Wearable Art

Some eyes are meant to be carried. In the Georgian tradition of the Lover’s Eye, a single painted eye was set into jewellery and kept close — a quiet token of someone loved. These are my own version of that idea: tiny eyes painted in oil, then set into gold and crystal, worked with the goldsmiths I’m fortunate to know and painted into pieces collectors already hold dear.

Agnes Locket

18ct gold · 1.5ct antique portrait diamond · oil

with Kelty Pelechytik

18ct gold · 1ct portrait diamond · enamel

with Kelty Pelechytik

Featured in The New York Times & The Wall Street Journal

The Lindsay Locket

18ct gold · 1.23ct portrait-cut sapphire · oil

with Kelty Pelechytik

Pendant watch — bird reverse

19th-century watch · gold & diamonds · oil on watch face

painted for Arts International

Pendant watch — diamond dome

19th-century watch · gold & diamonds · oil on watch face

painted for Arts International

Pendant watch — engraved flowers

19th-century watch · gold & diamonds · oil on watch face

painted for Arts International

Gold & turquoise pendant

19th-century · gold, turquoise · oil

painted for Arts International

Australian opal swivel ring

opal · diamond · carved crystal · oil

painted for Arts International

Pocket watch — A. Saunders, Sydney

oil on antique pocket watch

painted into the collector’s own piece

Georgian garnet brooch

oil · hand-cut rock crystal

painted into the collector’s own piece

with a hidden painting behind the eye, glimpsed through a window in the reverse

Pocket watch

oil on antique pocket watch

painted into the collector’s own piece

Featured in Colossal

The watch faces

oil on watch faces

painted for Arts International

the eyes before they return to their cases

Vintage diamond brooch

oil · a tear-filled eye

painted into the collector’s own piece

painted in the mourning tradition

18ct gold · 1.25ct portrait diamond · oil

with Kelty Pelechytik

18ct gold · 2.03ct portrait diamond · enamel

with Kelty Pelechytik

The Siblings

oil in three vintage lockets

painted into the collector’s own piece

three eyes, one for each

oil on five-cent coin · resin

Vintage diamond heart pendant

oil · double-sided

with Kelty Pelechytik

two daughters, one eye each side · engraved “J.A.W.P. Nov 20th 1889”