I am an expatriot of Louisiana who relocated here to Flagstaff, Arizona shortly after hurricane Katrina. I was a manufacturing jeweler for 30 years and owned a small retail shop in downtown New Orleans for 10 of those years.
Today, I am "semi-retired" and no longer in the jewelery industry, but I love art and still enjoy working with my hands....creating....whatever fancies me at the moment. Sometimes it's with metal...sometimes with paint...but often with something I've picked up on a hike in the woods or a visit to one of the many canyons Arizona has to explore.
Jazz and I wander off into the forest or trek along one of the many hiking trails often, frequently discovering something we hadn't seen before, and I find inspiration for my art everywhere. The late summer "monsoons" bring out the wild flowers.... colorful and abundant.... and the high meadows, lush with knee high grasses, offer feasts for the elk and deer preparing for the coming winter.
Autumn brings the fabulous color changes of the aspen groves here in northern Arizona and time to collect the most colorful of the fallen leaves...a task that becomes more difficult as the colors intensify. As the weeks go on, the fragrance of the forest floor grows sweet and earthy and soon it's sweater weather.
Nature reveals her many secrets to everyone...anywhere. We only need to take a moment...to slow down and take a closer look at our surroundings. Her beauty is abundant! Her inspirition... eternal!
