10 Smiles - Handmade Jewelry from Around the World

Today I'm sharing with you some of my latest discoveries in handmade jewelry from around the world that made me smile!

Unique Organic Black Pendant with Chain - Giardinoblu - Milan

Red Silk Twists - af jewellery - Athens

Marine Texture Silver Ring - Emilie Bliguet - Barcelona

Geometric Silver Hoop Earrings - Splurge - Calgary

Scarlet Red Resin and Silver Drop Earrings - Quercus Silver - Bath

Elderflower Neon Gray Crochet Necklace - PomPom Design - Budapest

Lush Green Grass Round Silver Ring - Seahag and Walrus - Portland

Black Crochet Okapi Necklace - Okapiknits - Paris

Dangling Silk Earrings in Turquoise - Vadjutka - Budapest

Uh Oh Necklace - Foundling - Asheville

More on my Pinterest board here.

*****

This week has been busy, busy, busy with my Creative Courage e-course beginning, but wonderful too! We have another very international group of lovely, kind women with many new and many familiar faces, and it's such a treat to begin another session together. 

I will be closing registration once and for all on Friday, so if you are interested in joining us at Creative Courage, I hope you will grab the opportunity to sign up here.

I wish you a happy Thursday with lots of creativity and inspiration!

xo

Stephanie

Cover illustration

Refelections, watercolour 35 x 46 cm 

 I have just been informed that my watercolour painting "Reflections" has been chosen as the cover illustration for the book "Festival of writing 2012" a collage of writing edited by Debi Alper. The festival is arranged each year by Writers Workshop, the world's leading consultancy for first time writers, started by the well known writer Harry Bingham. The festival hosts some of Britain's best-selling authors and publishers. So I am very honoured to have one of my works on the cover of the book.

Freezing the subject without getting cold!

Robin photo Elizabeth Tyler © 2012

Finding subject matter on a cold December day in Sweden isn't always easy, especially since the number of daylight hours is very limited. Although I enjoy plein air painting and always prefer to do most of the work on location, there are days when it's simply not practical. Taking reference photos for later use is of course a good solution and one many artists resort to. Its not cheating as long as they are your own photos. In order to paint birds a good camera is almost a must. But even so it still requires sitting for hours in the freezing cold waiting for the right moment.
Believe it or not, the photograph on the left is taken through the window while I sit in the warmth of my kitchen. It still requires hours of waiting but at least I could sit in comfort.
Firstly I arranged the scene by placing logs and stones on a baking tray filled with water. This was put outside the window on a garden table so the height was suitable for the camera tripod. I waited for the water to freeze then sprinkled bird food on the logs as bait.
Inside the kitchen I rigged up a black curtain to minimise reflections and hide the camera which I stuck through a hole in the material. I connected the camera to the computer with the remote shooting function and waited for the right moment. And waited...
Hundreds of photos later I managed to get this one plus a handful more. I don't know if I will actually use it as reference for a painting yet or maybe it's best as a Christmas card.