A to Z, 2012-- E is for...

ELLA!

Not ella as in "under my umbr-ella-ella-ella"... Ella Fitzgerald!

Love the dress she's wearing-- I might just have to make one just like it for myself, minus the things that look vaguely like mealworms from a distance~!

I absolutely love this woman. She was an inspiration to so many other musical artists, an icon of her time, and a master of jazz and blues. Such class, such poise, and such a voice!

Now I *know* that at least one of you is asking yourself what on earth this lady has to do with my art and my jewelry.

Aside, of course, from the inexplicably powerful need to sing along to her music that I experience pretty much all the time... simply put, she inspires me. Her voice encourages me to create in ways that I can't explain~ my best work has been created while listening to her music.

My music needs change quite a bit depending on what medium I am working with, but no matter what I always end up going back to Ella and her contemporaries. Ella Fitzgerald, Helen Forrest, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, and so many others... and don't forget all those fabulous "big bands" and big conductors they played with!

Ella and her friends shape my jewelry and my other art, much the same as the smell from a neighbor's barbecue shape one's dinner choices-- if it wafts into your senses, you feel the powerful need to make something that fits that aesthetic! Music is a big part of my life, and it is where I draw much of my artistic inspiration.

What music-- if any-- helps you create? Does music inspire you to get those creative juices flowing? If not, then what helps you put passion into your art?

There are only a few days left to enter my giveaway, so scroll your way back a few posts and enter to win-- the details are all there, along with pictures of the prize. Thanks for joining me today~ I'll see you tomorrow for yet another day in the A to Z blog hop!