A Bracelet for Madame De Pompadour - Art Bead October Challenge

I love the monthly challenge over at Art Beads Scene Studio even though I have only taken part once so far. Checking this month's painting inspiration, I loved it straight away - Madame De Pompadour by Francois Boucher, dated 1756 and created in oil on canvas. I like the sumptuousness of the dress and the shades of teal and pink and I instantly thought that I could use the below pendant connector for which I printed a mini image of my original painting 'Daisies and Friends'. 

How I revived my blog in 2017

It is not easy to keep a blog, especially if you don’t particularly like talking about yourself. And, we, artists and crafters, are all guilty. We prefer to get on with our work and not ramble about our lives. Who would be interested? What would I write about? How will I come up with new ideas? What else should I write about apart from my art/craft? These are just a few questions that the majority of us don’t have answers to so we either don’t start a blog at all or if we do start one, we shortly abandon it for lack of ideas. I know, I have been there too.

The smell of autumn: smoked aubergine purée

It's been a while since I wrote this article and I am still enjoying a good old aubergine salad which, in the meantime, I found out is called smoked aubergine purée (it is a matter of translating from Romanian into English and not about the dish itself - we call it salad even though it is a purée). The ingredients are the same: smoked aubergines, homemade mayonnaise and either onion or garlic. But my version replaces mayonnaise with mascarpone cheese and I am also adding red peppers. There are other varieties out there, one of them being with smoked aubergines, yoghurt, garlic and dill - this is something I've yet to try. In a meantime, here are some pictures showing my version and if you like aubergines in every shape and forms (I love them!) this is a perfect autumn dish that you can use either as a dip or as a breakfast spread on toast. Delicious!

Cosy Autumn

This post is a showcase of what autumn means to me: autumnal inspired jewellery, dried flowers, cosy knitwear, foraged goodies and the smell of coffee.

Outside studio

Summer Meadow Inspired by the Eden Project

Have I ever told you that Eden Project is one of my favourite places? Not only is it educational but it offers plenty of photography opportunities. During one of my visits, I was impressed by this meadow scene and few months later, I decided to paint it. Here are the step-by-step photos. Enjoy!

Foraging blackberries for a delicious cake

I love foraging - wild strawberries in late spring, elderflowers in summer and blackberries in autumn. The first day of September was sunny so I decided to go foraging and bake a cake. Even though I am trying to make no-bake low calories cakes, every now and then I would bake cakes with fruits like boiled clementine cake, gooseberry cake and today's cake with blackberry. I used the same recipe as for gooseberry cake that I found here and yes, I did make a gooseberry cake a few weeks ago when I bought some gooseberries on sale and they were too sour to eat. 

Art Bead August Challenge

I discovered Art Bead Scene Studio a while back and I was enticed by their monthly art bead challenge - creating a piece of jewellery inspired by a classical artwork and using at least one art bead. As I couldn't take part before either because I was too late or too busy with other projects when I checked this month's challenge I fell in love with the painting straight away. Twelve Princesses on the Way to Dance was painted by Kay Nielsen in watercolour and ink and it was published in 1923. This challenge made me look at other paintings by this artist and what a joy that was!

Tackling the bridal market

Colourful nails for colourful bracelets

I really enjoyed painting my nails for these photo shoots. Every bracelet deserves colourful nails to match. All bracelets feature a mini print after my paintings and they are designed to complement and enhance the image. For that, I used colourful glass beads, gemstones and millefiori beads as well as connectors and clasp toggles so they would be easy to put on. They are perfect either to complement your colourful outfits or as an accent piece that will draw the eyes. What I like about bracelets is that you can see them too when you are wearing them, unlike earrings for example. Have you ever thought of that :)? Enjoy the showcase and please let me know which one is your favourite.

Meadow connector + agate slice stone, agate flower bead and lava bead.