Vacation to Arizona Ignites Creativity

Sandy and I finally took a 2 week vacation for the first time in years!

We went south through Nevada to Arizona and visited many hot art spots, like, Jerome, Phoenix, Sedona and Scottsdale. Seeing many different types of art and different media in different towns was not only educational, but inspirational. Those of us who own our own businesses often forget to stop working and not only relax, but learn from other artists. Being in nature, seeing mountains that look so different from our huge vertical peaks was what got Sandy really going...


We'd had a custom order for an Arizona pendant right before the trip. What an amazing piece! It took a lot of thought to get all the elements arranged in a way that matched the client's vision. The pendant is sterling silver with copper pots and a 14kt yellow gold crescent moon and measures about 1 1/2" in circumference.






So now, since we've been back, Sandy's created 2 new Arizona pieces - a man's ring and a pendant. Haven't photographed the pendant yet, but will post a pic soon.

Mine Musings Pt.1

Mining has been getting a bad rap lately. Terrorists with diamonds, nasty chemicals used, the greed of it all.

Sandy and I have been to the Reward Mine, directly east of Manzanar, south of Independence, CA, twice recently. It was originally called the Eclipse Mine, and later included the Brown Monster mine just one canyon over to the north. I learned online that it was so productive that a town called Reward with a post office (1900-1906) existed from 1860 to 1936 and served as a trading center for other mining operations in the Owens Valley.

So, I’ve been mulling over whether to write about mining for a while, not wanting to open up a can of worms relating to our business. But when I learned that all of the buildings at Reward have been pilfered, piece by piece, over time, it dawned on me that this part of American history is slowly vanishing. Yes, maybe the men who went after gold here were greedy and they used chemicals like cyanide to process the ore, BUT, until you’ve driven the dirt roads and have seen the incredibly inhospitable conditions these guys worked in - well, I guess it’s easy to dismiss as another set of bad human actions.

I think you’ll get a sense of what I’m talking about if you take a look at some of our Flickr pics of the mine here.

I’m feeling a mission about this coming on, so this will be Part I.