Inspiration

Imagine my surprise when this guy visited me on Thanksgiving day! He was spotted on the windowsill of my sun porch and I quickly grabbed my camera and macro lens. Now I know I just posted about my love for black and white yesterday, but how could I not be inspired by this guys color? Up close he (or she actually) looks like some sort of alien creature, and regarded me and my picture taking with an almost quiet contemplation. I was able to get so close to it yet he didn't startle or fly away. He just seemed to be enjoying the sunny and warm windowsill. I shot probably 30 images of him, and ended up printing a large 8x10 of this shot. The very next day I was in my studio and was flipping through some of the images I had shot before getting to work. I didn't realize it at the time, but that Praying Mantis, really influenced my color and material choice for this pendant below. I called it "lily pad" but in hindsight it really is more insect like don't you think?

"Lily Pad" Enamel and glass on copper

Coincidentally I was looking up the proper spelling for "Praying Mantis" and cam acros this interesting word root on wikipedia-
"Often mistakenly spelled preying mantis (an eggcorn, since they are notoriously predatory), they are in fact named for the typical "prayer-like" stance. The word mantis derives from the Greek word mantis for prophet or fortune teller."

"Praying fortune teller"- very interesting........!