NASTURTIUMS

Trying to get over a head cold now, so I took the night off of jewelry making, and decided to play with my watercolors, (have been wanting to do that every single day for months, so why don't I?) and started painting in my sketchbookery journal.There is a link on my sidebar to Mary Ann Moss's sketchboory class...I highly recommend it...it's just fab and so is she! I always start out disliking my paintings terribly at first, but in the end I just go with the flow and seem to like it after all.One of my goals is to loosen up...a lot....and not be so tight. I think I started to do that, so I am happy I accomplished that. I'm also happy I didn't draw it out first with the pen, I just put paint to paper and started! Although, I was VERY tempted to attack it with my black pen as I do in my collages, so I may try that down the line somewhere!  I had fun, and reeeeeally hope to continue in a more regular pattern from now on. 

Wish me luck.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I appreciate all of you so much!

Lately

It's been three months, and it's felt like three days! I am terrible at blogging, at actually getting it done, but I do love to see what all of you are doing, so I'll keep trying and trying!

Here's what's been up....jewelry, and jewelry. I spent the good part of the last 5 weeks getting ready to take my jewelry to a local shop. That turned out really well, and I am sort of slacking a bit now, and enjoying it!!  These are some recent pieces, so I hope you enjoy. I am sure somewhere in there I have made some art, and I will share that soon!

Thanks for visiting! I've been working hard and I hope you will visit my etsy shop! I appreciate all your lovely comments!

NEW JEWELRY

Sharing some new jewelry work I have done recently. I really enjoy working with wire, beads, and baubles. I love the thought process of putting things together, and how I think they connect. 

I think everyone knows I love earrings, so I make a lot of them! These feature gorgeous beads by Gaea and shields by Vincent N Nooma!

I guess I was on a green kick for a while, but who could resist these gorgeous glass beads by Julie Wong Sontag!

I found some vintage amber beads while out at the flea markets, so I thought they were perfect with Kimberly Rogers orange glass headpins! 

These say summer to me.

I've been busy, and plan on being busier! 

Thanks for stopping by!

ART AND MORE ART

       Art is a huge part of my life. It is my break from jewelry. I love them both as creative outlets, and I am usually torn as to which one to devote time to.
       This is a recent collage I did, a 9x12, vintage papers, tissue, vintage stamps, pitt pen and sharpie, gesso and matte medium. I LOVE collage! I feel free with collage. I have no other words. 
     

         This is a sketch I did tonight based on Mary Ann Moss's class Sketchbookery...that I LOVE also, but I haven't devoted a lot of time to, but trying! I am not the best at it, but I really like it, because I am constantly learning with watercolors, it lets me work on practicing drawing, and being looser. This is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do...ALWAYS! I want to try to do this waaaay more often.
    Thanks for stopping by, and next time I hope to show you the jewelry I am working on!

The Balancing Act

It seems like I am having the same problem of trying to balance my jewelry/art/work time. If anyone else has this problem , and has any good solutions, that don't involve lack of sleep, I sure would be interested to know! I would love to hear how you handle it all anyway. My art time suffers the most, and I guess I just need to "DO IT". Question is why does it take me so long to start...why is starting the hardest part? 

Answers anyone???

So now that the mini rant is over, here is the latest jewelry I had fun making......hope you enjoy!

This stunning lampwork bead was made by artisan glass and bead artist Julie Wong Sontag

and here is more of Julie's beautiful beads in a recent pair of earrings

Wonderful lampwork beads by Julie, crusty beads by the fantastic Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads and flame painted copper paddles by me!

I am craving art though, so I hope to show you some soon! Thanks for visiting and your kind comments as always!

TIME FOR ART

The temperatures still have not improved. I am not happy about that. In fact, we are having some of the worst weather I can ever remember, and I know for certain that the -6 degrees this past week was THEE worst I have ever experienced, and neuropathy does not like it! So to distract from that I make more jewelry and make some art, yes, this time I'll show the art!

Collage, which I have become very fond of making, and for some reason in the wee hours of the morning, really seems to set my soul free. It feels like an entire months worth of pent of frustration and/or thoughts of random ideas I just let flow effortlessly onto the paper. Really, there usually isn't a problem, or a block, it just happens. I can't explain it any better than that. It's intuitive, I work with myself, and let it happen, and I am sure many of you know what I am talking about! Small joys!

This is the result.

Thank you so much for stopping by and looking!

CATCHING UP

The holidays have come and gone, hell, it's almost February, and my mind is still swirling with all the new things I want to do! I can't seem to get everything organized though, but I am trying! In the meantime, I am making jewelry on a fairly consistent basis, even though I am tired a lot, and have neuropathy that is killing me with this cold weather. Jewelry and art makes me happy! 

Please wish for the cold weather to go away!

Here is some recent new work.

With these earrings I used beautiful glass beads by Julie Wong Sontag and ceramic discs by Jana Bliznakova.

Here is the link to Julie's shop.....https://www.etsy.com/shop/uglibeads

Here is the link to Jana's shop....https://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyFishThings

These earrings were made with beautiful enameled paddles I purchased on etsy that I paired with stone and rustic glass and amazonite beads.

The gorgeous leaf pendant and round donut medallion in this necklace made by Jenny Gholson-Morris inspired this necklace. The earthiness and rustic quality made it easy to tell my story with this long mixed elements piece.

Here is the link to Jenny's shop.....https://www.etsy.com/shop/EclecticPrairie

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to stop by and visit! I love to hear your comments also. I am hoping to get more motivated and start blogging again, and hoping to visit all of you too!