Portia Williams Weiskel
A friend once told me: "Your beautiful farm is your artwork." But one is always looking for more ways to have something to do with the creation of beautiful things.
As a child I was a passionate designer of tiny landscapes which I constructed with twigs, rocks, and wood scraps under my favorite maple tree. Next I became an obsessive painter of collie dogs, farm and wildlife scenes, and seagulls. None of these childhood enthusiasms explain my current jewelry-making enterprise which began--improbably--at a skating rink where I had lots of idle time waiting for my competitive figure skating daughters to get on and off the ice.
Artistic beauty on the ice is as important as skilled athleticism so I decided to contribute to the aesthetic aspect of skating by making glamorous hair scrunchies and colorful, elegant earrings.
I am a devoted NPR listener which means I have time in my day when I can't be writing (my other job) or farming (my other job); instead, I make whimsical jewelry, which I take around on the New England craft fair circuit and to some local shops as well where enough people find my small creations sufficiently appealing to keep me going.