I am thrilled to share with you the news about a project I have been working on for the past few months. I was approached by an artist named Danny Doughty. I have known Danny and have admired his work for decades. He asked me if I would be interested in collaborating with him to create wearable art using iconic images from his colorful, joyful paintings. Interested? You bet!
I spend a portion of each year in a small (1200 people small!) town in rural Virginia on the Eastern Shore, a narrow slip of the state positioned between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry. It wasn’t even on the Virginia state maps until a few decades ago, even though the town where Danny and I both reside, Onancock, was settled in 1680!
From our first meeting, it was clear that he and I, while working in totally different mediums, were 100% on the same wavelength. Danny’s paintings come from his heart. He is what is called a visionary folk artist. The scenes he paints are not landscapes of real places, but rather are an imaginary world that exists only inside of him. He paints people in a verdant setting celebrating the simply joys of life. In a future blog I will share more of the back story to Danny’s paintings.
I was given total creative license to do whatever my heart desires with his images! Without any restrictions, my mind went into overdrive and frankly, the hardest thing these past few months has been trying to shut down my mind so that I can sleep! While you probably know me as a jewelry artist, metalsmith, I spent years in my teens and early adult life creating in textiles. With the colors in Danny’s paintings now available to me, I allowed myself to think totally outside of my usual sandbox and have joyfully reconnected with my love of textiles, creating several pieces inspired by Danny’s paintings. I also spent time researching ways to translate his paintings on to metal while retaining the colors. And I rolled up my sleeves and put on my MacGyver hat and came up with rather unconventional solutions to production roadblocks.
I tried to come up with a name for this venture, this project. I turned to a longtime friend, a brilliant writer in the jewelry world, a former actor, a gemologist, world traveler, much more, and coincidentally my former neighbor in tiny Onancock, Diana Jarrett. I explained the collaboration and she was familiar with Danny’s work. He has been painting for 43 years and has an extremely recognizable style with collectors worldwide. She came up with the perfect description: Double Vision. So that is what this collaboration is called. I added the tag line: One Idea, Two Artists. Danny tells his stories with his paintbrush. I retell his stories through a variety of materials.
The countdown to our launch is looming. Everything in this collection is handcrafted by me in my Florida studio. I keep hoping for a few elves to pop in but so far, no elves! Fortunately, I have a very large studio and have stations for each different technique and tool. Things are a bit chaotic at the moment, but that’s normal. My mojo is in high gear and I can’t wait to show you the completed collection! For now, I will be posting some sneak peeks here and on my Instagram and Facebook pages. There will be a big opening celebration in Danny’s studio just after Thanksgiving and I will be posting items on my website as well. These are all limited editions, signed by both of us.
Thanks for letting me share this exciting project with you! There will be a page with images of Danny’s paintings on my website along with more information on the finished pieces once we launch and I will send you an email with a link to that page once it is online. Please feel free to share this with your friends and visit me online: Instagram & FaceBook
