As the dry season settles in we still can find some green in Sambucus mexicana - the blue elderberry. This project is pretty simple - a leaf, some flowers (upper left), and green, not yet ripe berries (lower right). Right now most of the elders have green berries, but a few are already a deep ripe purple, and some are even still in flower! I chose the elder partly because this fabric's colors reminded me of it. In fact one of the reasons I used few beads was so I could still see the fabric's lovely hues! The elderberry branches are used by indigenous Californians for clapper sticks and flutes so is associated with music here. But of course this little tree has a lot of history and mythological associations in Europe, also, and I found out recently that the European and Californian elders are now considered to be the same species! This much revered plant is one of my favorites so it was nice to represent the elder in beads. You can see a leaf from one of my garden elders in the first photo!
4 comments:
This is lovely, so delicate, and with just enough beads to enhance the print of the fabric. Very pretty!
Very nice, peaceful piece!
Love your background fabric and the beading is just right... they complement each other wonderfully. I'd have to second what Barbara and Robbie said....lovely, delicate, peaceful... beautiful work!
When you get all these botanical pieces together, Jet, they're going to tell a beautiful story and be very lovely. Do you have an idea what you'll do with them? I'm seeing a wall quilt/hanging...
Robin A.
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