I dedicated 27 years of my life to working in the field of health care. It helped raise my son, pay a mortgage, put food on the table and even kicked in for the occasional vacation. I have no regrets about those 27 years. But, now that I have been away from it for almost 8 months, and have been the proud and terrified owner of a gallery for 5 months, I am starting to feel just a little more free every day. So, in the past week I have done two things I have wanted to do for a very long time but couldn't because of my job. 

First, I went to Sinister Skin in Port Moody and got my tragus pierced (it's that funny little triangle of cartilage in your ear by your jaw)...daily medical transcription with headphones meant that I couldn't do that before. When I went in to have it done I had to fill out some paperwork...couldn't do it without my reading glasses, made me think, "am I too old to have this done if I can't read it without my glasses?" Didn't care. Did it anyway :)

Then, yesterday, my son took me to Wicked Tattoo Studio in Maple Ridge for my belated Mother's Day present, and I got the phrase "When blessed with a spark of insanity, don't let it go to waste", and the head of Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas, the personification of the spirit of Halloween, tattooed on my left forearm from my elbow to my wrist. Again, the thought crossed my mind, "am I too old to be doing this?". While I was there, a lovely woman in her late 50's or very early 60's came in, and got a tattoo of the Roman numeral 42 alongside her left Achilles tendon, to commemorate having completed a full marathon, 42 kilometers. She was beautiful and gracious, and we had a great conversation while we waited. She was laughing at the fact that so many of her friends and family thought she was crazy to be getting tattoos at her age, but she didn't care, it was her body, her choice, and her way of commemorating a very special event in her life. She spoke to my son, who is heavily tattooed, with respect and humor, and had lots of questions about the beautiful tattoos he has covering both arms.

About 30 minutes later another lady came in, looking like everybody's favorite grandma. She was wearing capri pants, and had a small butterfly tattoo above her ankle. Lo and behold, she pulls up the sleeve of her top, and has a beautiful half-sleeve tattoo with flowers and butterflies, and was there for a consultation of the continuation of the work to be done. 

I couldn't help but smile at these wonderful women, and admire them, and it made me realize that I often question in myself the attributes that I admire in others. I am going to try not to do that anymore, ever again. I've spent a lifetime walking two paths, with art being the secondary path due to necessity. Now, I am grateful every day that art is my main path, that it is what I do to make a living, and damned if I don't admire myself just a little bit! 

Peace!

As much as I love the look of a wide band ring, there is always the issue of comfort to consider. One option is to choose one a size or so larger than you would normally wear, in order to accommodate the width, but I always worry that doing so could lead to losing it , for example when washing or drying your hands it can slip off, and you may or may not notice.

Another option, a little safer one, is to flare the edges of the ring slightly, giving it a more comfortable feel. An example of this style is this wide band cross ring. Even though the surface features a satin finish, the edges and inner band are not only flared but highly polished, both contributing to a more comfortable fit. All that, and stylish too!

Peace!

I have always been very aware of the moon, often looking up to check on it, writing stories about it, collecting images of it...hell, it's even in my e-mail address, lol.

As I get more in tune with the rhythm of working at the gallery I've begun to figure out ways to do prep work during the day, and finish it up in the workshop in the evening. I spent Monday at the gallery forging several 14 gauge wire pieces into the shape of the crescent moon, to be completed later in the workshop. This double-crescent moon initially began as two individual pieces, meant to be put on display as one small and one large slivered moon. After soldering on the rings, cleaning them up and tumbling them overnight, I was taking a last look before bringing them into the gallery, and inspiration struck. While I love the simplicity of each crescent on its own, somehow tucking one inside the other gave it a completely different vibe, and I loved it. There are still simple slivered crescents to be made, but I think there is definitely a double waiting to be made just for me!

Peace!