I call this wearable abstract art.
Inspiration is all around me: the colors of a bird's wing; the sky just before sunrise; a friend's smile; my art books. In this set I took inspiration from the first abstract painter, the Russian artist Kandinsky, and I have long loved his use of colour and shapes.
The bracelet above involves small pillows of aqua glass with concentric circles of color. This shape of bead lies flat against the wrist making it particularly comfortable (and fun) to wear.
I was originally drawn to glass as a medium because of the vibrancy of the colours and also because of the way that light bounces within it. Aqua glass in particular looks like a very precious gemstone. I have used that colour together with Kandinsky style circles and squares.
Squares with Concentric Circles by Wassily Kandinsky, 1913.
Glass by its very nature is a fluid medium and can be extremely forgiving and challenging at the same time. This is because the colours in glass are the result of chemical reactions rather than dyes. So it is necessary to consider how colours will interact before producing a piece - Kandinsky was a master at this and I aspire to be able to use the same techniques in my work.
The pieces above are small pillow shaped earrings in aqua glass with circles of colour. The function of jewellery is to attract people's attention to the wearer's face. As well as that, I also believe that jewellery should make you smile.
These small pillows of glass involve ivory glass as a base, with turquoise lines and black and white dots. Then the bead was acid etched by soaking in acid to remove the gloss and give the beads a velvety finish.
Picture with a Circle by Wassily Kandinsky 1911. This is recognised as the first abstract painting.
This glass reminds me of toffee, small pillows of amber glass with white, blue and black concentric circles with white and lime green as accents. Looking at the Kandinsky painting above (particularly the amber colour in the right hand lower corner of his painting) inspired me to use these particular colours.
Once again, ivory glass as the base, with turquoise lines and black and white dots as well as being acid etched.
Kandinsky said "the artist must train not only his eye but also his soul". My glass art reflects the inner 'me'. You are giving me a huge compliment by wearing what I produce. All my pieces above (and others) are in my shop under the Kandinsky Abstract tab. I will shortly produce different colourways so please contact me if you have a favourite.
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