Zephyrine Pinkie - Art, Designs and Jewellery

23/02/2022

23/02/2022

Would Yew Fancy a Woodland Walk?
And Maybe Reconnect with Nature?

I am currently trying to develop an idea that I had last year about using what is around me to make a range of jewellery. So this is my third piece of artwork inspired by the great outdoors and was finished shortly after the three storms which hit the UK in late Feb 2022.

This pendants unique name is - Would Yew? Yet another slightly obvious pun; but it's what I live and breath in my other life and job as a poet.

Preamble to the making:
Ted my Jack Russell is such a lucky dog, he doesn't always know it or even show it, but he really is. He usually gets his two walks a day in a somewhat urban environment but once a week or so he gets a change. This includes a circular woodland walk where we both can have a more exciting and stimulating rural wander.

Sitting or standing in these woods really stirs something deep and earthy and I've been hoping to catch and crystallise that feeling in a piece of art work or jewellery. Surprisingly the woods that Ted and I walk in are not overflowing with obvious material to make jewellery, and I have been casually looking without much success for a while. After the storms in Feb 2022 I was walking with Ted in amongst all the fallen trees and branches and I noticed lots of pine cones. After asking their permission and thanking them; I pocketed a couple with a view to somehow use them to make jewellery.

Working Method:
It's normally rather obvious that I like and appreciate colour as I usually go for very bright ones in most of my other works. Colour for me means life and vitality. However the subdued and graduated tones of the cones reminded me of the destruction all around me in the woods and did bring some sobering reflections about death, destruction and possible resurrection.

A single pine cone was disassembled and the individual wings were trimmed down by removing the seeds and the final cap of the cone was put aside. An M.D.F. disk was painted black and used as a base to rebuild a flattened spiralling cone design. The cap of the cone was finally trimmed and used to finish off the middle of the pendant.

PS The seeds that were removed were taken back later and thrown to the winds.

Thanks for looking, and onwards with more new ideas which are rattling around my head and if you are interested in them please check my other items and ongoing projects at my shop:

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19/02/2022

I've just spent the morning finishing a few of my paintings in readiness to put online and into my Etsy shop. I only ever have a few at any one time due to amount of work that is in them
And whilst I was applying the finishing touches, I was thinking about the artist Alfred Wallis who you might have come across and if you have - that is great but if not I'll fill you in with some information about him.
He lived in St. Ives Cornwall and didn't start painting until the age of seventy. He wanted to fill his time after his wife died. But up until then he had been many things including a fisherman.
He painted in a naïve almost childlike style.
And yes there are those who would say 'My five year old could do better than that'
But I am not one of those.
He didn't have much money so he painted on anything he could find eg pieces of cardboard etc…. and he didn't use tubes of paint but instead he utilised what he already had which was household or ships' paint.
He didn't achieve much commercial success although artists like Ben Nicholson did get involved.
But sadly when he died there was no money to pay for his funeral which meant he would have been buried in pauper's grave.
Thankfully some local artists raised some money and Alfred now rests in a beautiful tiled memorial in Barnoon Cemetery in St.Ives. Which if you are ever down there is definitely worth a look.
It is a wonderful spot which over looks the sea. It is somewhat overgrown in places but it is still very beautiful and a few years ago I went to look for Alfred's final resting place and was stunned just how amazing it was.
And as always, when I visit a grave I say 'Hello' and introduce myself.
Although in this case I found I wasn't alone which still didn't deter me from paying my respects.
But I think that the couple who were taking a photograph did retreat quite quickly as they must have thought that I was a nutter!
And the advantage of that was I was left alone to just sit and reflect before I bid my farewell to Alfred.
And yes; I did say 'Goodbye'!
After that I went into The Tate where there are some of his original paintings are and I was very moved when I saw them.
They are not large. They don't shout out 'Look at me!' But they are true and very pure in their simplicity. And they were just painted for the very joy of it.

18/02/2022

I've just been looking at the weather in Cornwall and hope everyone is keeping safe wherever they may be. As some of you may already know that I really love Cornwall. I've spent many a happy holiday there walking on the coastal path, sitting on a beach and having a paddle and thinking about it this morning as brought to mind some of my very favourite artists who lived there.
Peter Lanyon whose paintings I really admire as well as his son Matthew and if you don't know their work - they are certainly worth checking out.
Back at base - I am getting ready to launch my new Clock Range on Etsy.
They are unique and I'm having lots of fun designing and making them.
Here is a sneak preview!

15/02/2022

Why do I make and create things when it would be far easier to just buy stuff in and sell it on? It is a question that I and some of my crafting friends have had to ask ourselves from time to time.

For my part I need to create due to my overactive and creative brain which needs to be harnessed as if it is left to it's own designs can be a bit like my over enthusiastic Jack Russell - just chasing his tail, barking and belting around in circles. I have found that my thought processes need to be focused otherwise I am prone to get unbalanced and as mad as the proverbial box of frogs. Especially in the new year when there are no shows to attend.

All my work is individual because I don’t want to make the same things more than once to me it just becomes tedious and I then quickly lose interest. That is why everything that I make is unique. There are never two which are identical and I am attracted to the quirky, and I love the different and especially anything with a sense of humour (and by goodness we do all need one!)

I started out on my present jewellery path about three years ago and it all started with my Face Brooches each one with its own character and unique name. I wasn’t sure how they would be received but at the shows I attended some people really loved them and I do now have a few repeat collectors who have a small collection of their own! Some have said they wear one to signal to people how they feel and as an indicator of their mood for the day.

The Groovy Grannies came next followed by the Cat Ladies which are great for all those who love their felines and then the Rockin' Grannies (complete with their very own musical instruments).

I then decided to expand my range into much larger Face Clocks which are very different with maybe just a hint of the creative madness within me. These have proved fairly popular and I struggle to keep them listed as they do take a while to make. My new range of canvas face art is funky and different with a tad of sci-fi thrown in for good measure.

Towards the end of last year I also started creating a range of decorative pendants which I hope make striking and individual statement pieces.

All this keeps me busy and occupied and I'm slowly adding new things all the time. If you would like to see any of my most recent creations please check out my new Etsy shop and have a look through what I have managed to list there so far.

Zephyrine AKA Suzie

P.S My Bogles are about to take over the universe but I'll let you discover them on my Etsy website with all my current art projects etsy.com/uk/shop/zephyrinepinkie

13/02/2022

Remember that woman and does she still write Odiees?
Including two small pieces of hard earned advice.

My partner and I started crafting way back in the early 90s at small local craft fairs, hotel lobbies, conference centres, garden centres and even golf courses such as the Belfry. (I can still hear the creaking floorboards groaning spookily long after people had walked on them). Even back then there were a few seasoned crafting elders saying that craft fairs had peaked and weren’t as good as they used to be.

The shows in those days were cheap and therefore low risk, but they were also often low reward and we didn't expect to make much profit if any, we did have many adventures though. I sold my paintings and gift cards and eventually together with my partner we started to sell personalised framed illustrated art which was created from the details we were given. I did the writing and he did the illustrations.

We did ok with this unique commissioned work, but customers often suggested that we should do standard ones, they would ask do you have one for a postman or a teacher and we would say "no we write them all from your details" … We resisted these suggestions for quite a while as we were caught up in the personalised nature of what we were doing.

Eventually we couldn't ignore the comments anymore and decided to have a go at creating a few standard Odes just for fun. I think we started off with just four - Ode to a Golfer, Ode to a Policeman, Ode to a Teacher and strangely Ode to an Expectant Mum! We tried them and to our surprise they really took off.

So here's my first observation or lesson - listen to what the customers are telling you, and don't automatically dismiss their suggestions without at least considering them.

However some may be totally wrong!

Customer - "Why don't you write one for a mole catcher you'd sell hundreds of um"?
Us - "How many mole catchers are there round here then?"
Customer - "Oh Just me, being doing it for 30 odd years and I'm the only one"!

Encouraged by the sales, we quickly started to expand the range of subjects, we also started to look for larger busier shows and therefore more potential customers. We ended up gradually dropping the commissions and just selling the standard ones. I still had my art work and cards on sale but the sales of the Odes took over.

Watch out here comes the second lesson, somewhat balancing the first one, don't believe everything you hear!

We had constantly been warned off a large craft organiser called Rainbow Fairs many horror stories circulated about how difficult and scary the organisers were. We finally bit the bullet and did a few shows with them and that was the major turn around for us, we actually started to make some money. Many of the stories turned out to be largely told by people who didn't like following rules and had been hauled up or kicked out because of their behaviour at the shows. I must say I never had any problems with the organisers and this was a whole new level of selling, which we had foolishly resisted for years.

My company Impish Odes has moved on through the years I still create new projects and now print my designs on Mugs as well. If you are interested in finding out more about my Odes check my website and maybe see if you can find one for a mole catcher? http://www.impishodes.co.uk

Also my new Art and Jewellery projects are available at:
etsy.com/uk/shop/zephyrinepinkie

Thanks for reading.

31/01/2022

A little bit about me:
I am mostly known as Suzie Dale-Smith. I am a poet and writer. and my company called Impish Odes has traded for over thirty years.

Also for the last few years I have diversified into art and jewellery making. This is a great way to keep me busy as I find that being a creative and imaginative individual I really need to keep creating otherwise I get in a low mood, especially in the winter months.

With this outlet I plan to exclusively sell my art works on Etsy under the shop name ZephyrinePinkie.

Zephyrine was a name I heard in a dream and which haunted me for quite a while. But on looking it up it actually means "West wind" in Greek! The Pinkie part came about from spotting a name on an overgrown gravestone in a shady Cornish cemetery. I decided the whole name Zephyrine Pinkie should represent my purely artistic alter ego.

Here are a few of my designs that are currently on my etsy shop at:
etsy.com/uk/shop/zephyrinepinkie

I am constantly working on new ideas and projects which will be added on my Etsy store from time to time, so thanks for taking the time to come and look, and if interested please watch this space.

Zephyrine Pinkie A.K.A. Suzie