Thursday, May 17, 2012

Creativity inspired by creativity inspired by...

'Creative' people have always inspired and held a particular fascination for me.  I wanted to be one of them and if not one of them, be around them.  Recently I witnessed the incredible talent and creativity of several Nashville musicians up close.  In a loft in downtown Nashville, a friend and I sat front row during an intimate concert with several guitar playing singer-songwriters and it was heaven.  Drawn into their world of music, passion and self-expression, I could feel my own creativity getting the charge it needed.  I may not have the specific talent to paint like Monet, write like Frost or sing like Tina Turner, but I know that I have ignited the spark to create.  Creativity doesn't always have to mean original thought or vision, but it does mean original interpretation.  Inspired by these influences all around me, my creativity will make it my own, make it me.   

Here are a few pictures from the creative inspiration I have found around Nashville:
Singer Hugh Mitchell at the Hayman Loft
RCA Studio B in Nashville - Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison,
Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Everly Brothers among others
recorded here
  

House in 'old money' Nashville that painted a mural on
the outside of their house just to start a conversation
about art - love it! (they said they will paint over it eventually)

Beautiful magnolia trees - nature inspires!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

You can't make more time

You can always make more things, more money, even more jewelry but you can't make more time.  At least I haven't figured out how to create extra time.  If someone knows the secret, please let me know.  I only have 3 weeks left at the New Approach School for Jewelers!  That is crazy to me because I have been so busy trying to fast forward these 12 weeks away from home and now I want nothing more than more time to learn.  I want to gain more knowledge, more insight and become more proficient and I definitely want more time to delay the inevitable decisions I need to make about my future employment. Oh well, I'll worry about jobs, income and creating my empire tomorrow but in the mean time, I have committed to making the most of my last 3 weeks of classes.  Last week, we had a guest instructor in and learned hand engraving - so cool!  I fell in love with it and know that I will figure out a way to incorporate hand engraving into my work.  We largely focused on natural patterns and scroll work, turns out that letters are actually fairly difficult to hand engrave, must be why machines have taken over most letter engraving.  Below are some examples of my hand engraving work. 
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Above is the traditional wheat leaf pattern usually found
on wedding/engagement bands