I almost forgot to write this newsletter! I’ve finally been able to get back into the swing of making and this newsletter slipped my mind in the process. What an amazing JOY it is to get back into oil painting. Ok, ok, let’s see what February might shape up to be:
On The Jewelry Front
I finished a few commissions in January. They took up all of my very limited time and I couldn’t make much else last month, but it was an excellent time to hunker down and come up with some designs. I talk about these designs like I was forcing them but they actually came to me like proper visions. I love when a designs appears in my head and all I have to do is sketch it out.
I'm switching gears a little and instead of designing the entire collection all at once, I’ve decided to make the pieces as they come to me. One will lead to another, will lead to another. It’s what’s working for me right now with my new life chapter in motherhood and it’s been quite fun already to just dive in and create. As of writing this, I’ve started on miniature oil paintings for two pairs of earrings. Man, oh man, I have MISSED oil painting so much and I’m feeling a surge of energy now that I’ve gotten back into that world.
Testing a New Material
I have been wanting to incorporate more wood into my work. I took a wax carving intensive in Florence, Italy several years ago and I want to apply those carving techniques to wood. I wasn’t crazy about the fact that you could make multiples of a wax carving since my whole vibe is one-of-a-kind work. For some reason wood keeps calling me. Maybe because one of my closest friends is a woodworker and he is always making the most gorgeous cutting boards and kitchenware with a range of wood varieties that I just want to try my hand at it for jewelry.
I’ve had a few designs pop into my head that would combine wood with sterling silver and I kept telling myself, “do it for the next collection.” But whenever I put something off, I know it comes from a place of fear and knowing that I’ll fail. Isn’t that the point though? I decided to push through and try to make a few pieces. I purchased several wood varieties to test weight and wood strength and made sure to order wood that already came dried. When wood is fresh/recently harvested, that’s when you get the worst warping. Thanks to my construction days, I’ve seen the warping and splitting happen firsthand and I selected different woods that had already undergone a drying process. I love working with new materials, but I also think wood will really compliment some of my designs perfectly.
Blogging
Last month I pushed myself to write nearly every day to try to form a habit, but I was seriously sleep deprived and couldn’t follow through. In the process, I found that I wanted to take more time with my posts so I will be writing once or twice a week instead of everyday. I have a lot of ideas for what I’d like to write about, and I will definitely be sharing more of my process with you now that I’m getting back into oil painting. In fact yesterday I shared a post about surfaces for miniature oil painting. My intention with sharing process via blog is to recreate what I had been doing with IG stories. The problem with. IG Stories was that they only lasted 24 hours, and I love that this blog can be resource of inspiration and learning.
What do you have planned for this month? I love to know what you're up to, so please leave a comment below and add your name in the comment as I've switched off the ability for you to subscribe to this blog. Thanks so much.
Take care,
Caitlin
Starting to take photos for the sake of taking photos (and not having it be jewelry-related). This is a new practice I'm trying to implement this year where every aspect of my creativity is explored.