My Bead&Button office window looks out over a grass-covered, empty lot that is almost the size of a city block. It could be called a field, if it weren’t surrounded by office buildings and houses. In spring and fall Canada geese gather there. And sometimes during the summer, the editors who put together Model Retailer (another Kalmbach publication) test their radio-controlled airplanes and helicopters. This afternoon there was an aerial battle between a hawk and two crows. But they flew out of sight before I could see if one or the other scored a decisive victory.

What does this have to do with beading? Nothing and everything. Sometimes it’s a good thing to look away from our beadwork projects to experience nature’s inspiration. Over the past few weeks I’ve been watching the trees leaf out. Here in Wisconsin we’re surrounded by lots of green (my favorite color). I’ve made a design note to try and capture all the different greens I see in the pine, maple, oak, and birch trees, and the field grasses. I’ll add a few dots of yellow for the dandelions now flowering in the field, and streaks of white, red, and orange for the tulips that edge the parking lot. Then I’ll make the background a color between thunderstorm gray and cloudless blue. Now I just have to find the perfect beads and I’ll be ready to start a new project.

Happy beading,

Lynne