Gold digger

The dangly earrings in my last drawing were all things I'd bought fairly recently. Up until about 2 or 3 years ago I rarely, if ever, bought jewelry for myself, unless it was a watch (like this one in a self portrait) from Marks & Spencer! I'm afraid if I was a gold digger, I'd make a pretty incompetent one! Like my clothes, I tend to have favourites that I wear to death and all of those in this drawing are 'golden oldies'. Top left is my wedding ring, bought in Norwich, made of intertwined white and yellow gold. It's odd, now I think if it, that I've been drawing things around me since I started blogging, but it never occurred to me to draw something I've worn nearly every day for over 20 years. Top right is another intertwined design, and co-incidentally called a Russian wedding ring. That was bought in Dubai in '96 and replaced a thin ring of the same design I'd worn for donkeys years before that. That old ring was taken to the souk, along with some old tat, and I bought a couple of nice things in exchange that I could get more use out of.

The earring on the right was one of the things I bought at the time. It's been worn to death and still is but the earring on the left is my all time favourite. The squiggle and dot design is something that comes out in my doodles so I was delighted to find this in the souk. It would still be worn today if it wasn't for the fact that the other one is missing. I lost it in Coral Bay, Western Australia, so I know where it is, not that that helps!

Unfortunately the little leaf earring is now without it's mate too. I lost it a couple of months ago but how, I don't know, because one day they were on the dressing table and a couple of days later there was only one. I'm the one that Paul and Alex go to when they can't find something. It's a bit of a joke that they can be looking for something for ages then ask me and I'll find it in an instant. I've turned the bedroom upside down, even turned the hoover bag inside out but I still haven't found it. Anyway, that is a pair that was bought in a jewelry shop on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. It was Paul's first holiday - he was 9 weeks old and I was carrying him in a baby sling so we got talking to lots of people on that trip. I remember talking to someone on the train and as we pulled into the station he said he hoped he wasn't staying at the 'Hotel de Cockroach' and we laughed. Turned out that that was where we were heading!

It's interesting to draw something you wear everyday and don't think about. I'm sure, if I hadn't lost the leaf earring, it wouldn't have occurred to me to draw these things. This week is the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's death so, as it happens, it's also the perfect time to 'rattle my jewelry' in remembrance!