#ARTifacts

ARTifacts is Seth Apter's new collaborative project, here is his definition:

"ARTifacts(plural noun): a collaborative project for 2017 documenting adventures in Art." 

You will find all the details here

When i read Seth's blogpost about ARTifacts i knew it would be a great opportunity to focus more on my creative work ; through documenting i realized i would probably find momentum more easily and would tend less to procrastinate. And curiously it corresponded to an idea that poped-up in december wich consisted in creating kind of a mixed media book of the year where i would take notes about my creativity.

Couple of weeks later, i abandoned the idea of the book for a box and some old cards; the idea is to use two upcycled cards to create a small file  for each month and in this file i will add some pictures of my monthly creations and a tag for journaling.Here are some pictures of the process:

The very beginning, a cardboard box and old cards about plants.

After some layers of black gesso:

The old cards before and after: on the left  a card before sanding and on the right  a card after sanding.

The front of a card in process: I sanded the card then inked with different colors and collaged squared paper and Washi tape. 

This is the inside of the card: i pasted paper i had sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer inks  and some Distress inks.

. When i pondered about participating to ARTifacts, i knew i had to find a way to keep going during the whole year, so my rules are clear: "make it simple and use only the techniques i like most" and i think that if i stick at these rules, i shouldn't have to much trouble staying in the flow.

I love this project, THANKS Seth  Apter!!!

Handmade book

I am fascinated by handmade books, especially the small formats. One of the things i like more about handmade books, is the possibility to upcycle stuff to create them. I began one, couple months ago, with what i had at hand: the covers were made with an Amazon book packaging and the images were among  scraps on my desk. The result is quite strong because i was in one of my black/red and white phases.
This is the front cover, the circle is cut in wrapping paper.

Below, inside of both back and front covers.

This last picture is the back cover.

The dimensions are 12X15 cm, not the smallest book i have done but a comfortable size for me to work with. There are still some blank pages in it, let's see if i can fill them up during this year.
I wish you a lot of good moments of creative work.

Sunday Metta

Recently i discovered this simple and beautiful prayer on Grace Forrest's blog : "May you be happy, may you be well, may you be safe, may you be peaceful and at ease".
I adopted it immediately because i felt it as a way to spread benevolence in the univers for all beings.
If you want to know more about this practice , sharon Salzberg wrote a very detailed article about it.
So friends, this is my prayer for you today "May you be happy, may you be well, may you be safe, may you be peaceful and at ease". Just saying it is soothing.

And i will add to it some personal wishes. May you find light if some dark thoughts sadden you.I am especially thinking of you, american friends who didn't vote for the candidate of hate, my heart is with you.

May you be loved.

May you have some good books  to read.

And may you have some cats to share your home with.

Be well!!

My words for this new year

Choosing a word for the year is something i usually don't do but at the end of december while pondering about  this new year and making plans, the word "visible" came to my mind. That was it! I wanted to be more visible and that's a lot for me because as a hypersensitive person i tend to hide more than to attract attention. But to my great surprise, i feel  capable to be visible wich mainly means to be more present on the internet, write regularly on this blog, participate to some events and dare to let comments on the blogs i read. It can seem very little but for me it is a huge progress and i think this is the benefit of focusing on  my spiritual practice during the past year.

 As for many people, 2016 has been a very difficult year for me: my father's illness,and the loss of my three very old and beloved cats( two of them died in january and the third one in november)made this year a terribly painful one.Add to this the international situation with a regular lot of bad news and you get the picture of a globally dark year.
But inspite of  moments of discouragement and  days of depression, i held on to my spiritual practice and made it my first goal during the year and it worked. I begin this year with a peaceful mind,  and for the first time in my life, some confidence in myself. That should be enough to make this new year an interesting one don't you think so?

 I am done with  my first word, but there is a second one: "concentrate" and i owe this one to an excellent blogpost written by Teresa Robinson aka Stargardener "Concentrate on one thing" . No more fluttering, i want to concentrate on one project at a time! Thank you Teresa!!

What about you dear readers, did you choose a word for the year? Here are two  very interesting blogposts on this topic:

First one by  Lise Lamoreux  of the blog "Be Present Be Here" ,she chose "Attention"

Second post by Carole Leslie of  Zendotstudio , she has choosen several words , Being is one of them, i let you discover  the others in her brilliant post.

I will finish this post blogger friends , with a quote i chose in E.Tolle's book "A New Earth" :

" Knowing yourself is to be rootedd in Being, instead of lost in your mind."

Thanks for visiting.

Come for a walk!

When i got up this morning , every inch of the landscape was frozen ! Absolutely magic! So, breakfast was quickly swallowed and off i went to take photos!!
The landscape in this part of Normandy is very soft, with beautiful hills so pleasant to the eyes and this morning, whitened by the frost, the countryside was sublime.
I began my walk with this narrow path and i don't know how much time i stayed there taking one picture after another.

Close-ups are my favorite photos ,i couldn't resist taking loads of them.

I hope you are not too cold because i have some more pictures to share!

Pale colors everywhere , even the barbed wire is beautiful covered in frost.

 It is difficult to express how much i love this landscape, so peaceful. I have been living here for years and the more i live here the more i love this place.

I owe frosty pickets some of my best moments of contemplation, when i begin to take photos of them, i forget everything.

No need to say that i came back home chilled to the bones, but feeling so good, so joyful. My bond with nature is very strong, i absolutely need to live close to it , but i think you already guessed.

I hope you too live in a place where you feel very good and I wish you a comfortable and peaceful day!

New year wishes

One more time i am so grateful for the existence of the internet wich allows me to spread good wishes and words of peace . I don't know what awaits our dear Gaïa during this new year but i hope humankind will awake to more wisdom, tolerance, peace of mind and yes, more love and i am firmly determined to do my share and bring peace and gentleness around me as much as i can. It can seem insignificant regarding the issues on this planet but i know deep inside me it is not. Every effort counts, every act of kindness has an impact, every moment of  inner awakening has a ripple effect probably much more important  than we can imagine. So, i raise my cup of tea to 2017 and to all of you, blogger friends , may this year be soft for you and your loved  ones .

To begin this new year i decided to join in 30 Days of Gratitude initiated by Louise Gale , mixed media artist , well known for her work with mandalas but not only. 30 Days of Gratitude is a free event and every day, Louise Gale generously sends us prompts to ponder about; today's prompts were about our environment and why we can be thankful for it. As you can see in the picture above, i live in a beautiful and peaceful part of the french countryside and as an introvert and hypersensitive person, it is the perfect environment for me; i find in it all the silence and loneliness i need and i can contemplate nature to my soul's content.

To continue with gratitude, i decided to write regularly about the blogs i love to read,  and this will be my way to thank these bloggers whose posts brought me so much inspiration, pleasure, comfort , wisdom and knowledges, 

I begin today with my absolute favorites:

Artist Katherine Dunn's blog, she shares here her art and life on her farm called Apifera and her chronicles are a pure delight. K. Dunn doesn't only make beautiful paintings, she is a great story teller and photographer and she rescues many animals, especially elders, which is why she is so dear to my heart too. Apifera farm this way!

Second favorite rendez-vous: Enchanted Blue Planet, a lovely and peaceful blog hold by a sweet canadian artist who shares her wisdom, beautiful pictures of her environment, her art and her two adorable cats, Muji and Babu.Mrs Edwards (i coudn't find her  first name) has a gift to share  things with simplicity and kindness and she is one of these beautiful and wise persons who know  to appreciate  the small things of life, and that's why i love her blog so much.So, if you don't know her blog, it's right here .

A long time favorite,Seth Apter's blog The Altered Page. Not only is Seth Apter an important artist of mixed media art  but he is also a gentleman, an example of courtesy and kindness. I rarely dare to let a comment on the blogs i read but i did  once on his blog and i was amazed by his gentle answer. Generosity is another of his qualities : he  has been promoting other artists' work  sharing links in a weekly post for years and he shares a lot of excellent material in his blogposts.

Thank you for all you do  for art dear Seth Apter!

Last one for today, artist Diana Trout's blog. Diana is one of the most friendly person i have met on the internet!!She is generous, funny, authentic, truly a great lady of  the mixed media world.She is the kind of person who doesn't hesitate to show her mistakes and laugh about them with simplicity. Just hearing her laugh could make your day, trust me!She regularly makes great videos where she shares ideas, advices and excellent reviews about products. Diana's blog Here!

I  hope this very long post didn't bother you too much, i give you my word, i rarely talk so much!

Thanks a lot for reading !! 

Peace is the way

Last week was hard for many of us, especially  those living in the USA, but even if i am not an american citizen, i was under shock when i read the news. It took me a while to go beyond sadness and discouragement but i am on board again and i know that even if there is little i can do, i will do it. I will do my share with determination because i don't want to look at  the world we all live in sink in darkness without doing all i can. I believe in peace, kindness, compassion, respect and love and  I know we all have enough inner resources to make the world a better place all together. All we need is a peaceful mind and an open heart ,  they are the fertile and easily available ground we need to grow seeds of hope, light and creativity. It is why i consider my spiritual practice  more important than ever and i see my task to spread peace around me more sacred than ever. This is where i find light and hope because i know deep within me that peace is infectious and it is known too that all brains are connected, scientists have proved it, so what are we waiting for? Let's spread peace and work peacefully to make the world a better place ALL TOGTHER.
For those of you who are sad or don't find peace and hope, i collected beautiful blogposts that flowered on the internet as an answer to despear and fear and i want to share them with you because they brought me a lot of comfort and hope in humankind. Here they are:

First one is Seth Apter's, a great artist and such a kind spirit.

Mary Jane Dodd , so much wisdom in her words!

Kathryn Dunn, great artist  very dear to my heart as an animal lover.

Kelly Rae Roberts who founded   the beautiful movement #Artistsforlove with some kindred spirits.
The idea is to use one of your art work to call for love and tolerance,  Every creation can be downloaded  for free . You'll find my participation below.

I hope you will find some light in these readings and i will do my best on this blog to spread peace and positive thoughts in my humble but sincere way because i care about you all my friends.
I will end for today with this beautiful mantra OM SHANTI OM  (I radiate peace).
See you soon!