Artist Cheryl Baxter of Seasonal Decor Solutions is a featured artist at the Qualicum Art Supply & Gallery (206 First Ave. W.) where she has several of her polished stone jewelry and wind chimes on display.
Baxter creates her jewelry using stones and other treasures she finds while walking her dog.
“I started (making jewelry) about 14 or 15 years ago on a dog walk,” Baxter said. “You start noticing things that are the same, whether they’re pieces of beaver-chewed sticks that come down the river or the rocks at your feet, so it started with collecting.”
Eventually Baxter purchased a rock tumbler that she uses to polish her stones. She said rocks need to stay in the tumbler anywhere from two weeks to a month.
“After three or four weeks it’s almost like Christmas, you really never know what’s going to come out,” she said.
In addition to her jewelry, Baxter also creates wind chimes using polished stones and sea decor arrangements.
In her pieces, Baxter aims to express the calm, soothing feeling that nature provides and a better understanding of one’s surroundings.
Baxter said she’s always been creative. After high school she spent two years training as a florist and even got accepted into the Emily Carr College of Art in 1978, but due to unexpected circumstances she was unable to attend.
“Life took a left turn and you carry on,” she said.
“Everything I did after that all came back to the art.”
Baxter will be on exhibit at the 100 Mile Fleece and Fibre Fair at the Bradley Centre (Shearme Road, Coombs) on May 26 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.