random thoughts
lots going on. as business changes there is the pressure to once again reinvent our crafts. the oil paints stored in the back have been sending out a siren song for a long while and now seems a good time. will be re-borrowing 'draw, how to master the art' a wonderful book that literally sits you at the foot of the great artists and makes you learn the traditional way, copying their work. i am an excellent copyist, always have been, and this book is a wonderful teacher for someone who is best self-taught with maybe a book as a guide. alas,i have never yet though found my own style. love the fauves and have copied much of their works. still not quite understanding the abstract. am also borrowing two volumes of art history to get my brain started. maybe this time i'll find the style that lurks inside...
the jewelry cannot quite be dispensed with, yet, so it morphs into the bizarre and unusual. am playing with copper wire, love copper and its healing properties, it's also much easier to invent with than silver as the cost is negligable. newest creation is a large pendant woven and knotted, somewhat akin to those macrame plant hangers. our friend james was not terribly impressed, likening it to a monstrous insect but his taste runs to large heavy blocky jewelry...first day out we got an order for matching earrings so....more books to take out on knots, basket weaving techniques, twining, all sorts of stuff to jog my jaded brain and even more jaded public. problem out there is,,,,globalization and the lack of any sort of integrity on the part of some of the 'craftspeople' out there...buying jewelry from third world countries for pennies and selling it as one's own work for a fraction of the price it should be, is not being a craftsperson. there is alas no means to control this problem and it's growing way out of control. so, the art and photography go out again...and the new designs whirling about in the chaos of my imagination.
i actually thrive on this type of challenge, there is very little out there i cannot learn to do. ever since i was small and would get my school books for the year and sit down on the porch and read them all that afternoon, there's been very little i cannot teach myself. except...socialization skills, they are forever beyond my reach...and speaking fluently, without stammers, stutters or difficulties with certain letters. this is something i've for the most part gotten used to as i am by nature solitary but sometimes when subbing for chrys at the stand and reaching desperately for a word as prospective customers stand waiting...
the jewelry cannot quite be dispensed with, yet, so it morphs into the bizarre and unusual. am playing with copper wire, love copper and its healing properties, it's also much easier to invent with than silver as the cost is negligable. newest creation is a large pendant woven and knotted, somewhat akin to those macrame plant hangers. our friend james was not terribly impressed, likening it to a monstrous insect but his taste runs to large heavy blocky jewelry...first day out we got an order for matching earrings so....more books to take out on knots, basket weaving techniques, twining, all sorts of stuff to jog my jaded brain and even more jaded public. problem out there is,,,,globalization and the lack of any sort of integrity on the part of some of the 'craftspeople' out there...buying jewelry from third world countries for pennies and selling it as one's own work for a fraction of the price it should be, is not being a craftsperson. there is alas no means to control this problem and it's growing way out of control. so, the art and photography go out again...and the new designs whirling about in the chaos of my imagination.
i actually thrive on this type of challenge, there is very little out there i cannot learn to do. ever since i was small and would get my school books for the year and sit down on the porch and read them all that afternoon, there's been very little i cannot teach myself. except...socialization skills, they are forever beyond my reach...and speaking fluently, without stammers, stutters or difficulties with certain letters. this is something i've for the most part gotten used to as i am by nature solitary but sometimes when subbing for chrys at the stand and reaching desperately for a word as prospective customers stand waiting...