Well, I never thought it would happen to me, but my computer got hijacked somewhere between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Full on malware (or whatever you call it)completely locked down my computer, resulting in a trip to Staples, four days without my computer, and several hundred dollars to have it restored and (now) protected better from such an invasion. The upside is that the computer is now safely back at home, and I did not lose all my pictures and documents. Yup, I am one of those na�ve people who puts off backing up their computer, and worse yet, saving my photos onto an alternate media like the external hard drive (which I have), or a Zip drive (which I also have), or even CDs (which...you guessed it...I also have). I cannot describe the panic at the thought of losing not only the photos and archives of my art work, but also many years of family photos. All I can say is I have learned my lesson. The years of photos have been moved to a safe alternate location, my pal Norton is installed (oh yeah, I let my anti-virus protection lapse as well, since I had good old Microsoft security, and that should be good enough, right?) and I will never take such a risk again.

Do yourself a favor, make sure you protect your computer, and always consider what would happen if you suddenly lost almost all the photos and documenting of your artwork. I am so grateful everything was able to be restored, and I will never again let simple laziness get in the way of being careful with the only documentation I have of my work!

May the slimy malware worms be sent back to whence they came, not only on my computer, but on yours as well!

Peace

As my thoughts wander more and more to the fact that my life is probably at least half over, and I have yet to make the leap into art as a full-time profession, yesterday my horoscope read something like this..."Follow your hunch. Do not let work interfere with your plans as you find your way. Do not take negativity home with you, especially the stressful or emotional kind". Hmmmmm. At a time when the day job has become increasingly stressful and intrusive into the rest of my life, and I have been pondering and questioning certain decisions and choices, is a random horoscope trying to tell me something?

Trying to be peaceful :)

When will I remember that sketching it on paper is not the same as forging it in silver?

What started out as what I thought was a relatively uncomplicated, although interesting pendant with a rather short deadline, became a wee bit of a nightmare when it came to the actual fabrication. From sketching a template on paper before committing to silver (which I do not normally do, and am ever grateful to the universe that I did it this time!), to figuring out the best way to curve it, to forging it, to setting both an odd shaped pearl as well as an aquamarine without completely distorting the piece, this one was a killer. Also, deciding to add a hidden tube bale so it looks like it is floating freely on the chain was its own challenge. BUT...it turned out great, and the client hugged me and said, "You never let me down. It always turns out better than I could have imagined". A comment like that really reinforces all the good feelings that come from a finished, successful piece. Hopefully the recipient will love it as well. And hopefully, the photo I have posted does the piece justice. Yeah...I am still trying to figure out the best way to photograph my jewellery. Cannot be good at everything, right? In the meantime, if you'd like to get a better look, pop over to the jewellery studio and let me know what you think.

Peace