Howdy Jewelry Fans!! Eek! July is just about in the books. I hope it’s been a massively joyful month for all of you! July should smell like sunscreen and sunshine, don’t you think? My July has been full of changes, with a move back to Tucson from San Diego and my youngest son’s graduation from Air Force Boot Camp. Of course, all in the middle of a busy exhibition season with one show in Michigan and another in Denver during July. I ended the month by sprinting from Denver to Salt Lake City, where I boarded a flight back to Tucson (the sprint and flying part was all in ONE day).
What’s the old saying, “a rolling stone gathers no moss”?? Well, there ain’t no moss on me!!
As I travel back and forth across this great big nation, you, Jewelry Fans, often ask me about finding inspiration. Do I find inspiration in the places I visit? Do I find inspiration in the people I meet? Where in the world do all the inspirations for structures and combinations come from?
Whew! That’s a lot to answer.
But if I had to answer, I’d say it’s a combination of everyone, everywhere, with a decent sprinkle of no one, nowhere. And since this Journal Entry is all about where I find Inspiration, I suppose I’ll have to dig into it a little bit.
First, I’d tell you all that it’s all about your point of view. Seriously. This isn’t a cop out—I’ll explain. When my fellas were little, they used to love Sesame Street. We really never had cable until we moved to AZ the first time, so whatever the rabbit ears could bring it, is what we had available. Of course, there were VCR tapes too. Anyone remember having to rewind them?? Anyway, there was an Elmo movie, we nicknamed it Elmo Train. I cannot for the life of me tell you what it’s real name is!! It’s just Elmo Train. During the course of the infamous and watched and re-watched VCR tape, Elmo Train, Vanessa Williams sings a song and a line in the song is that what you see in life, get out of life is all “about your point of view”.
Boy, did I hear that song and that movie, Elmo Train, time and time again. And it stuck with me. It’s all about your point of view! Sometimes, I literally lie down on the ground and look up into the sky to change my point of view. Sometimes, I take a nap, that definitely changes my point of view. And lots and lots of times, I get in my truck, roll out to shows and meet you, Jewelry Fans. Not only does getting out of my space and out of my box change my point of view, but it allows me to occasionally see things from YOUR point of view. Often, a conversation with a patron (purchasing or not) will let me see a piece in a new way, or spark an idea for a change, or even create a whole new line of inquiry for me to follow in my search for authenticity and connection.
Your point of view, and the change in my point of view, both physical and metaphysical manifestations, create a wellspring of inspiration and enthusiasm for questions, answers and lines of meditations to approach, build and launch into the world as new work. Holy tamoleh, that’s a really BIG sentence. A BIG thought. A BIG impact.
Or so I hope.
Sometimes, the name of a place inspires me. Enter Half Moon Bay, CA. Such a great town, awesome people, awesome vistas. But the name. Half a moon. Half the moon. Half light. Half Dark. Half Positive. Half Appositive. This amazing coastal Cali town has inspired a new cuff style that I’ll be launching in my August Mini-Collection on the 14th of the aforementioned month! (This could be construed as a shameless, self-promoting plug, but, it’s my Journal, after all.)
Finally, but not really finally, sometimes, not talking to anyone, in the middle of nowhere or anywhere allows the bubbles of connection and consciousness to gurgle to the surface. In those moments, clarity ascends to my mind’s eye, and I can see the “direction” I need to be going and feel it connected to a potential future timeline of strong import. The pieces I make, the messages, mantras and energy they carry is all there for you, Jewelry Fans. I am in these moments of perfect clarity and crisp, defined, ideas, a conduit for more than myself.
It’s heavy.
And light.
It’s how I know I’m going in the right direction. That the real struggle of traveling, working, living, being, is exactly who, what, where, when and why I am. Period.
It’s how I know the inspiration is true. Because it simply arrives, perfect and whole from my connection to my Patrons, my Past, and the occasionally achieved, but most of the time strived for, Perfect Moment.
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