Karen this is the most comfortable ring I have ever owned … I always take my rings off at night (and take most off the minute I get into my house) … two nights I have slept with this ring on!!!! Beauty, excellent design & “craftswomanship” plus comfort … wow! Janice D.
"I put it on yesterday, and enjoyed looking at it all evening. Today I've been busy unpacking, cooking, and gardening (with gloves on). By being busy with it on I'm delighted to see how well it wears with much activity. It is beautiful, but very practical; sits nicely on my finger but doesn't loop around when I'm busy with my hands. A wonderful extra for a lovely design." Denise O.
Finding inspiration in nature
I have written about finding inspiration before. Sure enough, it almost always comes back to nature's direct influence. At the very least it comes back to being refreshed by nature; rivers, streams, green foliage, and this time really big red rocks!
We just returned from a trip to the southwest starting with a quick stopover in Santa Fe and the Georgia O'Keeffe museum. Talk about being influenced by nature, pretty much everything she did was a reflection of nature. I find her work so inspiring and beautiful, even a ram skull was beautiful. When I have been to Santa Fe in the past the museum has been closed so this was a treat for me. Thank you husband Scott for going out of our way, dragging a trailer behind in downtown Santa Fe! Parking was no easy task I might add.
The big red rocks were at Arches National Park and along the Colorado River near Moab, Utah. We explored the park and I took lots of photos, and then we drove down a canyon of the Colorado River in search of ancient petroglyphs. Included are a few photos from the trip.
It's always nice to come home to beautiful Bend and our dogs. Returning home makes me appreciate the beauty all around us all the more. Speaking of beautiful Bend, it is time for First Friday and salsa dancing in the alley behind my store! Please come join us this First Friday July 3rd for a few new paintings, crisp white wine, and dancing. It should be fun! A pro is leading the dancing so you can talk to him about lessons, too.
What are some of your favorite things? Hiking, camping, swimming, gardening or just relaxing in the sun with cocktails on the back deck, BBQ, friends and family? All of the above?
(Just finished! Tanzanite, tourmaline and baroque Tahitian pearls in 14 karat yellow gold)
For me it is hiking and rivers. I love running water and don't spend nearly enough time in the vicinity of good water. It's an energizing, yet calming thing for me, but also a deep philosophical thing for me, all about movement, paths and journeys.
I have been on a personal journey lately, wondering where I am going with my business. I took a very intense step forward and committed to this e-commerce website. It's a step in the right direction emotionally and physically. It is the future. It is a way to reach a larger audience without drastically increasing my inventory or my physical location. It is growth, and renewal, and flow primarily by putting myself out there into the future.
(Fresh perspective: "Spring Thaw" 12 x 12 acrylic on canvas).
I started painting differently also; I am painting whimsically, boldly yet softly, with energy and excitement popping thru. Fittingly I call this series "Rivers and Paths, and Going Places".
A woman visiting here in Bend saw an ad in a local art magazine featuring some rings that I designed (same photo shown in post below), and came down to the shop but I was away at a memorial service, so she called when she got back home.
Checking out my website and after a few emails, she chose the rose gold ring with the pear-shape rustic rose-cut diamond, accented with white diamonds. We’re going to custom make some stackers for her to go with the ring.
I’m really looking forward to working with her on the stackers. It will be a fun collaboration! She has a good sense of what she wants and the ring I designed serves as the take-off point.
This "stack" has rustic diamonds in
taupe, nutmeg and luminous green; each ring sold individually, please check this website, under "rings" for availability.
To make these rings unique I combined rustic rose cut diamonds with clear and pristine modern white diamonds, and sometimes black diamonds. One ring features a nutmeg color, rose-cut pear-shape diamond accented with rustic diamond cubes that were mined in the cube shape. I used these intriguing diamond cubes in exactly the same form they had when discovered deep in the ground. Working with the earth and spanning millions of years to create something totally wearable is a wonderful feeling.
As you'll see in the photo, for fun I paired some stacking rings with my designs. The stackers are quite traditional in style, adding a unique twist to the more rustic diamond pieces. You'll also notice the hammered and shiny surfaces of the white, yellow and rose gold.
New in the gallery is the featured colorful abstract painting called "Spring River." When I was 21 years old, a friend and I left college to live and work in Sunriver for the summer. It was such a wonderful time we didn't want to go back to Eugene!
I will always remember the times sitting at a cabin on Spring River (just across the Deschutes) feasting on fresh-caught crawdads and drinking Annie Greensprings wine. Times were so simple and relaxed back then.
Okay, I'm dating myself, but the memory has stayed clear and vivid in my mind and as I was painting this and it evolved I was struck by how lyrical and flowing it is, much like Spring River. The greens remind me of the grassy lawn, the white the cold spring-fed river, and the orange the setting sun reflected off the water...or maybe the orange is the crawdads themselves!
"Spring River," 40" x 30" acrylic on canvas with watercolor crayon accents. I also have some fun new earrings and of course have been busy working with the new gems that I bought in Tucson.