Hope with New Beginnings, by Caprilicious Jewellery

Hello folks, thanks for joining me again today. This is a week where we have some good news - the pandemic appears to be slowing down, the numbers of people admitted to our hospital have fallen as have admissions to ITU. We are preparing to return to quasi normal although I don't think normality will be achieved for a long time yet. It pained me a great deal to watch the Panorama investigation by the BBC about the inability to supply us with the correct equipment. PPE is the story worldwide, and many countries have been caught with their trousers around their ankles. I am not usually a tearful person, but yet, this is my tribe and I'm not ashamed to say that I was in tears at the end of the programme. If you haven't watched it, do click on the link above which should take you to the BBC iplayer. You will have to sign in or register, but if you can't get through, perhaps you'd like to read the gist of the story here.

I've been playing in the garden which has started to wake up, as have the weeds, unfortunately. Perhaps it is this that has inspired my next piece of jewellery - I am taking my time over it as is extremely intricate with hundreds of beads sewn into a small, tight space. As I told you earlier, I am using up all my old stock of beads, cabochons and brass Vintaj focals - there has been a tendency to buy more and more and stash everything away to keep the house tidy and I am shocked at how much I have, stashed away in various drawers. I decided that no more buying shall happen and that I would put my foot down with a firm hand - and then went and bought some seed beads in a colour I didn't have that were absolutely necessary for this next piece - sigh! Addict or what!! At least it was only a couple of quids worth, rather than loads and loads.

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​Last week was International Jazz Week and to commemorate this I bring you a trio from Bangalore, India - Sandra Oberoi and her daughters Tiara and Tiana - can't get more international than that! I went to school with Sandras mother, Shirley and it is wonderful to hear the next two generations make such beautiful music together. Sandra teaches music in her own school, Harmony, in Bangalore and she sand for us at our school reunion earlier on in the year.

I picked out an art nouveau Vintaj piece from the stash this time, made in the style of Mucha's illustrations. The woman in the piece appears to be sitting in a windswept garden, surrounded by flowers - clearly she wasn't schooled by nuns or she'd have gotten a beating for sitting so wantonly with her knees visible to the world. 'Sit like a lady' they'd have said - but this hussy obviously doesn't care. Is there a stream by her feet? Is she waiting for her lover? Or perhaps she's just having a Bollywood heroine moment where she's singing to a long lost lover. I'm not sure what is going on with this lady but she looks like she's having a chilled out time. I took a couple of days to decide what to do with her, and decided to sit her in a wildflower garden, under a wisteria. The shape of the necklace needed to be finalised - after the last piece, I didn't fancy tacking on extra pieces of Stiff Stuff, such a bloomin' nuisance.

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As hubby and I are now distancing from one another, we have moved out of the little TV nook into the main living room and I'm trying to keep the area generally tidy. Unfortunately this piece required me to dig out every colour of flower shaped bead I possess and others as fillers and I now have a precariously piled up table that Mike has kindly placed by my chair. I've already had an accident and spilled a box of blue beads. Wilfred enjoyed batting them around the room with his paws and it took an hour to pick them up.

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By the end of Day one, I had the piece cut out, our heroine was sat to one side of it and I had started on the wildflower meadow - I used up blue roses I bought when I was in the USA a number of years ago from Michael's - whoever heard of blue roses? - they must be wildflowers, right? Or at least a figment of someone's wild imagination!

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I hadn't decided whether I liked it yet, but decided to plough on - I could always cut the piece up if I hated it, but by the end of Day two, it was beginning to look like it was travelling towards where I wanted it to go.

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And by the end of Day four, I had covered the meadow with flowers. I have yet to add grass between all the flowers and then begin on the Wisteria. I've been spending considerable time before I fall asleep in my lonely bed (sob!) planning this plant - the trunk, the flowers and leaves and hopefully will come up with a credible interpretation. There's plenty of time to plan this for at least another day or two while I finish the meadow.

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These work-in-progress pictures were all taken using my phone and I apologise for their quality. I shall of course take my good camera out for the finished piece. 

Spring blooms symbolise hope as the cold dark days of winter transform in the bright spring sun. Wildflowers come out first - violets, primulas, cornflowers, anemones, poppies, daisies and dandelions flourish in meadows symbolising the hope of good things to come. I looked for these colours and added them into my 'painting' lavishly - as well as the blue roses; but please, don't be too picky, let's call it artistic licence and just go with the flow. We can all do with a good dose of Hope just now, right?

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That's me for this week, folks. Stay indoors, take care and be safe. Have a good week, and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then
​xx

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