A Slice of Artistic Sanity

The Ring a Week project has turned into a little slice of artistic sanity for me. I have to make a ring a week regardless of how chaotic and busy my life gets. I have to sit down and stay still long enough to think of a new idea. I have to stay still long enough to connect with what I'm feeling, which isn't always easy. But my jewelry designs have always been inspired by a story - by lasting love, by painful heartache, by hopeful change.

So, what have I been feeling?...........Honestly my life has become a little chaotic. I have recently opened up a new store with two other artists. We have been thrown into a fire of change and we have to figure things out. It is craziness! For all of you who have opened retail stores on your own, my deepest respect for you! Our space is only 200 square feet and there is 3 of us to share the workload.....and it really has taken over our lives. Hopefully things will smooth out a little and become calmer for us once we get all of the start up tasks figured out.......I imagine those of you who own retail stores are chuckling right now as maybe things never get calmer once you have a store - and if this is true please lie to me, as I need to think that things will be tranquil in my life once again. ;)

My rings for the past few weeks have been twisty- like my mind, with glimmers of hopeful pink pearls - like my heart.

Week 8 Ring

Week 9 Ring

Week 10 Ring

Embracing Change

Timing is everything........

When I display my jewelry for shows I like to share the stories behind the pieces. This past Culture Crawl I had my Love Story Necklace displayed on one of my mannequins. Pinned to her torso I had my favourite quote by Mary Oliver,

"To live in this world, you need to be able to do three things:
to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones
like your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go, to let go."

People stop and they read it, and for some people it resonates. I had one woman come up to me and say "it's nice to see a designer who gets that jewelry is all about love"

It sounds so simple, but it means so much to me. Jewelry is about love.

This afternoon when the sun was shining I took my sketchbook to the park up my street and I started sketching new jewelry designs. I just started moving the pencil and drawing what ever was hitting me....but nothing brilliant was hitting me. Then I started writing....."It's always about the emotion for me, the thought, the moment, the feeling that inspires the piece.......So where am I at today? What am I feeling?.......I'm embracing change......I'm waiting with great respect for the Cherry Blossom trees on my street to bloom........I'm being open to the possibilities......and I'm letting a little bit of hope back into my life."

After connecting with where I was at, I started sketching again....and the designs came to me.

Timing is everything......