The artistry of jewellery — my necklace of many colours

Of all the pretty necklaces I have, there's one that stands out. It's the one that elicits comments from strangers in the cashier's line at the grocery store. It's the one that could be worn with almost everything, it has so many colours. But it's not a necklace you wear every day.

I never try to describe it because a description just naming its parts and trying to explain how they're put together can't really do it justice.

What do you think? (Be sure and click on the photo to get the full effect.)

As so much of my beautiful jewellery is, this piece was chosen by Dan. He often tries to buy work by local artists. This one could be but he's not sure and he thinks the chances are just as good that it's not.

Wherever she is, I like to think of the artist who made this coming into her studio one morning and seeing a small handful of jewellery-making materials on her workbench — beads, stones, little medals and medallions, wooden shapes, small metal leaves and blossoms, bits of chain. Maybe she's moving to another studio or maybe she's just in the mood to clear everything up and make a fresh start.

She decides that before the day is over, she's going to create the most beautiful necklace she's ever made and she's going to use every single element in front of her.

On the other hand, maybe I'm wrong and maybe she planned this necklace carefully — with a sketch and a measuring tape and a colour chart. Maybe somewhere in her portfolio is an exact drawing of this unusual necklace, that has so much character.

One of our former priests, Father Roberto, is a joyous, exuberant Italian. He's a musician and an artist and every time he saw me wearing this necklace, he had to break off whatever spiritual task he was involved in to exclaim once more on the artistry and the use of colour and imagination and composition that had gone into its creation.

"This is art," he would say, with such delight.

Father Roberto has returned to Italy. I miss his high spirits and his loving nature and especially his appreciation for art and music and beauty.

The necklace grows more beautiful with age. We'll grow older together and hope we can live up to each other.