AN HONEST ARTIST

Hi everyone, I am sorry I have not had time to blog. With shows every weekend, and another new art gallery that has accepted my work I am bead busy, and so thankful for it. As some of you know I have been beading and selling my art for 43 plus years. In all that I do in the art world I have never forgotten the people who opened doors for me and inspired me to always be true to myself. With that, one of my constant goals in life is to inspire and then promote others. Tonight I would like to introduce to you an amazing woman. She makes me smile every time I

hear from her. Here, in her own words is; Tammy L. Sexton

Here is a little something about me: I was born on September 13, 1969 in an El Centro, CA hospital on a day of 120 degrees at 1:51 p.m. Why all the detailed information about my birth? Well, this information helps to explain who I am and why I have become the person I am today. I am ingenious, sharp, discerning, crafty, and can be diplomatic. I am to the point and subtle in when speaking, I have been known to be a real diplomat. I have weaknesses like everyone else including being petty and sometimes over-critical. I have an insane attention to detail, which can often lead me to be nit-picky and fussy. I have big ideas, I will evaluate and weigh things up before making a decision about anything. I am of good judgment and I can express myself clearly. Before coming to an opinion on any subject, I listen to the opinions offered by various people and can compare them before making up my own mind. I can sometimes be happy-go-lucky and just along for the ride. I am really try to be sincere showing frank and warm affections. I can be full of tenderness and I like to live and satisfy my need for intensity to the full. I will protect and make friends with people from all types of backgrounds. My strong sense of right-and-wrong allows me to fight against principles, society, or a philosophy that I feel is negative. I am a reasoning person with the ability to explain things, logic and debate. I have a revolutionary spirit. I have a sweet, attractive and sunny disposition. Likes justice, which I trust wholeheartedly. I am a well-developed artistic person that is able to investigate just about anything by asking a lot of questions. I do not consider myself shy but I do have anxiety issues with large crowds of people. I have a great memory, or used to anyways and consider myself quite intelligent, imaginative, vivacious and I have continued to develop throughout life. I believe in being frank, honest, optimistic and generous. I love to cook and the friendships I currently have are dear to me. I try to be a grounded person and I consider myself to have the "gift of the gab". I love literature; any literature. I have a “bucket” list and so far have completed some of what is on it. I hope to be able to live up to being a strong individual and even in my current setbacks, I know I can pick myself up, dust myself off, and continue going forward. I love my ability to look at something and tell what is going on at a glance. My hunger for knowledge can be overwhelming to me, which can often lead to my over organizing everything. I am an independent person who enjoys my freedom and quiet time. I love designing and creating, but I think I love buying supplies and other items even more. I think I am just a shopper at heart with BIG ideas. I have so many ideas swimming in my head that half of them drown before I can get to them. I found out recently that I like numbers very little and that I LOVE the arts, every area and aspect.

The first thing I remember beading was with the plastic beads my daughters use today. I was probably around 8 at the time I joined the Brownies. We used to do all kinds of crafts and my favorites were always the ones that had to do with stringing something on string. At a camp I went to I made this really cool necklace with dried alphabet soup, plastic beads, and a round piece of wood, which we painted and decorated. My true love for beading came to me about 10 years ago when I lived in Durango, CO and started going to Pow Wows with my Sister-In-Law who happens to be Navajo. I couldn't’t get enough of the little beads that were referred to as seed beads. I just kept buying them not really caring about what I was supposed to actually do with them. Then my sister-in-law introduced me to her sister who did beadwork for the family on ceremonial outfits and the like. She taught me how to bead using the Navajo techniques that she learned from her mom. Let me just say, I have a true understanding and respect for how difficult beading can be. That sparked my love for it and the rest is, as they say, “history”. My passion for crafting is something that no matter where I am or how bad my life is, I can trust to always be there. I can sew, do beading, and I absolutely love photography. Although, I am learning that you just can’t go out and snap a picture, you really have to know what you are doing! :0)

My husband is the most supportive in my endeavors to be a stay-at-home crafter. He just wishes I could actually make a full-time living at it.

I use a color wheel or I simply look at whatever it is I am doing and decide what color(s) I think would go with it. I use the color theory for my pieces, sometimes. Mostly I like to just roll with ever comes up that needs to be created. My inspiration comes from everywhere and nowhere.

You can find my work mainly on Etsy, but I hope to have my website up and functional to my standards before school starts next month. I have been Etsy so long, it really is hard to pull away from it. http://www.ivonnardonascreations.us

When I first purchased Nicole's BeadBacking and FlatWork book, I honestly had no idea what I was going to do with it. I just had to have it though. Before we moved from Colorado to Oklahoma, I purchased the instructions for making those Scrabble tile pendants that everyone else is making on Etsy but didn’t have the money to actually go out and buy any Scrabble replacement tiles. I just kept thinking I don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. Then, I remembered Nicole’s book and bead backing. I frantically looked for both after I made the 1” wood disk pendants. So, there it was in easy to understand instructions with awesome pictures. After going around the pendant with the “contemporary” flatwork beading technique, I then decided that I wanted to use flatwork beading to hold the pendant down to the bead backing. This is where the “Fancy Bolo Tie” instructions for “shelving” came in handy. The pendants turned out absolutely amazing and I couldn’t wait to let Nicole know about how I used the supplies and book I purchased to achieve this beautiful look around my pendants. I have to admit, at first, I was totally intimidated by the book. My instinct for acquiring knowledge and my ability to sit and go one-step-at-a-time kicked in and I believe, no I know, I have found my next beading passion.

Bead with Honor and Integrity
Nicole/Beadwright