Jo's Bangles

I had read an article  a few months ago , a decorative  painter  painting  wonderful designs on  wooden bangles . I was intrigued enough that I ordered  a selection of blank wooden bangles in a variety of sizes. I love bangles.

Unfortunately they quickly got shelved as I worked on other projects. I finally decided to give it a go but what design to use. I like to create my own designs.....so what to do?????  How do you create a design?  Well I often buy swatches of fabrics for their colors , designs etc...basically for inspiration , so I started going through my fabrics....good time to clean up as well. Anyway , I  came across a black and white fabric, with  a touch of red  that I was using to reupholster a foot stool ... I loved the colors ... and thought this is a good start. Then flipping through a few homestyle magazines I came  across a wall design  that looked like swirling ribbons....so this is where the first bangle came to be. Colors from the fabric and  then an adaptation of ribbons..instead  I made them look more like florals.

  I also use decorative painting magazines, home style magazines etc.  for color inspiration ... and this time came across a bathroom design  with a green gecko  so thought that would be a fun design  to swirl around  a bangle.   I chose a lime green color  with detailing in  orange/pink .

Next an orange gecko....then thought of a snake...I am terrified of snakes but I also love their patterns so I thought , what a  great way to  wear a  snake pattern and  a perfect design to wrap around the bangle.

The next few designs were somewhat inspired by retro style fabrics with overlapping designs.

 Each bangle is hand painted using artist quality acrylic paints and sealed with a high gloss varnish . A select few of the bangles have a wrap around design . I like to pay particular attention to detail  when designing and painting.  I will do custom orders on these particular designs as well as  designing new bangles which I will post on my facebook page  "Jo's Art Studio"and website  www.joanneabbottart.com