Thunder, Lightning...and a Green Glass Necklace

The heat is excruciating, and now it's raining, so what better way to spend an evening than creating?  Whether it's a painting, a necklace, or a poem--each of us has something we like to do to relax--and for me, tonight, anyway, it was making more jewelry. I've noticed over the years that I tend to go in spurts--for awhile I might concentrate on writing. Then I'll move on to painting, or gardening, or reading.  It's impossible to do everything, although I'm sure there are people out there who manage to do just that. But me?  I tend to dabble, putting all my energy into one form of creativity and then moving on to another.  It used to bother me--trying to figure out how to find time to do all the things I love doing--painting, writing, gardening, photography--now making jewelry. I asked a fellow artist awhile back, who is a fantastic writer as well as a visual artist, how she handles the urges to paint one day, write the next--did she feel like she was neglecting one over the other?  She told me to "just go with the flow."  Whatever creative muse is pushing me at the moment, that's the one to follow, and don't worry about the others.  They'll get attention when it's time.  And so that's what I do now. If I feel like writing, I write. If the urge to paint is overwhelming, I paint. But I no longer feel guilty. Creative people just need to create, and I no longer feel I have to pick one and stick to it.  Maybe I'm not as good at one as I am the other, but does that really matter?  I think the point is to create, and be happy doing it.

So...tonight the urge to play with beads was greater, and since it was raining and of course I couldn't work outside--ta da!  The result? A new necklace and earrings.  This is from a pattern in one of the beading magazines I bought awhile back. I've made two versions:  one with turquoise teardrop stones and the other with green glass teardrops.  Easy to do.  I'm planning to make matching bracelets later.  Actually, I made a turquoise set several months ago, which my lovely daughter managed to confiscate.  One of the perks of being family, I guess...

I received an order from Fire Mountain Gems today, and can't wait to get started with the new beads and wire.  Lots of ideas, which I hope I can follow through on.  I'm still learning wire wrapping.

 I also bought some copper and galvanized steel wire--I love the warmth of the copper and I just wanted to experiment with the steel wire.  Should be interesting!

So here are the two sets of jewelry I made--same pattern, different stones.  Unfortunately, the photograph of the green bead necklace isn't as sharp as it needs to be. I need to work on better lighting.

Still working on mini-paintings, and several larger pieces to finish.  Peace!