Friday 28 November 2008

Blogging Merry-Go-Round - Brrrrrrr...

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.

Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left). If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...

This month's question:
How do the different seasons and weather affect you in your art and craft?


Well...
I was born in late July and first grew up in very, but very, sunny places, only visiting Metropolitan France in the summer.

Part of me has never quite accepted, even after more than 30 years, the fact that there is such a thing as Winter.

Actually, if it weren't that it's so cold sometimes, Winter is sort of OK. Especially here in Bordeaux were you can still enjoy the café terrasses on most days. But Autumn feels like such a let down! So unfair. Every year it's the same— I had forgotten! Boo woo hoo... And I turn into this bristly bear-like creature that can barely deal with the daily drudgery of my day job and all. I know it's called seasonal depression, but it feels more like a rebellion. I want out, you understand, I want nothing to do with this sorry business of leaves falling. And buckets of rain along with it. Not to mention the temperatures. I sort of pooh pooh it for a while, but then I just want to protest and go on strike (what with my being French, you know...).

So, you will have gathered that this is not my most creative period. Understatement of... the year! Autumn is a time of quiet activities, like researching new techniques, reading, doing repetitive work that can be done cuddled up under a thick blanket, with a few candles on and possibly some classical or easy listening music too. It's a time when I want to tidy up but don't get around to doing it, so I just get rid of the useless, damaged stuff and vow never to clutter up so much...

Come Christmas, I can just make out Springtime, over there, in the distance, and I want to get new projects going. Something to do with the light: I want light so badly, and I now that it just cannot get worse than Christmas. Until then, it's a drag. Come New Year, I'm much more bubbly, and it's not just the champagne!

Spring is probably my most active, hectic, hopeful, crazy time of year. In Summer, I tend to just want to enjoy the heat (keep it coming!) and be lazy in the afternoon (and the morning, and...). But it's also my most "ongoingly" (?) creative time of year. Just don't expect me to run around!

Oh, to be in Summer...

Going back to my blanket and candles just now...



Saturday 1 November 2008

I've been Tagged! / J'ai été "Taguée" !

Now these Merry-go-rounders are friends indeed! Evidence: I've been tagged, not once but twice!
In my own peculiar brand of logics, it has entailed me taking, not twice, but twenty times as long to come up with this message...
Being tagged means that I have to provide 7 facts about myself and tag 7 other bloggers. Find the rules and list further down.
I'm keeping it short and sweet, again, sticking to facts indeed, so I can also write the French version...
So I've been tagged by a great fiber artist : Charlotte of Fancypicnic and a great silver wire artist : Fabs of Easterya. Do look up their blogs to discover their work and understand why I call them great. You'll see!

FACTS
1. I took my firt plane trip when I was barely one month old. The trip took me from the island of Tahiti to that of Raiatea. I am told the plane was not a large one. Which was only fit!
2. I got my first pair of shoes just before I turned 2— on my first trip to Metropolitan France. Probably why I am such a shoe fiend now, buying all those splendid, sexy sandals I never wear. Shoes must be beautiful and make a statement!
3. When I was maybe 22 (last century anyway), I auditioned for admission at RADA (no comment).
4. Useless talent number one: I can move my ears. Provided you are not making me giggle at the same time.
5. Not that I am claustrophobic, you understand, but I will rather sit or stand near some kind of an exit. Even if it has to be a window on the umpteenth floor. In a cinema, I will never choose to sit in the middle of a row.
6. I am a compulsive buyer. On the mend (???)!
7. My favourite film ever : Jacques Demy's Peau d'Ane.


Ce manège (anglophone) de blogueuses est décidément bien chaleureux. La preuve : j'ai été "taguée", non pas une mais deux fois!
Avec ma logique à moi, bien sûr, ça m'a pris non pas deux fois mais pas loin de vingt fois plus longtemps qu'à n'importe qui d'autre pour répondre ici...
Cela implique que je donne ici 7 faits me concernant et que je tague moi-même 7 autres personnes (voir les règles et ma liste à la fin).
J'ai essayé de faire court. Dans les deux langues...
J'ai été "taguée" par deux artistes que j'apprécie beaucoup et dont j'admire le travail : Charlotte de Fancypicnic qui concocet de somptueux bijoux textiles, et Fabienne de Easterya dont les bijoux de fil d'argent sont un enchantement. Ne manquez pas de cliquer et d'aller visiter leur blogs pour découvrir travail !

FAITS
1.J'ai pris l'avion pour la première fois au tendre âge de 1 mois. Pour aller de l'île de Tahiti à celle de Raiatea. D'après ce que l'on m'a dit, l'avion n'était pas gros, lui non plus.
2. J'ai eu mes premières chaussures juste avant mon deuxième anniversaire, Lors de mon premier séjour en métropole. C'est sans doute pour ça que j'ai maintenant toutes ces chaussures fabuleuses que je ne mets jamais. Les chaussures doivent être belles, au minimum, voire fantastiques!
3. Quand j'avais 22 ans, je crois, (au siècle dernier en tout cas), j'ai passé une audition pour essayer d'entrer à la RADA (l'une des deux plus grandes écoles d'art dramatique en Grande-Bretagne, autant dire dans le monde). No comment.
4. Mon talent inutile numéro un : je peux bouger mes oreilles. A condition que vous ne me fassiez pas rire.
5. Je ne suis pas vraiment claustrophobe, pas vraiment... mais je préfère toujours me positionner près d'une sortie, même si c'est une fenêtre au énième étage. Au cinéma, je ne m'assiérai jamais spontanémement en milieu de rang.
6. Je souffre de fièvre acheteuse chronique. mais je me soigne (???) !
7. Mon film préféré : Peau d'Ane de Jacques Demy.

And here are the happy new taggee. Hopefully :
Voici les heureuses (enfin, j'espère) taguées :

ByCess
Marika
Glassprimitif
Jenny Karlsson Designs
Kalicat
Sara
Slackstitches


All you have to do, people, is acknowledge the tag from me, list these rules and give us seven facts about yourself. Tag seven more people, link to their blogs and leave a comment for them on their blogs... Then they know they've been tagged!!

Tout ce que vous avez à faire, c'est dire que je vous ai "tagué", expliquer ces quelques règles, et nous livrer 7 faits, plus ou moins extraordinaires, sur vous. Taguez 7 autres personnes, en donnant le lien vers leur blog et en laissant un commentaire sur leur blog pour le leur annoncer : pour qu'elles sachent qu'elles ont été taguées... Et ainsi de suite !