Creative Life 2016 - week 7

BOOM! Finished piece. finally. (other than the competition piece and class samples). Indian Kammererite, Australian mint chrysoprase, sterling silver. hand made matching, removable chain. Satin finished. 2/2016.

That's the positive- what's below is the whiny, emotional, artsy-fartsy stuff that goes through my head all the time. If you want to skip it, that's fine. Scroll back up and look at the pretty. :)

2016 has been a rough year, creatively speaking. I am realizing that I need to take some things off my plate in order to be more effective at the things i need to keep. I got distracted by the 'business of art making', the networking, the groups, the functions, and forgot that at the end of the day, i need energy for the actual art making. It always gets hard during the winter months, when the energy is scarce to begin with. I'm sure by late spring, i'll be back to my old self, getting involved with this guild, or working with that group for a show. and i'll be delighted by my connectedness, my sense of belonging to a bigger community, and my ability to make progress in the 'art world'. Right now, i just want to curl up under the blanket with the kitties and sleep.

There have been a lot of external circumstances that have made me feel less than my normal self over the last few months. I have looked back over my writing, my sketching, my finished work (what little there is) to see how my state of mind has been going. the lack of content speaks volumes. even my blog posts have been of lower quality and certainly less frequency. I really hope Blogger gets their app fixed soon so i can blog from my phone. I spend most of my workday on the PC, and honestly, getting on it when i get home is one of the last things i want to do. (also why i have a pile of invoices to enter into QuickBooks.... hmm... )

I think i just need to hibernate from like December to April. come out for food and showers and then retreat back to the blankets. if i live tweet it and cast it, does it become performance art? { sarcasm }

Weekly challenge - Weeks 49-51

I haven't made any new art that i could share over the last couple of weeks because it's all been stuff for gifts- either commissions or gifts i'm giving.

I did go to the MTGMS gem show back on the 13th and picked up some neat stuff i can share though! (the sting of peacock beads are from Flamey Amy- not the gem show, but they came in the day i was taking the photo so i thought i'd include them in the new loot)

I picked up a lot of rutilated quartz at this show- something about it kept calling me and i purchased pieces from three different vendors. I got some neat fossils too- sand dollars and horse teeth.

The smaller cabs (from the left to right over the peacock beads) will be ones i'll have available for my stonesetting class in January at the MBG. This will be a fun class- students will have a choice of making a ring or pendant and we'll set a cab and a faceted stone.

I keep feeling like i have so much to say about this year- about how i grew as an artist and as a business woman this year.. but i don't know how to start. With Week 52 being on the horizon, and me actually keeping up with this very well this year, all things considered, i feel like i need to sit down with my fancy pottery mug of tea and write some words of wisdom, hope and summation, but i just can't get that first sentence out. Maybe i'll be better next week and can give 2015 the artistic send off it needs... and deserves.

Weekly Challenge - Week 26

I sat down last night and redid the samples for my upcoming class at the Memphis Botanic Gardens- Alchemy: Fused glass and fine silver pendants. You don't have to make pendants- you can make earrings, charms, even a ring, if you want because there's plenty of clay, lots of glass options and a few techniques that will help incorporate fire in place glass cabs.

Pieces prior to polishing.

I also started back on my Tree Rings collection by cutting and 'polishing' some gorgeous oak slices for some silver statement rings. I love the little stars in the centers and the way the rings have gotten darker and more defined as the branch has sat in the corner of the living room for 2 years (lol) I have some cherry to cut for beads- mostly for earrings, but if i find a really spectacular slice, i'm going to combine it with a lovely piece of petrified wood in a pendant. (i'm hunting for the perfect slice!)

They're a little over 1/2 inch across

I thought i had been having a hard time feeling inspired lately- but i realized that i'm VERY inspired and i have hundreds of sketches and projects that i really want to work on, but i'm lacking the energy to execute, which translates to frustration and depression. I need to remember my stress management techniques and get back on track with my affirmations. I'm working on getting out more because i *do* need socialization and interaction with others. Hermiting, while i think it gives me more time to work on my art, seems to be counterproductive. So- i'm going to focus on getting things back into balance and keep on making. :)

Weekly challenge- Week 25

this week's piece came together very quickly and exactly like i had hoped (very close to the sketch i made on Monday). I bravely assembled a 3 inch by 3 inch sheet of 24 gauge sterling silver, 18 inches of 12 gauge sterling square wire, fine silver bezel wire, 26 gauge sheet, a Wild Horse Canyon agate cab and a dark aqua larimar cab into a statement neck piece.

The forming of the metal was finished in one 3-4 hour session and it would have been completely finished in less than an hour more except my perfectionism kicked in and i tried to 'fix' something that no one would have ever noticed and made another 4 and a half hours of work for myself, cleaning up the damage i did. Check out the progress pictures below with the finished piece down at the very bottom.. I'm wearing it today to try to make adjustments to the neck wire for comfort. I think the wire will need to be trimmed a bit as the ends overlap now that i've put bends in it for the collar bones.  It is very comfortable so far - the air chased piece is extremely light (but super strong) and the 12 gauge square is a very comfortable size, especially since i took some 500 grit sandpaper and rounded the edges a just little.

The finished piece.. now to decide if i will oxidize or not.. 

Weekly Challenge - Week 18

So, i didn't get any new work finished this week... it's the first week in a long time that i haven't at least completed something for the shop. It makes me feel sad, like i've let down my muse. ( i did however complete a ring resize, and produce a number of charms for The Rescue Way Station)

I bought some new cabs, because i'm ALWAYS buying rocks.. and these are the three pieces i'm working on next. The large mint Chrysoprase is paired with a gorgeous Kammererite from Russia that has a lovely hint of mint in the upper right area. The top right is a pyrite cube from spain paired with a meteorite that has lovely olivine and iron inclusions. The bottom is a great piece of Horse Canyon agate paired with a small aqua Larimar from the Dominican Republic. I have sketches of how they will all look and will hopefully be sharing the finished pieces soon!

The ring i made and resized

Charms in Copper