This time, I searched through my "Stash o' Stuff and found a string of African trade beads. I purchased a number of these in the '70's and used most of them in various craft projects. However, my sister collected some of beads she liked best, strung them on a cord and saved them in a chest of drawers in our parents house. I found them when I was closing the house after my father died.
My first sketch was done in ink in a Moleskin Pocket Watercolor Book (3.5"x5.5"). Next, I watercolored some of the beads, but the details were too small to do a satisfactory job. For the next version, I did an extreme close-up of individual beads and tried filling in the colored areas with Prismacolor pencils. I can see several other ways of using trade beads in projects.
Carol Sloan suggested sketching every day, even if it is only five minutes as a way to "flex your creative muscles" and improve your sketching and observation skills. It's a reminder I need, since I often get overly involved in other projects and let my sketching fall to the wayside.
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