It's a Journey

Shortly after I started painting at Wayne Art Center a couple of years ago, I did this painting of Echinacea from a photo I had taken at Chanticleer.

My Instructor, Georganna Lenssen, kept trying to draw more out of me as I painted, talking about creating atmosphere, selectively blurring the edges, layering more paint in a painterly way and 'nevermind the photo....make it interesting.'

I remember thinking, "What is she talking about? This is good!"

 

I now look at that earlier painting and think, "Oooohhh...this is not so good."

I can appreciate how uninspired it is.

The colors are flat...there's not enough paint on the canvas...there's no depth.

Two years ago, I did not have the critical eye to understand my shortcomings.

I also had no idea what a 'painterly way' meant.

That's the difference that some time and some learning can make for me.

 

I heard another local artist, Valerie Craig, say, "If you want to learn how to paint, paint."

I took that to heart and continued painting at Wayne Art Center as well as at home.

After my son is cared for, the dishes are cleaned and the laundry is underway, I often set my easel up in the kitchen and paint.

It's definitely an awkward set-up, but I want to learn how to paint.

So I paint.

 

I'm in the midst of working on another Echinacea painting from another Chanticleer photo.

I know this is better than my earlier effort, but I can also see how this should improve before calling it completed.
 

Looking at jewelry that I made several years ago, I also think, "Ooohhh...not so good!"

At the time, however, I thought that I was making pieces that were fun and whimsical.

I still have a fondness for some of this earlier jewelry as one has for some childhood memories,

but I've grown up a bit.

I had a stash of earlier pieces that I did not want to sell because they no longer tell the story of where I am as a jewelry designer and craftsperson.

I also didn't want to throw the pieces away, so I took them to donate to a local art center.

The art center was happy to take the pieces of jewelry to sell in the gift shop.

I thought that was great, but insisted on one condition...

my name could not be associated with the pieces.

They could only be for sale anonymously.

 

Like with my paintings, I've moved on to other and hopefully better things like the most recent pieces from my workbench.

I want to focus on getting represented by more exclusive galleries, so I have to focus on more dignified work.

My new portals charms are made with hand textured sterling silver that I cut into discs and shaped into formed bezels containing semi-precious and precious, faceted gemstones.

The formed bezels are riveted with sterling silver wire to discs that are also hand textured.

 

I like to think that, little by little, I'm making improvements with both my painting and my jewelry.

It's a journey.

 

New Portals

I've been busy at my workbench making pieces for new projects. 

The most recent pieces...

new 'portals' charms featuring freshwater pearls, chalcedony and iolite.

 

Still working at keeping the back of my work interesting...

with etched, stamped and filed textures.

 

Finished pieces of jewelry soon.

I think.



New Jasper Necklace

I liked my recent jasper bezel necklace so much that I just finished a similar piece which also features a bezel set piece of jasper.

As in the previous necklace, I again set a bezel on a piece of etched metal which is riveted to a base of copper, also etched.

The chain portion of the necklace is made with hand formed links of recycled, heavy gauge copper wire, sterling wire-wrapped beads of citrine, crystal and honey jade and textured rings.

 

Once the necklace was assembled,

I treated it in a warm bath of liver of sulfur, creating an instant patina on the metal.

I used my sanding block to clean the necklace, leaving only highlights of the dark patina.

The pendant was made with a jasper bead set into an etched copper bezel which was soldered on to a square of etched silver nickel.

That square of silver nickel was riveted on to a piece of etched copper which has 3 soldered jump rings for making connections.

 Once again, the copper bezel was a bear to work with since the gauge was a bit thicker than ideal for bezel work.

Oh well....sometimes I just work with what I have at hand.

I didn't like working with it, but I do really like the added texture that the bezel adds to the pendant.

I also really like the etched copper that I used for the pendant base.

This copper was etched months ago and sat on my workbench just waiting for the right project.

 

I'm still deciding if I like the bottom of the pendant.

I tend to repeat myself by adding clusters of wire wrapped gemstones at the bottom of my pendants but chose this time to use one of my recently made fold formed leaves.

 

Keep it....change it...

I haven't decided .

Necklace of Summertime

I have a healthy sized collection of beads and components that I've gradually accumulated over the years.

When I get in my studio/workbench cleaning mode, I try to let go of those pieces that have been sitting around for far too long, ignored and adding to the creative chaos that I'm constantly trying to keep under control.

Anything that is not in the 'definitely keep' or the 'probably keep so that I can likely reevaluate in a couple of years' category gets donated to one of the local art centers.

 

My recent workbench tidying found me considering a large, vintage resin bead that I've had for at least 6 years, waiting for the right idea to surface.

Sometimes, I think you just have to decide that it's time to make an idea surface.

Just do it and be done!

I started by choosing a color palette of summer using carnelian, citrine and honey jade.

 

 

Because my feature bead is so large, I wanted to embellish the top and bottom with bead caps which I made with hand cut/hand textured discs of copper.

 I chose to make bead caps for the citrine beads as well, but not being round beads, those caps had to be formed with a bit more care.

Pie shaped wedges were cut out of textured discs which allowed me to form the caps to the particular shape of the bead.

 

 Etched strips of silver nickel, textured discs of brass, sterling chain and sterling wire were also used.

 

 Finally...that bead has found a place that is no longer the surface of my workbench, and I have a necklace that speaks of the bright happiness of summertime.

Also speaking of summertime...

I have been using a weather piece of wood as my jewelry photo backdrop for a few years, usually keeping it outside near my picture taking spot.

When I grabbed the board to photograph my new necklace, I first noticed a small pile of sawdust on the ground and then the telltale perfect circular hole.

Darn!

Some carpenter bee had invaded my prize piece of wood right in the middle of the section that I prefer to use.

I decided that it was time to keep the board indoors to avoid additional holes, but thought I should first find out if there were any occupants in that current hole.

I started banging on the board with my pruning shears and sure enough....some very irritated buzzing started coming from within the board.

I kept banging until one ticked off bee emerged from the hole and flew away. 

 

The board now stays inside.

Sorry bee.

Garden Inspired

I think that my garden is at its prettiest at this time of year. 

Different flowers are blooming, and leaves still have that newly-emerged vibrancy to their color.

Bearded irises in the side garden.

Blossoms on the back yard apple tree.

In the past 10 years, I have beaten the squirrels to the apples only once.

Those apples made the best apple crisp ever and possibly the only apple crisp from that tree.

Rhododendron along the driveway.

Petunia planter.

Luminous, new foliage on the back yard oak leaf hydrangea.

Columbine that has volunteered itself along the driveway.

My angel of the garden tucked in amongst the pachysandra, vinca and rhododendron.

 

I sometimes look to my garden for inspiration that I can bring to the workbench.

I've used dried leaves to roll print textures.

I've tried to capture the essence of floral forms in metal.

 

Last summer, I paid a little more attention to the seed pods of the Koelreuteria (golden raintree) in my front yard.

After a wonderful summer display of yellow flowers, bright green pods develop, and

the tree looks like it's covered with lovely, tiny lanterns.

Last summer, I thought it might be interesting to see if I could make this form out of metal.

I used an Xacto knife to carefully dissect a few pods so I could understand the separate shapes that make up the form.

I made patterns out of heavy cardstock.

As is typical, those patterns stayed tucked away on my workbench for a few seasons.

 

A couple of weeks ago, I finally decided it was time to try something with those patterns.

Using my metal shears, I cut out shapes of different sizes and began fold forming the pieces.

My initial thought was to solder pieces together to make the pod shape, but I began to like the leaf shapes that I was forming.

I now have enough of these copper leaves to start experimenting

with actual pieces of jewelry.

 

The Downside of Not Having a Signature 'Look'

When you're working in any kind of design profession, there's a real benefit to having an identifiable 'look'...a signature theme that customers, clients and/or gallery owners can easily attribute to you.

That 'look' will not guarantee successful marketing of your work, but it can definitely help.

So....of course, it's something that I constantly resist.

 

I think that my resistance is rooted in my background as a landscape architect.

I've always approached each landscape project as a very individual undertaking, responding to what the client wants and what the site wants.  

(new pergola and fruit garden in New Vernon, NJ)

 I like to think that I bring a thoughtful design sensibility that lets me solve issues in a unique and creative way....

(new patios and plantings in Wayne, PA)

...but my approach does not necessarily create a cohesive body of work.

 

(new pool, plantings and changing shed in Fort Washington, PA)

That's completely fine with me,

but I'm beginning to appreciate that my resistance to developing a specific 'look' is more of an issue with my paintings and jewelry.

 

I began painting around two years ago....not too long, but long enough to develop certain habits that I thought were limiting my ability to grow and improve.

I asked Georganna Lenssen, my instructor at Wayne Art Center, to give me challenges that would push me in a different direction. 

I've been working on abstracts and began this painting a couple of weeks ago.

Do I like this?

Maybe...it's in progress, and I don't know where it might go.

Has it created a reaction?

Yes.

I've been painting landscapes, and some of the people who've seen this new abstract have commented that it's "so not like me".

When I hear something like that, it makes me want to pursue abstracts with more enthusiasm because I don't like the idea of already becoming predictable.

Would landscapes and abstracts combine to make a good show in a gallery space?

Maybe not.....probably not.

That's all right.

 

Taking an abstract approach with my painting made me want to try something different with my jewelry.

I just finished some new necklaces that are distinctly different from my other work.

I'm thinking of these as my Galaxy pieces...they bring to mind something orbiting in space.

They're bold and shiny and....so unlike me.

I had one of these necklaces with me when I dropped new inventory off at Portfolio, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art's gift shop this past Friday.

When I showed it to the Manager, she and her assistant paused and said, "That's so different from your other work."

Being so different was not such a good thing as I suspected it might be, and the necklace came back home with me.

 

I understand that when a gallery/shop has limited display space, the owner wants to create a narrative with each artist's work...something that customers can connect to on an emotional level.

Maybe having pieces like these alongside my other work might be like inserting a chapter of 'A Clockwork Orange' into 'Sense and Sensibility'...it just doesn't work

(for most people).... 

and that's all right.
 

The necklaces will be at Woodmere Art Museum this coming Saturday for Meet the Artists.

Do you live near me?

If yes, I hope you'll stop by and say hi.

New Bracelets

A few years ago, I became aware of fold forming, a technique of metal manipulation that involves folding, annealing, opening and hammering a piece of metal.

The development of fold forming is credited to Charles Lewton-Brain whose work is beautifully illustrated in his book, 'Foldforming'.

 

I decided I had to learn about this technique and bought Lewton-Brain's book, read any article that I could find, looked up YouTube videos and took a workshop with Wendy Edsall-Kerwin.

 

In Wendy's workshop, I made a couple of foldformed cuffs, and thought that I had found

'my thing'...the thing that I could explore and take small ownership of in my own way.

None of the shops where I sell had anything like the foldformed cuffs that I began to make, so I got busy.

I worked primarily in brass because I like the color that developed with multiple annealings.

With each cuff, I learned more about how to move the metal and how to sometimes let the metal take me in a different direction than I had planned.

I began delivering my cuffs to the shops and then a disappointing thing happened....

nothing.

Well....it wasn't a total nothing.

The cuffs did get customer's attention because they do kind of call for people to pick them up and touch them.

But they weren't selling.

I came to appreciate that with wide cuffs like the ones I made, they either fit perfectly or they don't fit at all.

There is no comfortable middle ground.

I feel proud of the work that I was doing and even though I wanted to continue to make foldformed cuffs, it didn't make sense.

 

Like anyone trying to make some kind of living with their artwork or craft, if it doesn't sell, it doesn't pay the bills.

I don't have the luxury of pursuing an artistic outlet just because it satisfies my soul.

It also has to at least try to satisfy my bank account.

 

I started to take a different approach with my bracelets, thinking that if they were somewhat fluid, they would be a more comfortable fit for more people.

I began combining etched and milled metals, linking segments together with heavy gauge jump rings.

I like to have a central focus like a resin set image or a bezel set stone.

Like the foldformed cuffs, these bracelets have been getting customer's attention.

And....oh happy day....some of those customers are buying.

 

The bottom two bracelets will be available at

Woodmere Art Museum's Meet the Artists

on Saturday, May 3.