This week I'm working on a piece that I have been working on for a while. It's called "Where the Blacktop Ends" and it's actually named after one of my favorite
songs (that link will get you to the official video, please don't judge the look! He was young and mullets were still in style). Keith Urban has been my favorite artist for a long time. His music is often a source of inspiration to me, and this particular song has not only been my favorite, but it was the first KU song that really caught my attention so many years ago. Not a day goes by that I don't listen to some KU song, sometimes to help keep my focus at the office, or to help make the long drives in LA traffic easier or just to sing along at the top of my lungs. I've been lucky enough to meet him twice now, and he is one of the nicest celebrities I have ever met. I could go on and on, but lets just say, I'm a proud Monkey! Anyway, back to my worktable & "Where the Blacktop Ends"...
Gonna kick of my shoes and run in bare feet
Where the the grass and the dirt and the gravel all meet
Goin' back to the well, gonna visit old friends
And feed my soul
Where the blacktop ends
I've always had some specific ideas in mind when I listen to this song, and I was hoping I could convey some of them through the stones I chose for this bracelet. I started out by finding some African Jade rounds, Brownsite cubes and Labradorite chips representing the grass, dirt and gravel. I compiled them all into what I thought was going to be a cool bracelet, but something was missing. I knew for certain it wasn't right, when I found myself not wearing the bracelet very often. It looked something like this...
Pretty, but just not really working for me. With things not looking quite right, I thought I would add a little sparkle. I picked up some crystals the other day in Jonquil (a light yellow) and Azore 2AB (a light blue), and started trying to weave them into the design without taking the whole thing apart. It's looking like this now:
I got about half way through, and while it's definitely better, I'm still not sure this is what I want it to look like. I think these beads just may need a little more "breathing room" so to speak than most of my designs, so I think I'm going to end up taking the whole thing apart and starting over. That's ok, though, because I've recently learned some new techniques that I think I can implement that will make this bracelet even better. I'll for sure post the final piece when I'm done with it.
Are you working on anything interesting? Who is your favorite artist, and have you ever made something inspired by one of their songs?
