A medieval village

I meant to add the following post and photos several days ago but things got a little hectic here. Anything new??Anyway, after we left Paris, we went to a little village called Donzenac, somewhere in the middle of France between the towns of Limoges and Brive, where one of my nieces lives.

As most old villages in France, the houses at the heart of the village are all clumped up around the church. The streets are very narrow and the medieval architecture is still visible with stone gates and houses with visible cross-beams and second floor that juts out on the street
.

Since the village is at the top of a hill, the view is beautiful, even in the middle of winter. And check out the elementary school, not medieval obviously, but a gorgeous building!

Art nouveau in Paris....

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope these first few days of 2010 were great and that the rest of the year will bring you what you wish for.

I just came back from France where I spent the holiday season with my husband and my family. We stayed a couple of days in Paris and took advantage of some of the current exhibits.

At the Musee d'Orsay we saw an Art Nouveau exhibit (with an entire room and portions of rooms reconstituted with wooden panels, furniture and accessories. Breathtaking!) as well as an exhibit of Art Nouveau inspired art (some pieces were very nice, some I really did not care for but it was actually interesting to see the influence of Art Nouveau in so many contemporary ordinary things such as packaging or vinyl record covers.)

There is a lot of Art Nouveau around Paris (for example most of the metro gates in the center of the city.) So when we left the museum and walked along some of the well-known boulevards we saw several beautiful buildings, wrought iron gates and balconies, tiled house fronts, etc.

Most of the much older stone buildings in the center of the city, including Notre Dame, have been cleaned and the black grime that covered them is gone, leaving the beautiful creamy stone visible. Even on a dreary day, it was gorgeous.

This is the Louvres seen from the Seine

I spent another afternoon in Paris before I flew back home and went to see the Tiffany exhibit at the Musee du Luxembourg. It was ironic that most of the objects on display were on loan from museums or collections in the US and Canada. But what a treat that was! I had only seen photographs of Tiffany's works and had not realized how textured their surfaces are. The stained glass panels are made of layers of glass on top of each others so the surface is not smooth and the feeling of depth is incredible. I also realized that the glass is made with many different textures and techniques. There was a stained glass panel with an angel whose wings were made of rippled glass that really looked like feathers. The lamps on display, most of them designed by Clara Driscoll, were just stunning. I must add that everything was perfectly displayed and lit and it was really hard to leave the room and its brilliant colors to go back outside into the dreary winter . I cannot share any photos with you because photography was not allowed in the museum.

About surfaces...

You know I have a serious addiction to books! Well, here is another one that those of you interested in textures and lines would probably love. I found about it through Irene Semanchuk, when we were both teaching at the Campbell School this fall (by the way, check Irene's work in polymer clay- http://www.good-night-irene.com . It is quite incredible!)The book is called "Surfaces, Visual research for artists, architects and designers" by Judy A. Juracek. It has hundreds of images of textures in wood, marble, stone, brick, plaster and concrete aggregates, glass, metal, tile. It also includes a CD so you can download the images directly in your computer.The same author has several other books: "Natural surfaces, visual research for artists","Soft surfaces, visual research for artists" among others. Most of these are not cheap (however it is possible to find used ones a bit cheaper) but considering the wealth of images, well worth every penny! Here are some examples from the book. (isn't Santa coming soon? So may be you still have time to add it to your wish list, that is if you have been good!)

"Iceless?"

"Iceless?" is the title of the new piece in the "Offerings" series. As usual, I had some unexpected problems crop up when I was putting the last pieces together so I had to fix them but all and all, I think it works. With this one again, everything is done by hand. The embroidery on the felted outside is done with threads of different textures and thicknesses, the embroidery inside with 1 strand of embroidery floss.

I know it is difficult to get a good idea of these pieces from pictures, particularly from snapshots like mine! But at least you get a "little idea"! I feels so good to have that piece finished when it has been in progress for so long. These last few days, which I have spent mostly in the studio, have been wonderful and I am a different woman when I can do that!

"Iceless?"

Detail of the closure

When the first part of the box is opened

View from above

Close up of the embroidered trees

View of the box when the second part is opened

...and from above
Close up of the inside panel

Close up of the necklace

A wonderful present and help for a good cause

If you are looking for a funny and moving book to give your friends for Christmas and at the same time contribute to a wonderful cause, consider "The ARTFUL BRA". This project, which started as a challenge issued to members of Quilters of South Carolina, the state quilting guild, was spearheaded by Sandra Baker, who at the time was president of the guild and went way beyond what Sandra had imagined. News of the exhibit spread all over the country and the guild received a number of requests to let it travel to different venues. Diane McLendon, editor at the Kansas City Star Books offered to record the project in a book: here is the write-up about the book on the Quilters of South Carolina website:

"Artful Bras ~~The Book
To raise awareness of breast cancer, 41 members of Quilters of South Carolina artfully decorated 50 bras, which became the ARTFUL BRA exhibit. After traveling the state of South Carolina for the past year, the exhibit is being presented in this delightful book – complete with the stories behind each entry, construction details and inspirations!
All proceeds from the traveling exhibit and sale of the book are donated to Best Chance Network to assist women who are without insurance or are underinsured and have been diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer and undergoing treatment.
Price is $24.95 plus $4.05 first class
USPS shipping and handling."

To order the book, go to the website and follow the link:

http://www.quiltersofsc.org/

"Look at Them Ther's Watermellons" by Bev Buchanan

"Sports Bra" by Angela W. Faulkenberry

progress report

I have managed to spend a little time every afternoon in the studio and so my box is progressing. I have glued the panels on the base and this afternoon stitched them. The only way to do that is with a curved needle. It took me a while to learn how to use it! By now, I have done it enough that it goes fairly well...but it can be aggravating sometimes!

I am now reaching the point where I am putting all the elements together. It is tricky because I really have to pay attention and not mess the order or I will have major problems! I am also finding out what works, what does not and I need to find out how to fix it!

Julie Blondin: a talented young artist

I am privileged to come from a family of artistic people and the new generation carries on the gene: one of these young people, my niece Julie Blondin, is a very talented painter. Like many (young) people, she has to work a day job to pay the bills, which does not leave all that much time for her art. That might be the reason why her paintings are usually fairly small. She paints attractive imaginary pictures but portraits are definitely her forte. What I really love about her work is that, even though the portraits are realistic enough that her models are immediately recognisable, she has developed a very personal style and through her choices of colors and lines her paintings are very modern. She also manages to carry out the mischievous look of a child or the personality of her model, which is not an easy task and shows her keen sensitivity. Julie paints members of her family (her niece and nephews at different ages in particular) from photographs. She also works on commission . Interested in an original portrait? let me know and I will put you in touch!