There is the standard range of beads and then there are BEADS: found bits of shell and coral, rusty washers, snake vertebrae, nuts, discarded hoses cut apart, seeds, bits of a broken toys or puzzle pieces, thread cuttings, springs. Everything has bead potential, even that lobster’s nose tentacles! By combining the “standard repertoire” of beads with my hand painted, embellished and New Life beads, and by using whimsy and a keen colour eye, I create Bead Art. I love doing it, and best of all, it shows!

I quote Victoria Finlay from Colour: Travels Through the Paintbox, (Ballatine Books, New York, 2003). “The arrival of these professionals [colourmen, who developed reliable pre-mixed artists’ paints] on the art scene was a sign of how the act of painting was moving from a craft profession to an art one. For ‘craftspeople’ the ability to manage one’s materials was all-important; for ‘artists ‘ the dirty jobs of mixing and grinding were simply time-consuming obstacles to the main business of creation.”

As a Bead Artist, this standard repertoire of beads frees me in the same manner as the reliable pre-mixed paints freed mid-seventeenth century artists. The standard bead base affords me time to create my New Life, hand-painted and embellished showpieces. These breathtaking focal points, integrated with artistry and panache, are deft brush strokes. Like the varnishes of Rembrandt they add yet another layer to the composition.