On the subject of creativity and genius, I am offering a most select, unique and special prize...just for you!...the very last pair of my gypsy hoop filigree earrings...EVER!.... I created the models for these lovelies a few years ago, when I was attempting to teach myself how to do fused filigree work. I dont know about you all, but I am a major book hound, ( all kinds...fiction, non-fiction, how to) and saw this method in a jewelry book and had to try it! I produced and sold quite a few pairs, with different colored stones. As my body of work has grown and matured, they seem to have taken a bit of a back seat to some of my other designs...a new gallery was going through my line to choose some pieces to start with, and the owner, who I have great respect for, and who is an artist in her own right held these up and said "I really like these, but they look like someone else made them". My first instinct was to be a tad miffed, as they have sold well, but being the good introspective thinker that I am, I pondered long and hard ( well, not too long and hard!) and realized that I agreed with that statement.
It got me to think a lot in general about how necessary it is for artists to be self-reflective about their work from time to time, the need to check in and see what is working, and what might not be, to stay on the path of their own unique voice and vision. And it made me think about the Elizabeth Gilbert post previous to this one, about the idea that our creativity is like a gift, that comes to visit us...sometimes it is light and soft, like a hummingbird whispering in your ear, or sometimes it is like a herd of cattle thundering across your consciousness. Either way, it is valid, it is yours to work with, regardless of the 'results'.
These earrings have been very good to me, but it is just time to move on, and I very much want them to go to a loving home!....they are approximately 1 1/2" long, not including the faceted rhodolite garnet that swings from the crest, cast of my ecofriendly sterling silver and are very light weight.
Without further ado, if you would like to be entered in the drawing, please leave me a comment, so I know you were here, and tell me a story about a some creative thing you did that might have been a bit of a 'blunder' but turned out better than you anticipated...Lolita will pull a name out of a hat sometime next weekend!...Thanks in advance for sharing your stories with me...namaste!