>Textured Trees
>
Back to my beaded White House painting. I am working on the beaded trees or foliage which will cover the the East 'Wing' of the building. I am using a mix of many different green & brown beads. So far, I am using size 15, size 11, size 8, bugle beads, leaves, and triangles. Some are 'old' seed beads that I got from Fire Mountain Gems years ago, but many are new beads I got from Artbeads.com, as well as from my local bead shop. It would be too time-consuming to list all of the colours! You can see them below:

Before I really started working on this part, I needed some inspiration, so I flipped through Robin Atkins' book, Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery. I love how she creates texture in her work by incorporating many different techniques. I thought it would be fun to try this with my trees. I would like the different colours & textures to represent all the different species of trees on the White House grounds.

I don't usually work improvisationally like this - it is really a challenge for me! Mostly because I don't know if I like what I am doing! The last time I worked like this was on the headlight beams for my beaded DeLorean Time Machine. I remember that I was very unsure about the whole thing, but when it was finished, I found it to be impressive. It turned out to be one of my favourite parts of the piece! :o

Semi-beaded trees for beaded White House relief painting. 10" x 6".
Bead embroidery on felt. Work in progress.
So, I guess I'll just have to keep beading to see how these trees grow. One bead at a time! :D