Margie and Me: Oil on Canvas

I thought about giving Margie and Me a spring break this month because there were so few people who were able to play along last month, I thought maybe we should take a break.

But, I really do enjoy the challenge regardless of how many people take it on, so I decided to stick with it at least definitely for May.

Okay, here is the first palette, and this one is the one that I chose.

I've told you before that art and architecture are much more inspiring to me than nature and also that I really have difficulty designing with anything approaching orange, so I decided when I came across this painting that it would be the challenge for this month.

It's entitled Flaming June by Frederic Leighton and it's

definitely a color scheme with a lot of umph.

Obviously the main color is the bright tangerine that's slapping ya' in the face there, but if you notice even though it is bright, the muted tones around the painting work to soften the bright color of her dress and make it less harsh to the eyes.

If you'd like a little short bio of the painting, it can be found here.

This second portrait is the one that I chose from Margie Deeb's book, The Beader's Color Palette.

I wanted to stick with the theme of women in art and so I chose one of the most famous portraits of a woman ever painted.

Girl with a Pearl Earring is a classic work created by Vermeer, one of the dutch masters.

This painting has become one of the best examples of the use of light in portraits as you can see how the girl seems to be illuminated only from one side.

In Margie's book, this color palette is #72 and she gives you exact Delica #'s if you'd really like to nail down the color.

If you're interested in playing along, here are the guidelines:

- Create any piece of jewelry (woven, embroidered, strung, etc..) in any medium, with any materials, using one or both of the color palettes.

- On May 16th, we'll have an inspiration day, and I'll try to post an Etsy treasury with the colors or maybe even a few items that I've found which really capture the color scheme.

- On May 28th, we'll all reveal what we've created, which means you can post a picture of your creation to Flickr or your blog and then come back here and leave a link so we can see what you've created.

I hope you enjoy the color palettes and that you'll get a chance to play along and challenge yourself!

Happy creating!