seed beads – Bead Art by Deb McQueen

A Night of Surprise!

Tonight was the First Friday opening for the 64th Parallel Juried Exhibition. The show Juror, Emily Nachison had her work cut out for her. There were over 200 entries, only 64 are chosen for the show!

I was pleased to find out that two of my pieces had been selected for the show.

“Gold Dredge” and “Summer at the Cabin”

I was very surprised tonight when I found out that “Summer at the Cabin” received Honorable Mention! What a great night.

The Cabin is ready!

What a great summer project, I am pretty happy with this one. This is one of the larger pieces I have done, 13 in. x 9 in. I will be entering this in a juried show at the end of this month. I will update on how I do.

Update on The Cabin

Sky and clouds are done! Working on the second layer of pine trees, and the bush. Birch trees are next. Using size 15/0 for the pine trees, a mix of 15/0, 16/0 and 18/0s for the bush. I will probably use 20/0 for the birch leaves.

The Cabin

I am still working on the cabin. I am anxious to get the flat sections finished and get started on the layered areas. The bushes, flowers and tree branches will be a second layer and the tree leaves will be added on last. Lots to do.

Once I get finished with the green ares I will begin working on the mountains. Some of these will be snow covered, so i will be getting out the numerous shades of white and playing with those. It takes me awhile to decide what snow really looks like, I have heard that there are 100’s of Native Alaskan words for different types of snow… maybe that is why it is so hard for me?

Bead update: We have a Garden!

I have managed to fill-in most of the lower grassy area and added a cute little garden. Will be working on the sky behind the lower level trees next. Then I will be able to add branches and leaves to the trees and bushes.

Summer Days in Alaska

It has been 10 days since my last post. Our summers are short, but oh so busy in Alaska! Gardening, yard work, fishing, ball games…. so much to do. With all the fun things I get to do I have not been spending as much time on my beading.

I got the water area completed, added a nice bunch of rhubarb to the corner of the cabin and started to fill in the pathway.

Tomorrow I am sitting in my screen tent and beading. It is supposed to be 77 degrees ! Enjoy these summer days.

Cabin in the Wilderness

Since we now have nearly 23 hours of daylight I will start a bead art piece using tons of tiny beads! This piece is approximately 9 inches by 12 inches. I spent one day getting the foundation together and drawing the basic outlines. I am using size 11/0, 13/0, 15/0, and the smallest so far are the size 22/0 vintage Italian “greasy” beads used on the birch trees Follow my progress, ask questions, leave remarks… it’s going to take awhile to complete this one. I plan to spend as many days outside enjoying our short summer as I can. I can bead on rainy days.