April ABS Challenge Piece

Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940

By Frida Kahlo

Oil on Canvas

61.25 cm × 47 cm (24.11 in × 18.5 in)

Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin

Well, this months challenge piece went through several different ideas before we finally decided on the final piece.

Mom was going to create a pattern based on the panther in the background. She even downloaded a pattern to draw on, but it still needs to be worked out.

I then thought I would create beads with the colors of the painting and make them in my butterfly wing pattern - well again - that didn't happen.

Then last weekend - while I was enameling and mom was re-packing all of our containers for our show on May 16th - she came across a hummingbird pendant. Well, needless to say that is what we used. Improvise, adapt and overcome.

The hummingbird pendant is one of our enameled copper pendants. We glue a hummingbird pattern on a piece of 20 gauge copper. I usually saw out the perimeter (because mom hates to saw the perimeter and I hate to saw the interior/designs) and then mom saws out the design. We then file and sand the pendant and once that is done I do the enameling because I love to play with the colors.

For accent beads we used green Jasper, brass spacers and our lampwork glass beads. We finished it off with a gunmetal toggle clasp.

I call these lampwork glass beads my Kuiper Belt beads. They remind me of asteroids floating around in space.

So - that is our piece for the April ABS Challenge. Hopefully one of these days we will finish one of these challenges before the end of the month - though I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you :).