I have been busy making color samples with all the new colors I purchased after my class.  Some of them are so yummy I just can't wait to begin to use them!   I have been reading on color theory as well and will experiment to find the palettes that express my vision.  I also just was notified that my work is to be featured in another book, Art Jewelry Today 4 to be released in April of this year!   Additionally I was invited to submit an entry for a forthcoming book on narrative jewelry, so I will be doing that in the next few weeks.  Busy times!

For my third challenge I designed a pair of spawning Sockeye Salmon underwater and a distant landscape above.  Each morning after we all did yoga I would resume my work in the studio which had begun at 6:00 AM.  I am attempting to depict a distant mountain scene with trees and vegetation which will be applied using transparent enamels over the opaque mountains.  I also painted in the snow in the mountain crags which I hope will realistically portray a late fall view.  Again, the piece is only about half done.

I am currently making new sample plates with all the new colors I bought after returning from my class!

In January of this year I took another cloisonne class with my teacher, Merry-Lee Rae.  I had been working with the technique for about three years, ever since my first class in 2012.  Before that I had not done cloisonne since High School.  I had come up against a couple of areas in which I was unsure how to proceed.  These were how to work with whites and how to work with reds.  So I designed three pieces which would challenge me to work on in the class.  This is the first, birch trunks with highbush cranberry leaves (in fall colors).  The piece is only about half done.  We covered things like what colors to put under reds on the first layer, fine shading in whites, and painting enamels.  In choosing a subject to work on, I chose two of my favorites in the North.

BIRCH FOREST WOMAN II: Regaining Her Bearings - Enameled Spirit Helper Pendant
 
This piece marks the second synthesis in my work of the Spirit Helper Series with the Birch Forest Series.
 
Whereas Birch Forest Woman I was alive with the colors of Spring, this time she is adorned with the colors of fall: burnt orange hair, and leaves turning at the edges, ready to make their graceful fall to the earth as they are touched by wind.  The two silver side flanges are at the same time extensions of her hair, and her hands in the serene Yoga Tadasana pose.  Her face and form are inspired by a Punuk Style Old Bering Sea Ivory Figurine from 2000 years ago. 
 
In this piece I used the Baisse Taille enameling technique, covering a textured surface, in this case my birch bark texture, with transparent enamel.
 
To me, spirit helpers are both ancient and modern.  They are small helpmates to give us courage and hope and to aid us in spiritual, emotional or physical regeneration, healing, growth or serenity.