JewelryArtByDawn's Blog
Jewelry Art by Dawn
Operation Tiger Lily
Published: 06-01-2013 01:16pm
There have been some requests to keep people updated on the progress of my mother's tiger lilies, so I thought I'd write a separate blog post dedicated to them.Some background: My grandmother grew tiger lilies. I remember when I was a little girl how her tiger lily patch with their bright orange blooms speckled with little black specks seemed magical. After my grandmother died, my mother started growing them as a tribute to Grammy and they still had that same magic even though I was now viewing them as an adult.On July 4, 2011, my mother passed away. A year later, my Dad decided to move to my little town to be closer to us. During the mo... » Read More
May Blog Carnival - Orange
Published: 05-24-2013 10:32pm
This month the participants of the Jewelry Artisans Community Blog Carnival decided to choose a color to work with and then write a blog post about our experiences. We voted among the color choices of blue, green, yellow, red, pink, purple and orange. My initial reaction was to vote for a color I'm comfortable with and since I use a lot of blue and red, I was going to decide between those two colors. Then one of the participants urged us to think outside the box which got me thinking that using a comfortable color went against the spirit of the color challenge. So, I ended up voting for orange and, as it turned out, orange was the winner o... » Read More
Painting the Elephant Bangle - Part 5
Published: 05-19-2013 09:17pm
For Part 5 of the Painting the Elephant Bangle series, I thought I'd focus on the watering hole. When I first blocked in the bangle, all I did was put a splash of blue paint where I wanted the watering hole to be located. Once, the trees and background were done and the elephants positioned and off to a good start, I decided to concentrate on adding details to the water.These first two photographs have already been shown earlier, but it's a good point of reference in order to see the progression:Adding rock formations around the pond - note that the little guy has a face now:Splashing is always fun!Plant life has been added around the pond to ... » Read More
Painting the Elephant Bangle - Part 4
Published: 05-10-2013 08:51pm
I started this series about painting an elephant bangle several months ago and intended to post a new entry once a week. Unfortunately, my personal life went through an upheaval and I'm just now feeling ready to get back to this series. This is where Part 3 ended - the elephants had been blocked in:In Part 4, shading and additional detail has been added. I'm not going to write much in this entry, but will let the pictures tell the story. The big guy now has eyes! I always feel like the subjects are starting to come to life once they have eyes.Mama and the little one:And, a few more of the other characters on the bangle along with a quart... » Read More
Mother's Day - April Blog Carnival
Published: 04-27-2013 10:41am
Where does the time go? It seems like it was just January and now Mother's Day is on the horizon. The April topic for the Jewelry Artisan's Community blog carnival is Mother's Day.It's a time to honor mothers for all of the care, love and sacrifice they willingly and happily make for their children. I have always associated Mother's Day with flowers. Maybe it's because my mother loved flowers so.To honor my mom's memory, I dug up the tiger lily bulbs out of her garden last July and moved them to my own home (both my mom and grandmother loved tiger lilies). It was the wrong time of year to move them and I wasn't sure if they'd survive, bu... » Read More
What Makes a Great Photo?
Published: 03-31-2013 10:35pm
Taking great photos is something that takes time and practice to learn, but it can be done and is worth the effort. Lighting and composition are important components of great photography as is understanding how your camera works and knowing how and when to edit photos. Light boxes are one way to achieve good lighting. These are usually three sided boxes with an opening at the front. Lights that mimic daylight are used to illuminate the subject inside the box. A basic set up can be purchased commercially and is relatively inexpensive or there are many 'do it yourself' tutorials online that show how to build your own light box. The benef... » Read More
March Blog Carnival - Goals for 2013
Published: 03-23-2013 08:59pm
This month, the members of Jewelry Artisans Community are blogging about their goals for 2013. I had to think about this topic as I'm so far off track with growing my business that it's been derailed.2011 and 2012 were devastating years for me and my family and it's been a really difficult time. Things are finally starting to settle down and I'm getting to the point where I can begin to focus on what I hope to be a successful business some day.My goals for 2013:1. To have no more bad stuff happen! Don't have any control over this one, but one can hope.2. To complete my series of blog posts about painting the Elephant Bangle3. To star... » Read More
Painting the Elephant Bangle - Part 3
Published: 12-09-2012 01:00am
Welcome to Part 3 of the painting the elephant bangle project. I can't believe it's already been a week since the last installment - where does the time go? Good news; the elephants are about to make their first appearance!A link to Part 2 for anyone who hasn't seen it or who would like to go back and take another look: Part 2Here's where we left off last week:Before we get to this latest update, I thought I'd share some information about forest elephants with you. They are not as well known as their more familiar cousins the savannah or bush elephants, nor is much known about the forest elephant compared to their larger cousins.While rese... » Read More
Painting the Elephant Bangle - Part 2
Published: 12-02-2012 09:33pm
Welcome
to Part 2 of this blog series about painting an elephant bangle. Here is
a link to Painting
the Elephant Bangle - Part 1 in case you missed it and would like to take a
look.
Just to refresh memories, this is where we left off last week with Part 1 - the
bangle with some highlighting and shadows added:
Moving on from there, I added more depth to the background to give a feeling
for rain forest vegetation:
Adding trees to the foreground in the form of trunks and branches:
The trees with leaves - they were looking rather like skeletons above!
I think it's beginning to look a bit like a rain forest now.While ... » Read More
Rainy Days November Blog Carnival
Published: 11-30-2012 11:08pm
It's time, once again, for the Jewelry Artisans Community monthly blog carnival. This month our topic is Rainy Days.I love rainy days and we are having plenty of them here in Northern California. This weekend, the forecasters say we're going to have record setting rain - like up to 10 inches over the next two days. Whoa, that is a lot of rain!The reasons I love rain are many. As long as there isn't too much of it at one time, it's good for the earth, the trees, the plants, the lakes and rivers and it's cleansing. I like to watch it rain. Bonus if there's lightning and thunder included! The sound of the pitter patter of rain on the ro... » Read More
Painting the Elephant Bangle - Part I
Published: 11-23-2012 09:54pm
It's been a while since I've blogged on a regular basis. Life has thrown a few curves my way the last few months that knocked me flat, but I feel ready to start blogging again as it's something I enjoy doing. While thinking about possible topics, I remembered that I've been meaning to blog about my elephant bangle. Thought it would be fun to share my process from start to finish and here we go.This wood bangle is the perfect canvas:Here are some of my sketches. I cut a piece of paper the same height and circumference of the bangle and sketched the elephants on it to be sure they'd fit:I taped the inside of the bangle with blue painters t... » Read More
Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall - September Blog Carnival
Published: 09-22-2012 01:10pm
It's time for the Jewelry Artisan Community's monthly blog carnival and our topic for September is transitioning from summer to fall.Autumn is one of my favorite times of year. Summer's heat gives way to crisp mornings, pleasantly warm afternoons and cool evenings. The doors and windows are open to receive the wonderful breeze. Sleep comes easily while snuggling under a blanket and breathing in the refreshing night air.The leaves have begun the transformation to their glorious fall colors of reds, oranges and yellows. Migratory birds have begun their journey south to spend the winter in warmer climates. The bounty of the harvest is in ... » Read More
Blog Carnival - My Stash
Published: 08-19-2012 01:19pm
"My Stash" is the topic of the Jewelry Artisans Community August blog carnival. After pondering which of my stashes to write about, I decided to focus on my stash of experimental twisted copper wire rings.A few months ago, while fiddling with wire, I got this hair brained idea of using my electric mixer to twist wire. See, I was too lazy to go out to the garage in search of a drill and the mixer was right there!To my surprise, the mixer did a great job twisting the wire, but then I was left with the dilemma of what to do with the wire. Specifically, what to do with the ends of the wire. My friends over at Jewelry Artisans Community advised... » Read More
Blog Carnival - What's Inspiring Me Now?
Published: 06-23-2012 04:09pm
The topic of this month's Jewelry Artisans Community blog carnival is "What's Inspiring Me Now?"Honestly, at the time the topic was decided, I was not inspired by anything and experiencing a dry spell. Hate when that happens.Not long after that, I was sorting through old books and came across a book about braiding hair that showed many different braiding techniques. Flipping through the photos, I was inspired to try braiding wire and decided to give it a go.I started with fine gauge wire and worked my way up thicker and thicker gauges as I got the hang of it. Here is the end result and I'm quite happy with how it turned out:Now my head is fi... » Read More
Blog Carnival - Mother's Day
Published: 05-13-2012 06:37pm
This month's topic for the Jewelry Artisans Community blog carnival is Mother's Day.My feelings about this topic were ambivalent as my own mother passed away last summer after a shockingly short battle with cancer. This is our family's first Mother's Day without her and it felt strange this morning realizing that there would be no Happy Mother's Day phone call being made today.After much thought, I decided that while I couldn't call her, I could honor her memory by participating in this month's blog carnival.My mother was a beautiful, vibrant and talented woman. Artistic in so many ways, with a wonderful eye for color and form, whatever talent... » Read More
Blog Carnival - Nature
Published: 04-19-2012 09:16pm
This month's blog carnival topic by the members of the Jewelry Artisans Community is "Nature". No matter what their medium and that could be painting, sculpture, photography, fiber arts, paper arts or metalsmithing, to name a few, most artists will say that they are inspired by nature in one form or another.Given nature's bounty of colors, shapes and textures that is not a bit surprising. Nature is an endless and rich source of inspiration.Let's take a look at a few examples of what I mean.Color provided by a stone:Shape - this time provided by a frog; this little guy spent all last summer living amongst the plants on my deck:And, inspired thi... » Read More
