photography:: i found my heart in la

Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco, but I found mine in LA (and I guess I sort of left it there, too, since I'm here in PA pining away for Los Angeles).

Life has been a roller coaster for me the past few months, and today is just one of those not-so-good days. It helps to have a little reminder that there are better days ahead and my goals are waiting. I know I said in my previous post that I was just posting one quick post today, but I just had to add this picture/digital art. I took the photo on my recent to trip to LA and then created the rest of the art. I think this deserves a place in my new living room design, don't you?

from my studio:: project sneak peek

Quick blog post today, lots to do! I thought I'd give you a little sneak peek of a jewelry project I'm working on. If all goes well, I'll be creating a collection based on this prototype. Have a good Wednesday, everyone!

new to my shop:: siren song necklace

I recently listed the Siren Song necklace in my Etsy shop (after much debate as to whether or not to keep it for myself, like I did with these earrings). Any other jewelry designers have trouble parting with certain pieces (especially the one-of-a-kind ones)?




Buy it here.

PS- If you're reading this post in a reader, hop on over to my blog and check out the redesign. I simplified things around here so the photos are the focal point instead of extra graphics. Hope you like it and I'd love to hear your feedback!

from my studio:: speaking of inspired...

In case you missed it, I wrote a guest post yesterday over at Brandi Girl blog where I took a photograph, created a color palette, and then built an outfit around that color palette (go check it out!).

I'm thinking I need to start a similar column on my blog. But for today, since I'm still inspired by the photograph I used, I'm sharing a pair of earrings I designed using the color palette from the photo (made with artisan lampwork beads, of course!).



And yeah, I know I haven't posted as frequently as I anticipated, but I've got a few projects I'm working on behind the scenes and I'm getting ready to head to LA for a week (yay, yay, yay!), so there's much to do! I'll be back in mid-June with regular posts again, and I'm hoping to get one more post in this week before I head off for vacation. But don't forget, you can still find my iPhone photography over on Tumblr and, of course, you can chat with me on Twitter.

this past weekend:: jewelry!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope you all had a fun and relaxing holiday weekend. I took a mini blogging break this weekend, but I'm back today. I may not have blogged over the weekend, but I did make some jewelry for my new Etsy shop, Sun Sugar Studio. Right now I'm in "use the supplies I've got" mode, but I did some brainstorming for some new designs and collections, and then made a few prototypes (like the one below).



This one's not in my shop yet because I can't decide if I want to keep it or sell. The business side of my brain says to sell it, but the shopping side says keep it.It's one-of-a-kind due to the nature of lampwork beads and geodes, although I could make a similar piece for myself should I choose to sell this one. So, what do you think? Keep or sell?

from my studio:: grad school photography work

So, you know I've been busy with midterm projects, and I thought I'd share two of those projects with you (since you know, this blog is supposed to be an extension of my real-life studio).

Here's the story- these photos were for two different art classes. Not studio courses, though; rather, these classes are about art and its place in society, philosophy, and culture, and the intersections between them. Make sense?

I won't bore you with the details but below are the art portions of my projects. The real meat of the projects (and what weighed more heavily than quality of the artwork) were actually the essays I had to write drawing comparisons between social constructs and philosophical ideas and the art itself (I won't bore you those, either).

So anyway, here are the photos:

life in the void (nietzsche)


consumerism

from my studio // pearls, glass, lampwork and ribbon necklace

I felt like working on some jewelry this morning and I'm determined to use what I have before I go and buy more beads (way too many beads, way, way too many). The necklace below is the result of today's bead brainstorm. I'm keeping this one for myself, but I'm hoping to make more in similar styles. This one uses glass pearls, glass beads, artisan lampwork beads, and of course, a ribbon. I think I likes it.