The reason I love jewellery making so much is because I can create, by hand, exactly the design I can see in my mind's eye... I've always been very crafty pie-fingers, intrigued enough to try many pursuits. I loved painting in acrylics, but became frustrated as I was unable to put onto canvas the images in my head. Beading & jewellery creation comes very easily to me, feeds my creation inspirative, satisfies & challenges the artist in me &, well, it just feels right. It feels that this is the gift I have found, tells me, louder as time has passed, that this is what I am meant to do, to give back, & to share.
I am self-taught & I often use an amalgamation of various craft techniques in my designs (for example, macrame, crochet, wirework & embroidery techniques).
I exhibited at my first craft fair in November last year, Kirkharle Crafts For Christmas over two days in Northumberland. I shared a pitch with my lovely friend, Rachael Pearson, creator of the, in my opinion, cult 'Precious Peggy Dolls'.
It was a wonderful (on the whole, when not a little disheartening), experience. I met many interesting crafts people, became familiar with The Aurora Project & was commissioned, on a sale or return basis, by one of the resident artists, Lorna Speight of Spirit Of Colour Jewellery! Lorna became a mentor & guide of sorts for me, & although my work is no longer displayed & sold in her studio, I shall never forget her generosity & good advice...Thankyou Lorna.
A recent health problem & the mental fatigue associated with it (now blessfully resolved), forced me to put my jewellery activities on a petering out back-burner for a number of months. The pause in productivity has caused me to miss a season, but I am now back with a renewed verve & vigour creating & deliberating over designs for Christmas again, when I hope to take part in another fair, this time with a more refined strategy & clearer expectations than last year.
The recent health scare, made me realise that life is indeed too short. I am certainly more proactive in preparation towards catching my dream of the Jewellery Design & Silversmithing degree. My personal deadline for application is Autumn 2009. Why so far away you say? Well, I have a fair amount of practice behind me, but not alot of theory or hard evidence of my intentions with regards to art journals, sketchbooks & portfolios. These I need to work on! One of the crucial areas within the content of the course I'm interested in pursuing at BIAD (or Edinburgh), is the ability to render my designs by producing rough & finely detailed sketches/drawings of my ideas/briefs. At this point in time, I can honestly say that my drawing skills are PANTS. As I said previously, when I used to paint, I had problems translating my imaginings onto canvas. Well, the same applies to pencil & paper....Unfortunately, at this time, there do not seem to be any 'sketching' evening classes as such in my locality. I've even looked into the BTEC Art Foundation course. It would be impossible for me to commit (due to a full time job) to the 1yr FT course, or even the 3yr PT course. Also, having thoroughly studied the course content, I feel that most is either predominantly irrelevant to my needs/requirements or I am beyond the basic & broad foundation skill level for the majority of modules. If any readers have any ideas on my mumblings, please feel free to mail me with advice that would be truly welcome.
At this week in time, I have been following the drawing advice & lessons from the expert About.com, carry a sketchbook with me constantly & get drawing practice in at spare time slots here & there. I am learning about tone & shading, finding those, sometimes elusive, darks in the lights & lights in the darks.
I think perhaps that this is enough blogging for me today....How does one end one's blog?...Back soon? See you later (assuming this might be read)? In a while crocodile? Hmmm....
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