On writers' block and the importance of pictures

Just in case this blog has any readers left I have managed to not alienate by not updating it, let me tell you that I mean to blog more often, except, for the last couple of months, I feel like I have developed a serious case of constipation of the the writing skills.

There are so many wonderful blogs out there, not to mention wonderful articles and books, with chatty, knowledgeable writers who are a bliss to read, then there is me, and here is what I do:

I get home from work semi-exhausted and manage to put in a couple hours at night beading, and then my day off comes and I manage to squeeze in a day of beady work, only to realize, that my energy has been used up, and I already said everything I needed to say with beads.

And then sometimes I don't even manage that much.

And of course there are times when due to taking commissions for things I have done before, I end up making the same thing over and over again, which is very therapeutic, but not entirely blog worthy.

Well, let's just say that sometimes I run out of steam..

But I managed to have one interesting idea in the last couple of weeks.I was contemplating the nature of true art, the kind that changed history. Artists without whom the world would not be the same. How they changed the way I see things, and how it all connects to me on a personal level.

How could I combine my love of art with my beading?

This lead to an experiment, that will be an ongoing thing for me I think.

The purpose of this experiment is to combine well known works of art with my jewelry and my perspective. And of course paying homage to my favorite artists by blatant emulation of their work.

Don't worry fellow beaders, I am not here to steal your designs, as a matter of fact I will just keep doing what I do regardless of what everyone else does, this is a bit different.

Well, let me show you...

 Here we have El Greco's Mary Magdelene in penitence from 1577. He was truly a painter who was way ahead of his time.

Then we have my friend Jean on our break behind the store we work at wearing my bracelet.

A modern Magdelene.

 Here is Vermeer's " The girl with a pearl earring.A picture everyone knows.

Here is my friend Marketa, "The girl with a fishie earring".

Needless to say both of these efforts are low budget, fun projects, but this is such a great little  game, I am going to pursue it for the heck of it.

Also, as I am turning 33 in two days, my dear husband gave me a most wonderful gift by  paying for a class at a local school. I am going to learn how to properly use photoshop!

Now I have my somewhat fancy camera, and thank god for Picasa, but there is a whole lot I need to learn, and this is going to be so amazing.

One thing I learned by having my new camera and experimenting with it, is that you got to have fun or it really becomes a chore. It turns out that I really enjoy taking pictures of my friends posing with my jewelry.

Now mind you ,there are hundreds of jewelry artists with professional fashion photos out there, and I am not one. But I thought I would share my best efforts with my two models I introduced .

Here we go...

Let me know what you think.