I stumbled across Hendler Lloyd’s amazing work in Ebay, when I was rummaging around for eye miniatures. These are very rare minaitures, usually painted on ivory, that depicted the eye of a beloved. The person’s identity would be known only to the wearer. These are now incredibly expensive and so when I saw Hendler Lloyd’s contemporary lovers’ eyes, I was really drawn to the wonderful detail and artistry. She takes vintage and antique findings and then inserts her own paintings, using eyes, mouths, skulls, hands and sometimes heraldic designs. Costing in the hundreds instead of the thousands, her work is much more affordable than the antique pieces and every bit as desirable, I think.  I wrote about eye miniatures in 2010; the previous post can be found here.

Hendler Lloyd’s background makes her well suited to have branched out into jewellery: “I am a painter who attended the University of the Arts in Phila.Pa. & worked as an illustrator straight out of college. My work was published internationally, mostly for magazines (Time, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Esquire,GQ ,Entertainment Weekly, etc) & newspapers (The Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Washington Post, etc) & book covers (Penguin, Atlantic Monthly Press). Eventually I tired of meeting deadlines & longed to paint just for myself & I have been doing that ever since. My work was shown in galleries in Phila., New York City & London. Most of my paintings are large & very detailed, so painting miniatures allows me to do some work that is more affordable to a broader range of people.”

These miniatures are oil painted on fine linen canvas. You can see her work in Ebay; her seller name is moon415. Or you can contact her at shendlerlloyd@yahoo.com. Some recent work is shown below.