What Inspires...Louise Goodchild

Today we are delighted to welcome to AJE a guest contributor - jewellery Designer and Artist Louise Goodchild to tell us a little bit about what inspires her beautiful and immaculate wire work.

Hello, I’m Louise Goodchild and I work full-time as the designer/maker at Louise Goodchild Designs. I’ve been working with wire for a few years now. Anyone who follows my work will know that I’m a confirmed bead addict as well as a wire worker – I have a lampwork ‘problem’, which I daren’t indulge too often! Luckily, I can squeeze quite a lot of colour into my wire pendants, which are mostly made with coloured wire and seed beads, so I don’t get bored.

I work from two desks in the corner of our guest bedroom, and I have to confess, as much as I love it when my desks are tidy, I often work in utter chaos! 

 

What Inspires You?

I’m often asked this question. Sometimes I think it may be easier to reply with what doesn’t inspire me! My imagination is usually in overdrive, so it often only takes a chance phrase or glimpse to prompt an idea. Like many people, for me visual inspiration is a great trigger – just going outside can be a good kick starter if I’m in a bit of a creative slump. This small laburnum in my front garden is in bud and will be flowering soon. It wasn’t a great stretch to imagine a laburnum pendant, so out came the wire and beads.

Admittedly, I do make a lot of pictorial wire pendants, so the vision in front of me is often translated fairly literally when it’s in my hands. Although, of course, artistic licence is a wonderful thing! Those who know my work may also know I have a slight obsession with ‘sheepsies’ – this photo of distant sheep in the fields was taken on Sunday, but my Springtime Splendour was not the first – nor likely to be the last! – featuring sheep.

Colour – and all the delicious combinations found in nature – are a great inspiration to me. The sky seen from my front door gave me the most beautiful palette for my Setting Sun pendant.

Inspiration doesn’t have to be translated directly, of course. My flowering honeysuckle last year inspired this bracelet – the colours were just so vibrant. I couldn’t resist putting together a palette of beautiful beads in the same colour scheme.

I also take inspiration from stories and fairy tales – several of my pendants, and many of my drawings are based on myth, legend and folklore. Here are two variations of one of my most popular designs – the wire goddess (originally created as an entry into the logo challenge for the Wire Goddess Team on Etsy – I didn’t win!).  When I'm asked to make these as commissions it's often to represent the wearer or a departed loved one, which is really quite humbling.

So what inspires you? What do you do to kick start your creativity if your muse has done a vanishing act?

Louise

Louise Goodchild on Facebook
Louise Goodchild Blog
Louise Goodchild on Etsy

A few more of Louise's lovely pictorial wire pendants available from her Etsy shop.