Lori Presthus & Julia Gardner

Each piece of art jewelry is created from a original painting by artists Lori Presthus, and Julia Gardner. Lori's originals are a unique combination of egg tempera and pastels. Tempera is made by adding egg yolk as a binder to the pigment. The composition is created in several opaque washes - built up layers resulting in a painting richer in color and full of depth. Highlights and finishing touches in pastel are then added to complete each piece. The original painting is printed to size with pigment based archival ink on acid free papers. Once the prints are in the bezels they are ready for the resin. Julia Gardner's expertise is working with resin, an extremely tricky and often unpredictable medium. The layer of resin which envelops the artwork has to be created with precise temperature and humidity. When conditions are right the resin dries with glass like clarity enhancing the beauty of the art. We hope you this precious piece of wearable art.

Biographies

Lori Presthus' is a self-taught artist driven by her appetite for exploring and experimenting with techniques and materials. She is a performing cellist in the Northwest and a long standing member of the Portland Baroque Orchestra. As both a musician and visual artist her art embraces techniques of the ages. For her subject matter the timeless beauty of the natural world is Lori's inspiration. Lori lives and paints out of her own little bird sanctuary in Oregon.

Julia Gardner studied art and art history in U.S. and Europe. She was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship to Italy. She shows frequently in the Northwest and works creating mixed media artwork with resin out of Portland, Oregon.