images of my past

As a kid I spent hours rifling through my mothers dresser drawers. Like a magpie I examined (and coveted) the shiny bits in each drawer. Imagining myself to be the richest, most beautiful girl in the world I tried on each piece of jewelry thinking it had to be worth millions. It wasn't until many years later that I learned the diamonds were just paste and the gold was just tarnished silver plate. But I still dream about being that little magpie and, to this day, am attracted to small, shiny, bright, intriguing things.

Last week I decided to look for and collect the gems (not including the people gems) in my life. Here are some of the things I found (and put a number of them together in a collage):

• shells and stones from my daughter's trip to Costa Rica
• my old doll collection
• beach glass
• old black and white photos that I took and processed years ago while studying photography and communications at school
• my paintbrushes
• fridge magnet collection
• tiny old sewing machine
• tiny lead figures
• wooden spool of thread
• old tea cups
• textures
• paintings from my kids
• old leather-bound books
• a picture of my great great Aunt Hannah
• my coloured pencils
• a wooden giraffe
• baby pictures
• a painting my gf painted

I intend to collect many more...