All the Birds Are Leaving...

Let's just get it out of the way straight away: yes, I managed to snag yet another treasury at Etsy today. This one was inspired both by my own recent swallow themed chandelier earrings and by the falling leaves. The name of the treasury is "Where Does the Time Go?" and was inspired by the wonderful soung "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" by the late great Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention, a folk singer extraodinaire. Swallows arrive with the summer and leave with it - and so it's perhaps very apt that I have been inspired to memorialize them in my jewelry this autumn. Now it would be quite something to see Sandy wearing those while singing, but that is, alas, never to be. She's largely forgotten I think by the fact that she died so very young but her voice is quite remarkable and pure.


I also received some lovely new beads from one of my favorite Etsy sellers Carrodar and once again I'm excited to start creating something. I have made three orders now from Carrodar and each time been very happy with the gemstones and with the wonderful service. My latest purchase begs for a necklace and earring set, this time far more rugged and chunky than my more recent creations. You know I do actually sit around and think I should stick with one style or unifying theme but it just can't happen, not to a Gemini on the cusp. I just keep thinking of new ideas and inspiration comes from so many different places. One thing I do want to do is start an ideas journal/sketch pad (just like I have encouraged past students to do! I'm so bad at taking my own advice).

Frustration: Mother of Invention

Frustration can actually be a source of inspiration. Last night I started working a little on my flower garden series and since I was all out of sterling silver ear wires (I have them on order!) I made a couple of pairs using the copper wire I ordered a while back and then didn’t get around to using because it was bright and shiny (not patina’d). I think it’s actually pretty neat and I had already started incorporating the brass filigree caps to a pair in silver and so naturally that extended the vocabulary used in creating these little gems.

This inspiration followed several days of very satisfying work in the painting studio so all in all I feel it was a good creative week. Now if only I could persuade others that I’m as good an artist as I want to be and get some solid sales under my belt I can feed my creative addiction. I need more precious metals and fabulous gemstones. I would also like to stock up on some lamp worked beads. I’m thinking about training in that field. I think I could totally get into glass.

It was an interesting weekend – productive, but perhaps illuminating as well.

I talk about being a magpie a lot in that I am attracted to all sorts of bright shiny things and hence I have started stringing beads on string (there is a certain lesser status to the combining of elements already in existence if you didn’t have to hammer, bend, weld, cast, or otherwise get physical I have recently discovered), but my magpie nature goes beyond my desire for acquisition of lovely objects whether they be stones, plants, books, artworks in general…

I have a tendency to do a lot of things too. So my weekend consisted of a street fair where I took my jewelry to the sidewalk and was roundly ignored. Not really surprising in October in Vermont. It was terribly cold outside and even the band hustled off early, as did I after zero sales. I did manage to force one business card on a doughty tourist so maybe she’ll discover Etsy from my efforts.

I also worked in my studio painting – which is always good on the mind and hands and terrible on the wallet. I know I’m not supposed to think about such things, but I do. Bills must be paid and where is the justification in a canvas for thirty-five dollars and all that oil paint when no one will want to hang the finished work, let alone pay me for it. Oh… I’m not whining. Really. I’m being realistic. How many of us can afford to buy art just to hang upon the walls, and if we do we want something that will go with the décor. I just can’t make myself paint that stuff. But I don’t blame anyone for wanting it – I want stuff that is soothing to the eye too! After all when you’re home you want to relax, not think. Like one of my favorite painters is Francis Bacon, but hang one on my wall? I think not! I might for Lucien Freud but even then it might be pushing it… his nudes are so heavy, vulnerable, and confrontational; really in your face, mister.

On Etsy I managed to get a bunch of photos done of a bunch more of my stuff (some of the re-shoots after learning all the stuff I did wrong the first time) and so I have my listings in my shop up to a reasonable number finally – and at the same time I finally got some interest from browsing shoppers (rather than people I sent to etsy, which is fine, but I’m trying to increase my exposure, obviously). That was very exciting and encouraging. I hope to get another set of photos done soon, particularly as I created two more pairs of earrings in my floral series. I have some more ideas around that whole series and so need more supplies…

I sell to make money for supplies! I’m an addict. We need a support group.

Dipping My Toe in the Water

Ok, this whole blogging thing has been a mystery to me right from the start. I have tried to do some personal blogs before and ... oops failure. For a person that likes to talk about themselves I sure don't like to write about myself!

That's not a bad thing, but I'm going to stretch my wings here a little and hopefully give you a taste of my creative side, my magpie side (to share things I like with you), and my gustatory side. Yes, there will be some food art with my art here.

So herein you will find art, arts & crafts, food arts, food issues, and the odd observation about life, love, and the universe (but nothing icky gooey cheesy).

First and foremost I have taken up jewelry design, beaded jewelry work, and am creeping into the more esoteric realms of technique. My primary interest when I do art is color and texture, so technique is not important to me until I need it. Fortunately I have a wonderful mentor/tutor and can work with my hands so whenever I need to learn something new it will magically appear.

The fun for me, so far, in jewelry construction and design is combining my deep magpie longings with the urge to create, and the result is shape, color, and texture that can be worn. What could be more satisfying?

I used to satisfy this urge with knitting, a foray into weaving, but the fiber arts ultimately lost me due to a series of frustrations (I don't need fifty zillion sweaters, the acting of knitting is too repetitive for my tastes, and it costs a fortune to knit even one sweater!).