Spring and Easter Jewelry

The first day of Spring falls on my birthday this year so I suppose that it's natural for my jewelry to be so highly influenced by Spring.
Soft pastels reign supreme and many of my items have floral themes. Whimsical egg earrings have been inspired by fabrege eggs and are perfect for the upcoming Easter holiday. For the more fashion forward I have created handpainted pastel toned Chinese fan earrings and geometric pendants with sparkling beaded necklaces.

Here are some of my latest creations... Enjoy!

 

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/125502781/fabrege-inspired-floral-easter-egg?

            https://www.etsy.com/listing/123431186/peacock-chinese-fan-earrings-with?

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/123432988/cornflower-stud-flower-earrings-with?ref=v1_other_1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/123437991/flower-garden-pendant-in-blues-and?ref=v1_other_1

                https://www.etsy.com/listing/124955769/silver-gold-and-crystal-geometric?

What do you think of these photographs? It's a different look from my previous ones where I mostly used a slate tile for my  'backdrop'. White backgrounds are very popular on Etsy, but sadly they don't suit my jewelry very well. My luminescent surfaces become faded and unappealing when placed against such a bright backdrop.

What are some of your favorite things about Spring?

The Journey of a Photoshoot

I mentioned in a past blog post that I had been hired to do costumes for a photoshoot in L.A. Well that project is finally finished and I wanted to share that experience with you.

My director, Drew Bates of Unique Publications LLC, wanted something reminescent of the 1950s. (Not necessarily historically accurate but inspired by this time period) He mentioned Katy Perry as a possible celebrity to grab inspiration from. The words that were bandied about during our initial conversation were flirty, fun, slightly innocent but still sexy. Taking all of these things in mind I developed an idea of what I thought would work best in terms of style or silhouette, pattern, color, etc. Drew had chosen a kitchen location for the shoot that had quite a bit of color in it.

 He had also created some brightly colored 'products' that our model, Camille, would be holding.

Also Camille, our model, was going to be dying her hair a bright red for the shoot. Seeing how much color would be in the scene I chose to go with minimal color for my costume choices. I directed my focus more on getting the right silhouette and to find pieces in fun patterns .

I was so excited when I came across this apron!

 It was absolutely perfect for what I had in mind and I felt as if it had been created just for this shoot. Once the apron was purchased I let it inspire me for the dress that Camille would wear underneath. Seeing the fun stripes in the apron, I decided to contrast those with some polka dots. My finished choice was this.

To bring in some of the fun colors of the scene and especially the products that Camille would be modeling with, I found some fun vintage bracelets to use as accents and tied in the bright yellow from her bracelet with a bright yellow petticoat to add the full skirt that was so common in the 1950s.

The end result is this.

 Everyone did such an amazing job with this photo shoot and I am just so honored to have been a part of it!

Take a minute to check out Drew Bate's new and improved website.

As you know, I always try to support my fellow handmade artists whenever possible so several products for this shoot were bought from etsy shops.
To find your own fun retro apron, go here.
To find fun bold bracelets, go here.


Thanks for reading and I hope that everyone has a wonderful day!!

Exciting News and New Art!

For those of you who follow my blog, you may recall my blog post about the Handmade Artists' Shop and their giveaway for a free shop for life. Well, I'm amazed to say that I won!! I am still sort of in shock because I never win anything (seriously), but I am just thrilled as can be! I have already set up my shop page and am slowly but surely adding items to it. Right now I am focusing on getting my jewelry up first, but soon it will also have prints of my original art as well as some original items. I am just so excited! I had been wanting to start a shop there, but just couldn't see adding another art-related expense at this moment. What a blessing!
Anyway, in other news, my painting of Spring is finally finished.

I have really been loving researching and painting flowers for these past two paintings. ( to see my finished painting of Summer, click here )

My original painting is available at my etsy shop. 10% of the proceeds will go to UNICEF.
I am always dedicated to helping those less fortunate than myself and feel blessed to be able to use my God given gifts for the benefit of others whenever possible.
Some VERY nice fine art prints are also available on society6

Now that Spring is finally done, it's time to work on Autumn. All of the research I've done on leaves, mums, etc has really put me in the mood for some cooler weather! Sadly it's still pretty hot here...

 I have completed my Autumn color study and am just now starting to begin work on the final painting. Looking forward to sharing her with you!


I have recently discovered some really terrific artists and am looking forward to sharing their work with you in the near future. Until then, have a fantastic day!

RIP Etsy Chat

Tomorrow at 5pm EDT, Etsy will be permanently closing their chat rooms. This has caused me and many others, a great deal of sadness. I have gotten to know so many wonderful people through the etsy chat rooms! We have become close friends and have been there for each other to give support and advice whenever needed. It is definitely a sad day for many of us, both sellers and buyers. It was a way for buyers to get to know their favorite artists and crafters on a more personal level and it was a way for sellers to find like-minded people to share their artistic passions with. I'm sure that etsy has it's reasons for making this change, but I wonder if their reasons are worth the cost that they've incurred. Many sellers will be leaving and taking their shops to zibbet.com. It's hard to call yourself an artistic or handmade community if you are getting rid of the community aspect of it. Etsy will now be nothing more than a shop. Random shops all selling things side by side without any communication occurring between them. New shop owners won't have the luxury of getting to know fellow sellers. Nor will they be able to turn to fellow sellers for advice when facing obstacles. I don't envy them one bit!



In memory of the "good 'ol days", here are some pieces from shops owned by people who I have grown to know and love through etsy chat.

                                                                        Spiral Stew

                                                                          Never Too Old

                                                                        Annabel's Aprons

                                                                        My Cariads

                                                                   Petit Bijou Art Shop

                                                                    A Bunch of Scrap

There are many many more that I have had the great pleasure of getting to know over the course of my three years with etsy and I am grateful for each and every one of them!

Thank you for the memories etsy. Goodnight!

New Etsy Shop is Open!

I am excited to announce that my new etsy shop, Jewels of Enchantment, is finally open! 
Almost all of my current jewelry will be moved to this shop.

Within the next month or so,  Phoenix Art Studio will begin to only carry fantasy related jewelry and art.

Please visit my new shop! I would love to hear opinions, suggestions, comments, etc.
Have a wonderful week everyone!

New pieces for Co-op 28 Handmade!

I've finally finished almost all of the pieces that I'm creating for Co-op 28 Handmade in Los Angeles. I thought that I'd share some of them with you.

                                           I really like this pair of earrings a lot!

                                            Some bold, statement earrings...

                                             I'm loving the art nouveau feeling of this drape necklace!

                                     I was so happy when I found the leafy connectors for this necklace!

                                            These colors make me happy. :)


I'm really hopeful that this venture will turn out to be a good one. I've recently found out that there are over 60 artists participating! That's amazing!!

I will be offering these on Etsy shortly, but it won't be under Phoenix Art Studio anymore. All jewelry is going to be going to a new Etsy shop. At the moment, the working title is Jewels of Enchantment. I'll let you know when that is up and running and include a link.

Hope that everyone's week is going well! I'm hoping to enjoy some of the nice weather today by photographing some of my new jewelry outside. :)

A Biker Chic with a Penchant for Jewelry

I am currently sick and feeling like crap so it's the perfect time for me to update my blog. :) I wanted to introduce TamsJewelry to you. Here is a lovely lady from Texas who creates handmade beaded and wire wrapped pieces of jewelry. When not creating, she's either out riding her motorcycle or being a good wife and mother. She has a wonderful blog where she talks about her life, her creations and the works of other artists that she admires. Her  work can also be found on artfire, etsy and zibbet.

Here are a few of my favorites

She has recently added some wire wrapped rings to her shop and I really love the look of them. They make quite a nice statement don't you think?

Catching Up on Artwork

With the holidays here I've been quite busy between my "real job" and my artwork. So much so that I haven't been very good about keeping up with my blog. I've been producing so much work and haven't been able to really share any of it with you. So here are a few new items that I have recently made for my shop. I am especially pleased with some of my new hair accessories. I recently ordered more supplies and am hoping to do quite a few of them. I have some really great bridal ideas for the upcoming spring season.

                                                        I really love the headbands a lot.

A medium sized barrette that sold at my show. I really love the colors in this one and will probably try to reproduce it once I get my supplies.

Some smaller barrettes that I've been working on.

I have also been reading a lot of fairy tales from around the world. Some of them were from India and as I imagined the lush iridescent silks, brilliant colors and beautiful embroidery I created these pendants.

I had a personal goal to list 100 items on my etsy shop and recently reached it! I'm so proud of myself! It's been extremely hard getting that many pieces up while working full-time. As a reward for my perseverance (something I've struggled with in the past) I have begun working on some pieces that I've wanted to do for awhile. One of them is a series of masquerade paintings. I LOVE masks and have always wanted to do some illustrations/paintings of them. I have just begun my first one. It feels like I haven't done a painting in forever so I'm feeling a bit rusty. I'm just so happy to be painting again though that I don't really care about the end result. So far I am decently happy with how it's going. I'll definitely share the end result once it's done.

This is the inital sketch that I did in my sketchbook.

Still lots of work to go...

Being Busy in October

I feel like such a slacker when it comes to my blog! I’ve been so terribly busy with everything else that my blog sort of fell through my fingers. It’s been an exceptionally busy week and a half or so.

Of the many exciting things that have occurred, these are some of my favorites:

I was featured a blog by shabby n’ chic

I made a treasury collection on etsy that stayed on the treasury front page for over a day!

I've also been featured in a dozen different artfire collections.

It’s just been wonderful the overwhelming amount of support I’ve received from fellow artists!It's all been happening at a much needed time in my life as I was beginning to question my validity as an artist and such. (the usual artistic angst)

OH!! Before I forget, go to this blog post and enter yourself into my giveaway for a $25 gift card! Many of you are already followers of my blog or facebook page so you can already qualify for more than one entry. It’s just silly to not enter for free stuff.

On the home front I have been admiring the amazing resilience of my bougainvillea bonsai tree. It’s actually BLOOMING! Many of you might think nothing of this, but to me, the fact that this bonsai is even ALIVE is beyond a miracle. I’m just stunned that it’s managing to be happy and blooming when I am its mother. I am such a horribly absentminded gardener. (Especially during the times when I’m in a creative trance.)

I’ve been very productive as far as my jewelry goes and I am excited about some of the new pieces I’ve been creating. Here are some samples. 

I also finally received an original drawing that I got from sarambutcher, also known as Sara Burrier. I just LOVE her work and while I can’t afford any of her original paintings right now, I COULD afford to get one of her lovely drawings. The one I purchased is of the Lady of Autumn. I just LOVE her. Sara was also kind enough to include a print of her Lady of Peridot as a bonus. Highly recommend her store to anyone who loves fanciful, beautiful work as much as I do. 

New Items and New Shop for September!

Here are some new items that will be going up in my etsy store this month. I'll also be opening up an artfire shop very soon. Once everything is posted and finalized I'll be posting the link as well as holding a fun giveaway contest! Stay tuned!

I usually dread having to take photos of my artwork. It's such a tedious and time consuming process. This time I was determined to change my attitude about it and even managed to have a little bit of fun. I'm actually pretty pleased with the way these photos turned out. Hoping that this starts a new trend for me. :)