Where it Began

It all started about 8 years ago for me when I was burned out from doing social work and I lamented to my ex-husband, "I just want to take pictures of pretty flowers!" Being an action-taker he said, "Well then do it!" This was the moment I picked up my camera and went outside to the lilac tree in my front yard and took this photo. I immediately felt a kinship with it as a new, fresh, budding blossoming creation that had all the potential in the world. This photo became the first greeting card I made when I turned my photography into something tangible. For three years after that I pursued flower and nature photography and making them into prints and art cards. After a while I started yearning for something more tactile and "crafty." I very randomly stumbled on a book about enameling and was attracted to all the bright and strong colors I saw. To me the small jewelry pieces in the book looked like the small bursts of color I loved when photographing flowers. I immediately bought the book and started learning. That was when my love of colors and flowers went from 2D photography to 3D enameling and Blooming Enamels was born.

A Realized Flower

I look at this flower and see a finished product. She is successful and accomplished and proud and happy with the work, persistence and patience she has put into becoming who she is.

This lone flower stayed focussed on her dreams and hung in there when the leaves overshadowed her and she felt small. She took that quiet time of hiding in the shadows to learn more about herself, and what she wanted, and she always remained facing forward so that when the rays of the encouraging sun eventually came her way she was more than ready to let them nurture her to become everything she had imagined.

The confident flower even has some perspective now to know that those leaves around her, the leaves that were putting her in the shadows, were also protecting her from the harsh elements. Harsh elements that likely could have weakened the young bloom beyond repair if she had been forced to face them before her right time.

This flower I see is strong and secure in herself in the present moment but yet she realizes that she also must be thankful for the shadows of her past.