Artfully Meandering: It's almost home

I shined up the necklace I made last week. I love it! I'm getting my home more set up and feeling like home. I have my CiM glass in lovely vases. It's amazing how glass is just pretty without being made into anything. I love having it as decorations in my home.

A picture of my colorful mantle.

And a little bit of interesting news...I took the silversmithing class at the Beaded Frog. I went back today and visited with Heidi, the owner, to pick up more tools and get myself set up. I love the way she runs her store...it's like a studio for those who aren't able to set up their own studio. She has a nice array of tools, beads, materials and various classes you can take. We started talking about lampworking and I'm going to teach Beginning Lampwork classes at the Beaded Frog! I'm quite excited about it. My focus will be working safely with a torch. It will be for beginners using the Hothead torch. I plan to do one-on-one sessions. The goal is to teach how to make spacers...enough to make a necklace or bracelet or earrings, or a full set of jewelry. I'm going to work on the course documents and the kits. We haven't settled on the price yet as I need to figure it out based on the kit of equipment and the overhead associated with the class. Once I have that information, I'll post it. So, if you're interested in learning beginning lampworking, and you're in Greenville, I will teach one-on-one classes at the Beaded Frog on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

And more white dogwoods. I want to get some pictures of the pink dogwoods. They're so interesting and pretty.

Artfully Meandering: My last few days - in reverse

I'm starting with the end...I found the need to take pictures at lunch to settle my brain down and divert it from obssessing. I have been making little lunch drives to clear my head and found a delicious country road with an old bridge. Walking up to the bridge, I found textures that needed to be photographed (they asked me to take their picture). I know this is just a rusty metal thingy, but it gives me ideas based on the metalsmithing class I took this weekend (picture of my project is at the end of this post.) Tree texture. Branch texture. Oooh...my brain is like a night of fireworks with ideas from this post alone.

I usually take pictures of things...objects. Traditional photos. This is my first step in taking pictures of design elements. I LOVE me the arches of this old bridge.

This is a sample of the more traditional photo I would normally take. I gots to try me some more photography based on design elements rather than subject matter.

And the dogwoods are in bloom! (These are definitely dogwoods. I know what these are.) Driving north toward Duncan, SC, there are scads of white and pink dogwoods all over the place. However, most are on private property. Although I did spy out a cemetery that had pink and white dogwoods. I think that will be tomorrow's lunch trip. And the day was spectacularly blue...taking the photos from a different angle is always interesting... the following are my favorites from the 50 photos I snapped at lunch today.

I just love this picture in general. But, it's one of the more traditional photos. I want to start stretching and pushing myself in the photography arena. Even though it's traditional, I still love it...it has elements of texture, color, composition that make me just want to sit on this rock and watch the traffic whiz by and listen to the river whoosh merrily along.

And now for the big treat: the low-tech metalsmithing class I took with Anne E. Mitchell...outstanding! I've been wanting to expand into metalsmithing. However, I wasn't entirely keen on the traditional metalsmithing route. A friend told me about this class and took it with me and it was exactly what I didn't know I was looking for! Anne is a proponent of no waste usage of fine silver in the form of metal clay and fine silver. She fuses, rather than solders (in general, but she does some soldering). She also uses more natural substances like warm vinegar with sea salt instead of pickle for removing fire scale. The first class I took in metal clay wasted a lot of clay by using too much water. She teaches you how to waste NOTHING. And I mean nothing. Not a snip of the wire, not a crumb of the clay. Anyway... I got my wish and expanded my repertoire. Most of the class made their project as the designated bracelet. But we had so much material, I wanted mine to be a necklace. Sorry for the dirty background, but I had to show it off. I'm still learning to work with my camera in various settings.

And of course, the cutie-patootie Molly Dolly. This little stinker is such a hard critter to get pictures of. I have hundreds of pictures of her where she has just turned away from the camera as I'm shooting her photo. Now I have the Canon Digital Rebel and can shoot at leisure and get her adorable, sweet, sassy little face. I love that face. I look at the series of pictures I took and then I go smooch up the real creature.

Artfully Meandering: Yep, they are Cherry Trees

Yes, they are Cherry Trees. Thank you, Sue Doran, for identifying these beautiful flowering trees for me. The South Carolina dogwood looks similar, but the center is green and the petals have an indentation instead of a point.









I'm not quite back to jewelry yet, but I'm getting design ideas in mind.


And I'm taking this cool class tomorrow at the Beaded Frog in downtown Greenville, SC.
And of course, Miss Molly the Maltese says Hello! She was pretty matted, so she was shaved. Now she looks like a Giant White Chihuahua.

I'm still waiting on my couch to arrive, so I have camp chairs or pillow I'm using for a temporary couch. :-) Molly was very cute in the chair (this was before becoming the Giant White Chihuahua).

Artfully Meandering: I think I'm falling in love with Greenville...

Yes. It's started happening. I'm falling in love with this surprise! I had never heard of Greenville before a recruiter contacted me. It's a small city that has revitalized it's downtown in a thriving arts, shopping, and culinary center. It's in the foot of the Appalachians, so there is great hiking and camping not far away. I love seeing the mountains. Because it's small city (55,000), but still fairly populated county (350,000) there is a lot available here: good shopping, good restaurants, physcial outdoor activities, four seasons (with a shorter winter season than up north). They have jazz festivals, art festivals, and old movies in the park.

And! They have a thriving arts community. First Fridays they have open studios in the arts district. Once a year they have Open Studios, so artists who normally aren't open to the public open their studios for a tour. I went to my first First Friday with a fellow artist friend who is into ceramics. I'm looking forward to spending more time with her as we share a love of the arts.

I'm finding wonderful inspiration. Spring is in the air. The dogwoods and redbuds are blooming. I forgot how I missed them (Indiana had them, too). I love the way the tree looks when it's freshly washed by rain....

These dogwood blossoms are small. (If someone who knows better than me what these flowering trees are, please feel free to correct me...I'd appreciate it!) These sweet little blossoms landed on my windshield after a heavy rainstorm.

What I love about the country here is that it is populated country. Your neighbors are close (within eyesight) but not too close (a little space between...more than the suburbs and definitely more than an apartment.) I also appreciate the southern hospitality.

So, if you're wandering through the south, Greenville, SC is a little gem. And if you're making a tour of it, I hear Asheville, NC is similar in nature and it's only an hour north.

I'm working on a design theme for when I get going on the art again. I think the dogwoods are stimulating my imagination...stay tuned! I'm starting to get settled into my routine, I just need to make things official...file the business paperwork, etc. and I can start catching up on all my favorite blogs. I have a lot of reading to do!

Artfully Meandering: Lemony Snickett and Unfortunate Events...

Hello, dear readers! I know I have been MIA for WAY TOO LONG! Well, let me just 'splain...no, that would take too long...let me sum up. My re-entry into the U.S. has been way more complicated than I ever expected. (Thus, the reference to Lemony Snickett.) But, the good news is: things are falling into place. The great news is: I should be back to blogging about jewelry soon! It will still need a few more weeks...after all, jewelry is still on the bottom of my priority list.

On a personal note: I landed in Greenville, SC and it has turned out to be the most pleasant surprise! I'm contracting for my day job (loving it!) and Greenville IS SUCH A COOL TOWN! The county of Greenville is about 350,000. The City of Greenville is about 55,000. They've revitalized the downtown into a center of art and activity. There are tons of restaurants. People walk their dogs. There are all kinds of things goin' on here. I heard there is an "Artist Studio Tour" arranged for artists who work from home and don't open their studio to the public except on this tour. The arts are thriving here. I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised! So, now that I've confirmed I'm not a true city girl, this town is melting my heart and fits me too a tee....it's a small city with all the amenities of a larger city. Good shopping, great art scene, country living where you are close to neighbors, but not too close, hiking, beautiful scenery (foot of the Appalachians), pleasant weather...oh, I will gush more about it later. I've only been here three weeks. But it feels like home.

So, why Lemony Snickett? Just a series of events that prevented my blogging routine. First, when I arrived in the States, I was severely jetlagged and recovering from 2 years of constant migraines. Then I developed an Upper Respiratory Infection. No insurance = longer recovery time and lack of energy. Searched for a job. Times have changed since I last looked a decade ago! But, I landed a cool contract that I'm excited about in Greenville. Had to buy a car, get some stuff (appropriate work clothes and a bed), insurance, blah, blah, blah... made it here... moved into an apartment only to move to another one two weeks later. In the meantime, internet service took time to install. I spent WAY too much time at Dunkin' Donuts for their free Wi-Fi. (Did you realize they've upgraded to compete with Starbucks? I like it because it's not as busy as Starbucks. But, the doughnuts....yummy as they are, especially the new ones...were hard on the waist line.) Now I'm in an apartment that suits my needs just perfectly (the other one was too big), my internet is stable. Now I just need furniture to get organized and get back into a groove of life.

So...this was just a note to say, "Hi!" I'm not quite completely back up to speed, but it will start happening in the next two months. I can't wait!