Growing up around the redwood trees of Northern California along Highway 101 was a great experience for a child with a wild imagination and a forest for her playground.

With nature’s wonders all around me, I learned to carve birds from branches, build forts in the hollows of trees, make pottery from mud, and make rock collections from creek beds. I pretended to be an Indian princess within the forest, moving around without making a noise. Over the years, I truly discovered the wonders of nature.

In high school, water colors, India ink, and charcoals were my passion. I soon got into the techniques of illustration and drawing and the painting of shoes and purses. Wood shop offered me the opportunity to create designs with wood and copper; the feel of wood always did excite me, and still does to this day.

Marriage and family sidetracked me until I retired and the little child in me awoke again. With the help of a friend, Lynne Freeman, I picked up a brush, struggled to put a few strokes on canvas, and conquered my fears and started painting. Over the years Lynne and I took several workshops together from several well known artists, including Elin Pendleton, Caroline Jasper, and Dominic Vignola. To this day, with my friend’s encouragement, I am still painting. 

Jewelry is a new artistic endeavor for me. Actually, I have always been drawn to jewelry and natural stones and gems, to the color of silver, to the touch of natural beads finished and polished. Shells from the ocean, washed upon the sand, and drift wood that has been tumbled and washed by the ocean to leave a perfect finish, have intrigued me as well. I incorporate all of these things in my jewelry now whenever I can.

I got into this new line of creativity when another friend was making jewelry and showed me her beads and I thought Wow – they were so beautiful! Her wire working intrigued me. I purchased beads locally and began to experiment, and I was hooked.

Designing jewelry then filled my free time and I started going to gem and mineral shows, asking questions and buying stones that I could not live without. In Tucson, Arizona, I went to a huge gem and mineral show and some vendors there taught me how to pick out gems. I also met a group of jewelry designers who were very helpful – they opened up a world of possibilities for me and I began taking classes in jewelry design and techniques in Tucson and Phoenix.

Each piece I create is unique and one-of-a-kind. Each piece I make is not only intended to make a statement of individuality for the wearer, but also to withstand passage of time and to be passed down from one generation to another.

 Judy Whitfield’s paintings and jewelry designs are on display regularly at CrossRoads Gallery and Tehachapi Art Center and at other special local events, art shows and fairs.