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August Monthly Challenge

August 2, 2011

Illustration for American Cresent Cycles, 1899
Frederick Winthrop Ramsdell


About the Art
Ramsdell was an American painter who studied in both New York and Paris. While in Paris he became heavily influenced by the Art Nouveau work of Eugene Grasset and Alphonse Mucha, as can be seen in this striking, though derivative, bicycle poster. Ramsdell depicts a woman and her bike with her tresses and her dress blowing in the wind–and such hair is hard to miss! (Possibly a record for the greatest volume of hair in art history.) From the fabric of the gown to the lilies caught in the wind, the poster has a stylistic similarity to that of the men who inspired him. But the comparisons end with the strong, earthy colors and the large corporate logo which appears at the bottom right. Nevertheless, the image is eye-catching, compelling and powerful.
About the Artist
Frederick Winthrop Ramsdell (1865-1915) was an American artist, best known for his iconic poster advertising American Crescent Cycles. 
Ramsdell was from Manistee, Michigan and studied at the Art Students League of New York under James Carroll Beckwith and later in Paris under R. Collin. (possibly Arthur George Collins). His work was shown at the Paris Salon between 1891 and 1898. He spent some years in France and Italy before returning to the States, and settling in Connecticut. He owned two properties – in Lyme on Grassy Hill Road in 1907 and the second in Old Lyme on Sill Lane in 1915.
Ramsdell became a member of the Impressionist Lyme Art Colony in 1907, and the Lyme Art Association, exhibiting with them between 1907 and 1915.
Color Palette
Blog Tour
The Blog Tour deadline is August 30th.
Links must be added to the monthly challenge post comments. 
The Blog Tour will be on the 31st.

Monthly Challenge Winners

Winners will be randomly chosen from all the qualifying entries on September 1st.
Our Sponsors
Our sponsors this month are: Jill MacKay, Stephanie Ann and Erin Prais-Hintz.
Please visit us tomorrow to see the prizes!
Featured Designer of the Week:
From all the entries during the month, an editor is going to pick their favorite design to be featured every Monday here on the ABS. We want to give our participants more time in the spotlight! Our Featured Designer will be this Monday, so get those entries in soon.
How to enter the Monthly Challenge:
1. Create something using an art bead that fits within our monthly theme. We post the art to be used as your inspiration to create. This challenge is open to jewelry-makers, fiber artists, collage artist, etc. The art bead can be created by you or someone else. The challenge is to inspire those who use art beads and to see all the different ways art beads can be incorporated into your handiwork.
***Beads strung on a chain, by themselves and beads simply wire or cord will not be accepted.***
2. Upload your photo to our flickr group. Detailed instructions can be found here and click here for a tutorial for sending your picture to the group.

Please add the tag or title AUG ABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.

Deadline is August 31st. Photos are approved by our moderators, if a photo hasn’t followed the guidelines it will not be approved. You may upload 2 photos a day.
What is an Art Bead?
An art bead is a bead, charm, button or finding made by an independent artist. Art beads are the vision and handiwork of an individual artist. You can read more about art beads here.
***A bead that is handmade is not necessarily an art bead. Hill Tribe Silver, Kazuri ceramic beads or lampwork beads made in factories are examples of handmade beads that are not considered art beads.
Beaded beads, stamped metal pendants or wire-wrapped components are not considered art beads for our challenge.***
p.s. If you have a blog, post your entry and a link to the ABS challenge to spread the beady goodness.
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26 Comment

  1. Alice
    August 2, 2011 at 3:09 pm

    I love the rich colors! I can't wait to get started on this one.

  2. THEAjewellery (lesley Watt)
    August 2, 2011 at 9:34 pm

    Yep – my kinda colours, i'm going to enjoy this one.

  3. Aquariart
    August 3, 2011 at 3:36 am

    Great Choice!! I love art deco style-Love the colors and the lines in the poster. I am itching to get started.

  4. Serena Trent
    August 5, 2011 at 3:37 am

    excellent choice! I got something in mind.

  5. Molly Alexander
    August 5, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    I love this piece – the colors are so rich! I just posted my finished piece on my blog here:

    http://beautifullybrokenme.blogspot.com/2011/08/art-bead-scene-august-monthly-challenge.html

    As always, thanks so much for providing such great inspiration!

  6. Cece Vineeta
    August 8, 2011 at 1:22 am

    I'm in. Thanks for the inspiration. Here's the link:

    http://www.thebeadingyogini.com/2011/08/07/art-bead-scene-august-challenge/

  7. Karen Creftor
    August 11, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    I've just found your site and love it!! What a great idea to get the creative juices flowing 😀

    Thought you'd like to know that your August challenge is today's feature on The Craft Portal too. Hope you like the feature, you can see it here…
    http://thecraftportal.com/458/august-art-bead-challenge/

    Now I'll have to get my thinking cap on quick 😀

    ~Kaz x

  8. Islandgirl
    August 12, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    Just love that poster… here's what I was inspired to do!

    http://islandgirlsinsights.blogspot.com/2011/08/abs-august-challenge-illustration-for.html

    Lynne

  9. Tammy
    August 14, 2011 at 4:27 pm

    "Monthly Challenge Winners
    Winners will be randomly chosen from all the qualifying entries on August 1st."

    Is this date correct for the Aug. winners? Do you mean Sept. 1?

  10. Tari of ClayButtons.com
    August 14, 2011 at 6:24 pm

    September 1st is correct. I fixed it. Thank you for pointing it out.

  11. Diva Designs Jewelry
    August 15, 2011 at 2:06 am

    I posted my photos to the pool and blogged it at http://scdiva.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-abs-entry-ramsdell-art-nouveau.html

    Thanks!
    Lynda

  12. Kym Hunter Designs
    August 15, 2011 at 2:26 am

    The poster is lovely and very inspirational! Please include me in the blog tour.

    http://kymhunterdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-art-bead-scene-monthly-challenge.html

  13. Stone Designs
    August 17, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    I had so much fun with this challenge! I love the way the beads turned out for this piece.

  14. Stone Designs
    August 17, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    http://stonedesignsbysheila.blogspot.com/

  15. Marlene
    August 18, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    One of my favorite color palettes!
    Here is my blog about this challenge:
    http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com/2011/08/art-bead-scene-monthly-challenge.html

  16. Attorney Angela Lund-Logan
    August 18, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    What a great inspirational picture and here is what I produced: http://attorneyangelalundlogan.blogspot.com/2011/08/amber-faire.html

  17. Janet Bocciardi
    August 19, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    Hoping someone can help… I loaded my photos a couple days ago, but they're not showing in ABS Challenge. I did tag them AUG ABS… let me know if I need to do something else. Thanks.

  18. Pearl and Pebble
    August 27, 2011 at 1:19 am

    I love the colors in this month's challenge!!! Here is the post on my blog with a picture of what I made: http://pearlandpebble.blogspot.com/2011/08/amber-tapestry.html

  19. Jo
    August 27, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    I love those posters! A family friend had a collection of them when I was a child, so they bring back lovely memories. I'm going to try my best to make something for the challenge this month!

  20. Tracy
    August 28, 2011 at 1:28 am

    Loved the challenge poster this month, here's what I was inspired to create: http://thebeadjunkie.blogspot.com/2011/08/art-bead-scene-august-challenge.html

  21. Mackin-Art
    August 28, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    I love this month's inspiration piece, here's the details on my submission: http://mackin-art.blogspot.com/2011/08/ride-moon.html

  22. Birgitta Lejonklou
    August 29, 2011 at 10:50 am

    I did love this poster and my post about what I made is here:

    http://lejonklou.blogspot.com/2011/08/with-american-cresent-cykels-as.html

  23. FryeStyle
    August 30, 2011 at 12:28 am

    Hi, my first entry for Art Bead Scene! It's a necklace entitled, "From Penny Farthing To Freedom Machine". Here is my blog post link… http://fryestyle.blogspot.com/2011/08/82911-macro-craft-mania-art-bead-scene.html

  24. Heather
    August 30, 2011 at 8:44 pm

    So inspired by the art and the prizes I decided to enter for the first time. Here's a link to my blog post showing my entry. http://www.durgajewelry.com/2011/08/30/art-bead-scene-challenge/

  25. Jo
    August 30, 2011 at 11:01 pm

    This is the first time I've entered too. I've made a bracelet using beads by Isabelle Anderson – http://daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com/2011/08/art-bead-scene-august-challenge.html

  26. MiddleEarthsJewels
    August 31, 2011 at 12:23 am

    oh dear..late as usual!
    Wonderful cahllenge..beautiful entries..here's mine.. http://middleearths.blogspot.com/2011/08/artbead-scene-august-challenge-poster.html

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