After months of ideas, sketches, and loads of work, my latest collection, Double Vision is ready for its debut!
This has been a unique creative journey as the inspiration for my designs did not come from my travels, designs in ancient stone and ironwork that often influences my work, but instead, from colorful and heartfelt paintings done by an artist whose work I have admired for years. His name is Danny Doughty and he is very well known not only in the tiny town in Virginia where I have spent my summers for over 30 years, not only on the rural Eastern Shore of Virginia where he has lived his entire life, but throughout the U.S. and far beyond.
Danny is a warm and humble man, passionate about his work and the stories that his paintings tell. It is not unusual for his studio lights to still be burning in the middle of the night as he paints nearly non- stop for days at a time. He has been painting for 43 years and has a unique and recognizable style with collectors all over the world. So, you can imagine my surprise and my delight when he asked me to collaborate with him to create wearable art featuring the iconic images from his paintings. Yipee!
During the summers, Danny and I live about 4 blocks apart. The rest of the year we live and work about 800 miles apart! So this collaboration is special in that I am doing my own thing in my studio, coming up with all kinds of ideas while Danny is painting away in his studio. Other than sending occasional images by phone, Danny will see the first pieces of this collection about the same time as those of you logging on to my website on Black Friday!
While my identity is as a metalsmith and I love working in metal, this collaboration has given my creativity the opportunity to go in all sorts of directions as there are no rules. I have been inspired to work in textiles as well as in metals, so I have been having a blast!
Most likely you are new to Danny Doughty’s paintings but I invite you to go to his website and have a look. He is described as a “visionary artist” as he paints a world that exists only in his imagination. He had no art training whatsoever so completely self-taught. His paintings are colorful, often spiritual, and celebrate the simple joys of life, of mothers and children, of a rural and bountiful environment.
And I invite you to then look at this collection, Double Vision, and see the images of his paintings translated into jewelry and a few other goodies. All of these pieces are made by me and are limited editions. Please feel free to ask questions, make suggestions or comments. This collection is a celebration of art and you are an invited guest!
Visit Danny Doughty online at www.dannydoughty.com.
