saw it and I always felt that it has magical properties, so I knew I wanted to use some in my Midnight Garden exhibition.  When I spotted this pendant at Kandra's Beads I thought it looked like a doorway (one I very much wanted to walk through) and I wondered if I would be able to create my vision in beads.  My idea was to make it look like an arch through an ancient walled garden that you might stumble upon on a moonlight ramble.  The wall would be covered in vines and leaves that had grown up around it with long grass at the base and maybe there would be an old gnarled tree curving around the entrance.  All of these things would form a frame and through that frame you would be able to glimpse the magic inside.  Then, as you stand transfixed, not knowing whether to cross that threshold or to leave with your secret, you hold your breath as you gaze at the glorious backdrop of the night sky wondering whether the dark intriguing shapes could be fairies dancing in the moonlight?  So I set about using my beads, needle and thread to create The Gateway to the Garden ... 

I hope you enjoy looking at my new piece but more importantly, I hope that you can see what I see.

As always, I love to receive your comments. so let me know what you think and I'll be back whenever something new grows in the Midnight Garden.

Kerrie

Midnight Garden!

Remember me telling you last week about my exhibition plans?  Well, you would think that with the luxury of 11 months stretching before me and 1700g of seed beads by my side, the rest would be easy, wouldn't you?  I have really been looking forward to this time (having been very disciplined in previous months by only beading what I had to bead, rather than what I wanted to bead) and so I expected that when the time arrived, I would simply pick up my needle, thread and beads and my new collection would flow from my fingers.  However, I discovered that it wasn't going to be quite as simple as that and I spent the first day surrounded by beads wondering where on earth to start!  After another day of rising panic (which is surely the number one imagination killer) I decided to relax and just play and if there was nothing to show at the end of the first week, then so be it.

From the outset, I knew that I wanted to create a themed exhibition and if you are a regular follower of my blog, you will know that not only am I very fond of flowers, but that I also love the escapism  that fairy tales give us.  Ever since I was a small child, I have always loved to sit by a window on a moonlight night, gazing out at the garden, imagining what the fairy folk might be up to and so I thought that this would be the perfect time to indulge three of my passions and create a beaded midnight garden!  With this in mind, my first experiments began with vines and tendrils and I created this simple (yet hopefully elegant) little herringbone necklace with a single night bloom at the centre - if you click on the picture it will open a larger version.

I hope that my midnight garden will soon sprout many fantasy flowers with leaves, vines, buds and petals all unfurling in the magical moonlight ready to be made into jewellery fit for a Faerie Queen!  As promised, I will keep posting my garden news and I would welcome your company on my journey.

Kerrie

Exhibition news!

The last couple of years have been a truly amazing time for me with lots of thrilling teaching and travelling opportunities and all manner of exciting offers landing in my lap and I have done my best to meet each challenge.  When I look back at the last 10 years of my life and when I started beading (and particularly why I started beading) I can hardly believe that I am the same person now as I was then.  It has been a wonderful learning experience and a huge confidence builder BUT I feel that the time is now right for a little change in direction.  I am planning on spending the next 11 months mostly working at home and creating a themed exhibition of my work that will have its first showing at Stitchncraft Beads in Dorset (UK) in September 2012.

The picture above shows 1700g of seed beads that I recently purchased to enable me to make a start on my new project and I am hoping to turn these tiny beads into sculptural works of art that will delight and inspire visitors to the exhibitions.  I have been keeping a notebook of ideas throughout the last year or so and I promised myself that once all my teaching commitments were met I would start experimenting and let my imagination unfurl again.  I will regularly post pictures (if only sneak peeks!) of my new pieces and the inspiration behind them and blog about my journey.  I have a head full of ideas, I have cleared my diary and I have purchased the beads.  Let the adventure begin ...

Kerrie