I grew up in a small Ohio city. To be frank, I never cared for the rural, farm-like, grey town. Though I always knew I wanted to get away from the Midwest, never in my life did I imagine that I would be living in California. Not only that, but I never really realized the vastness of natural beauty until I moved to California. It’s easy to find inspiration here. When I lived in San Francisco my dorm overlooked the Golden Gate bridge and the San Francisco sky-line. Now, living in Los Angeles, I drive through mountains and cities on a daily basis and am confronted with cultural and geographical differences everywhere I look. When I to other countries my camera never stops taking pictures of what I see as exotic and majestic, fascinated that the natives find it all commonplace.
After seeing such inspiring places, I wasn’t looking forward to going back to Ohio or Kentucky, my alma matter, for the first time after leaving. But instead of seeing the grey, boring landscape of my childhood, my eyes suddenly had a new appreciate for an equivalent, albeit different, beauty of what I always saw as normal.
Here are some examples of photos I have taken of the beauty I have found in both the “grey” and also the glamorous, and how I have transformed their inspirations into jewelry:
Berkeley, CA
Purple Haze Necklace
SaN Francisco, CA
Asymetrical Purple Beaded Gemstone Necklace
Chengde, China
Zhong Necklace
Chinese Countryside
Mosaic Teardrop Earrings
Berkeley, CA
Black Eye Glasses Lanyard
It doesn’t matter where we are or what resources we do or do not have around us. What matters, and what makes a difference, is the lenses of the eyes of which we look at the world around us.
Where do you find your inspiration? Look around! It’s everywhere!
Thanks for letting me be part of your day 
~Christyn of Bead Up
I have a blog now, too Check it out at beadup.blogspot.com
