Who or What is PinGwen?

PinGwen is me, aka Gwen. I have a shop on Etsy where I sell my handmade jewelry, and also offer my custom oil portraits.

I live in the forest in southern Indiana with my two dogs and one cat. It's beautiful here, nice and quiet most of the time. Once a year, they have a motorcycle rally not far from me, when my little road becomes bumper to bumper, and the noise is deafening. This makes me love the peace and quiet even more. I may go to visit family for those four days this year to avoid the aggravation. Otherwise, the only traffic to watch out for are the many deer, foxes, raccoons, possums, squirrels, turkeys, etc., etc., etc. I'm not so fond of the coons and possums. I used to feed the birds, had a bunch of feeders in a tree just outside my livingroom window, where I could watch the pretty little creatures. I had nuthatches, cardinals, titmice, chicadees, several species of woodpeckers (one redhead that would come around every day around 5PM), and many, many more. Then, the raccoons found the feeders. At first, they just stole the suet. Then, they decided the seed would be good stuff to have, and they tore all my feeders to shreds. After buying new feeders, only to have them shred to bits the first night they were left out, I had to stop feeding the coons, and my beautiful birds. I still watch them, but they don't gather here the way they used to. There are also some great big piliated woodpeckers in my woods, wonderful to see!

Many years ago, I was a corporate accountant. It was a necessary evil that I did for twenty years. The terms liberal and corporate don't normally go together in one sentence. But, that's what I was. And, to toot my own horn, I was really good at it. But, I always knew I wouldn't do that forever, just long enough to raise my family, and then back to my "hippy" ways. So, today, I make my jewelry, paint my pictures, and rave at the politics of today. I'm not a Bush fan. I didn't vote for him. And, I think "conservatives" today are raving lunatics, and there is nothing conservative about them! When did conservative come to mean that there is only one way to think about anything? OK, that's not really why I started this. So, onto something else...

I've been painting for my entire life. I really got into oil painting about 20 years ago, while I was still living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I've lived in a lot of places in my life. I am an Air Force veteran, and I moved around a lot when I was in the corporate world. I took my first oil painting classes in Iowa, several drawing classes where we drew naked people! I'd get off work, maybe have a toot with the group, and then go to drawing class where I'd find a naked old man staring at me. OK, I won't go into all of that, either. But, I really enjoyed taking classes, so I kept taking them wherever I moved. The last place the corporate world wanted me was St. Louis. I took painting classes there, and joined a bunch of artist groups. That's where I first got interested in showing my work. I entered several competitions, and actually won several. My painting, Goober and Waylon, took first place in a show in St. Peter's, MO, a bedroom community outside of St. Louis.

After I moved to Indiana, I started making jewelry. I started because I saw necklace I wanted, and when I went to buy it, it was gone!! So, I thought I might be able to make one like it for myself. I got a book, a kit, and all the cute little tools needed to make jewelry, and went to town. I had so much fun with it, that I had so much stuff, I had to get rid of some of it. I gave every female on my Christmas list jewelry for several years, but I kept making more than I could give away.

So, that's when I found Etsy.com. Now, I have a nice little shop there where anyone can see and buy my baubles and beads. I hope you will take a moment and check it out: Gwen's Jewelry and Arts. You never know what you might find there!

Thanks for visiting, I hope you will stop by again and see what's going on in the forest!