new beginnings

so yeah another year and i still haven't managed to start this blog properly but tomorrow is a new year and another chance to try sort that one out but i have been busy this year and i have done many of the things i set out to do and more so il try not to talk much and let pictures do the talking but first il tell you a little of what i have done .... i started my tumblr september 2009 but this year i really have built it up into something im quite happy with and in the last few weeks i have had a follower a day (i dont know where you have all come from but thank you).

In 2009 i decided to stop messing around trying to force myself to find a "proper" job and get myself into something i really liked, jewelry making and silver smithing, at the beginning of this year i took a short course in it and made my first ring, the course didn't teach me much else really as you can learn it all from books you just need the right tools so i have been working full time and saving for all the ones i needed and now i have my own mini bench set up and have produced a few more jewelry pieces at home i hope next year to fill my empty etsy shop with interesting new pieces to sell and eventually quit full time work if all goes well.

In the last few months i have also done something i was beginning to think would never happen i started painting again and started actually liking those paintings not throwing them in the bin but framing them and actually showing them to people, i haven't painted in years properly and really am just going back to what i tried to do when i was a child, just painting animals how i like them with character and drama in bold watercolours (watercolours aren't wishy washy either just check out walton ford new idol of mine). i hope to sell prints and originals of some of my paintings in my etsy shop next year too so watch this space.

oh and here are a few photos sorry i waffled on a bit.

this is the first ring i made on the short course its silver and opal hand engraved

this is the first i made at home its labradorite and silver

this one is my favorite its amber with a spider and flies trapped inside for 40 million years made into a silver pendant (my course tutor said i couldn't do it hah hate tutors)

this one was complicated its aqua aura crystal wrapped with silver but forming this shape around the crystals points was a challenge

this was my first attempt at making a diamond ring i made it for my sisters xmas present

this i made for my mums xmas present its opal and boulder opal and a teeny tiny diamond that isn't worth mentioning really but its there

first sketch work

start of painting
almost finished here but not quite

this is a bit of one of the paintings i have done this year i havent taken a finished photo of it so these are the progress photos its sitting in a local pub now and im going there tonight so i will try take a photo and post that later.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! have a good one x

- Emily x x x