lundi 27 mars 2017

Sunny monday

Bright sun and warmth on the hills, a day like this is a gift. I worked in the garden this morning, a lot of cleaning to do at this time. Flowers blooming everywhere one looks.
White violets.

My favorite photos are close-ups, especially close-ups of the hearts of flowers and the complicated heart of hellebores fascinate me i acknowledge.


This camellia, perfect mandala.

I can't resist to share this quote from Eckhart Tolle :"Seeing beauty in a flower could awaken humans, however briefly, to the beauty that is an essential part of their own innermost being, their true nature. The first recognition of beauty was one of the most significant events in the evolution of human consciousness." E.Tolle  A New Earth

I realized recently that i never showed you the stamps i make with foam, they are very easy to do  and i use them in many works.
I first draw my pattern on paper then transfer it on the foam with tracing paper. I cut the pattern out  and lastly glue it down on foamboard.

I don't create only animals or vegetal stamps. I like to make abstract patterns too.



I use them a lot in an altered book where i express my love of animals and nature.






If you want to give a try at handmade stamps, mixed media artist Tracy Bunkers published an excellent book  some years ago: "Print and Stamp" 52 ideas for handmade, upcycled print tools"
where she shows how to print and stamp with ordinary stuff we have at hand: rubber bands, garden knilling cushion,paper clips... My next step in creating handmade stamp is to teach myself how to carve them. More to come!

I send  you peaceful thoughts friends, may you be well and at ease. Namasté

jeudi 23 mars 2017

Hello


March is quite over and it's been a strange month, full of ups and downs and i chose to keep in mind only the things that lightened it: the visit of a dear friend i hadn't seen for almost three years, and a nice trip in Brittany last week during a warm and sunny day with another friend.
This is the bay of  Cancale and in general one can see the mount Saint-Michel from there but this day there was a light fog so, no view of the mount alas.







This  little town is especially known for producing oysters and everywhere around Cancale, one can buy the famous oysters  stored by the producers in big warehouses.

But instead of going to Cancale that we already visited several times, we headed toward Port Mer, a lovely village close to Cancale and this was a pure delight!The beach is small and circled with big rocks, typical from Brittany.







The light fog made the seascape magical!!

Mimosa blooming , love their delicious scent!!



Because of the fog, it was difficult to know where the sea ended and where the sky began.

With pine trees everywhere, rocks and such sun, we could have been on  the south coast of France when we were less than two hours from our place in Normandy!This day was definitely a beautiful parenthesis.

On the creative front, not much happened this month, just some sewing. One day, i felt the urge  to sew a labyrinth in a textile book i began some months ago and it took a moment before i understood why this urge: because of difficult choices i felt as if i was at a crossroads and couldn't choose which way i would take. Sewing didn't bring the answer but was soothing and i am grateful for that.Looking at the picture now, i realize that the two scraps of fabric i added probably represent the obstacles i have to face, but when i  saw them, i didn't know why i absolutely wanted to add them.


I will end this post with small hearts i saw last month , a small project i had in mind for a while; i needed the hearts to hang on branches i painted in white and hanged on a wall. I acknowledge i do like the result. For the hearts i used  my favorite piece of white bed sheet and stamped on it with acrylic paint.



I wish you peace wherever you are and i will let you with this quote from Louise Bourgeois:
"The act of sewing is a process of emotional repair". So true!
Be well friends!