Challenge - Farbstudie Quadrate by Kandinsky

This month over at the Art Bead Scene the challenge theme is Wassily Kandinsky's painting, Farbstudie Quadrate. Kandinsky has been a long-time favorite of mine but I must admit that this painting didn't so much serve as an inspiration as it did a motivation.

You see, I have a very bad habit. I come up with designs, I make the porcelain pieces for that design, and then I let those pieces sit for weeks, months, and yes, even years. Sometimes for me the thrill of creating is simply coming up with an idea. I am a fabulous starter and a less than fabulous finisher. Sometimes. Sometimes I kick much ass in the way of follow-through. This was not one of those times. I came up with this necklace design around 4 months ago and immediately made a ton of circles in varying sizes and colors. I played around with them, stacked them and envisioned just how I wanted the final piece to look.... and then I tucked them away in their little storage box and promptly moved on to the next impulse.

When the I saw the challenge theme for this month I was immediately reminded of my stash of circles and I decided to use Kandinsky's painting as motivation to finish them. This is a good example of when inspiration doesn't have to be a literal translation of the object (or in this case, painting). Obviously I didn't adhere to the color scheme and I totally ignored the textures and emotions of the painting. I just did my own thing and imagined Kandinsky standing behind me, cheering me on. (Ok, that was totally corny. But kind of a funny visual, huh?)

As fas as design concepts go, this piece is fairly simple. I stuck to the theme of 3's. Three circles, three rings for the bail and three sterling wires connected to the rings. Repetition is always a good thing when it comes to design, be it shape, size, color, numbers, textures, what-have-you... if you are ever in a design jam try to figure out what you can repeat to tie the whole design together. It works like a charm! :)

Last week when I was in a bit of an earring making frenzy I came up this design and thought it would work nicely with the theme. I will definitely be putting this one into my regular production line. I just love the off-center circles and the possible color combinations are just mind-blowing! :)