Un ado, un chaton, deux livres

 

He's a teenage boy from the Omo people in Ethiopia. I drew him from a photo I found in a book by Hans Silvester who photographed them for two years.

Little kitten, in blue, and in negative :

And books I read recently.

The Jim Harrison book was great (they're all great), and I loved the other one too, by Kate Atkinson. I almost stopped reading at one point, because it was so dark and I wanted something good to happen, but I'm glad I went on reading, because it was awesome. I want to read her other books, now.

English title is "When will there be good news?", and she really makes you wait for them, but it's worth it!

Un garçon, une fille, une citerne.

Got Hans Silvester's book about Omo people at the library. They are a primitive people living in the east of  Africa. They decorate themselves with all sort of nature finds. The teenagers especially (teenagers always love to look stylish, anywhere!). They're incredibly beautiful and facinating.

There are wars raging all around them and they probably will disapear soon, civilized and cut from their traditions.

I hope they hold on a long time. Looking at them is like looking at something precious. I get the same feeling when I see an eagle. A little bit of hope and nostalgia for something lost but not completely gone nor forgotten.

And this is my little girl, Manon.

Drew her in response to the prompt : your biggest success!

This is a water tank. There are lots of these up in the hills, in case there's a fire. The land is very dry and the wind can be very violent here.

Youpi, un Award!

I've got an award, I'm so glad!
And it was given to me by two people who's art I love and admire a lot, Bénédicte and Elaine.

Bénédicte has a blog filled with awesome drawings (fantastic cats! but that's not all) and unique ideas. It's very varied and inspiring and I love going there and getting surprised!

Elaine does beautiful, soulful (hope that's a word?!) watercolors, and very cool journal pages with great little cartoony characters - they're funny and expressive and often cute!

I love your art and your sense of humor, both of you! Thanks so much for this award!



I need to pass this award on to five people, post on their blog to let them know I left this award, and then I need to answer a list of questions in ONE word.”


There are a lot of people with great blogs and great art! Here are five I love :

Marancat has a cool blog and a great style. Lots of neat drawings and watercolors!
Krista who does beautiful watercolors and I love her virtual Paris tour!
Judy with her beautiful nature  and birds paintings, some sumi e style.
Winna - I love her style and her awesome compositions.
Starr who's very busy but when she posts it's always great!


And now for the one word questions..
Let's try this.
1. Where is your cell phone? kitchen
2. Your hair? short
3. Your mother? dead
4. Your father? nice
5. Your favorite food? food
6. Your dream last night? bizarre
7. Your favorite drink? champagne!
8. Your dream/goal? improvement
9. What room are you in? bedroom
10. Your hobby? drawing
11. Your fear? taboo
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Earth
13. Where were you last night? here
14. Something that you aren’t? naïve
15. Muffins? ok
16. Wish list item? travel
17. Where did you grow up? Boulogne
18. Last thing you did? sale
19. What are you wearing? jeans
20. Your TV? none
21. Your Pets? cat
22. Friends? essential
23. Your life? good
24. Your mood? good
25. Missing Someone? yes
26. Vehicle? Xzara
27. Something you’re not wearing? watch
28. Your favorite store? books
29. Your favorite colour? all
30. When was the last time you laughed? morning
31. Last time you cried? forgot
32. Your best friend? far
33. One place that I go to over and over? hills
34. Facebook? no
35. Favorite place to eat? restaurant

2 têtes

La tête dans les étoiles - head in the stars (I don't how to translate that correctly).

Et la tête de la sorcière - the witch's head (this one is easier : ) )

I made this little head with salted dough for modelling and painted it before drawing it. (hope I got the translation right for pâte à sel...)

4 femmes, 1 pourri, 2 livres

This is from a photo found in an old (1997) issue of Geo. The old lady in the middle is Princess Kamamy from Madagascar. Thought they looked beautiful.

I'm using prompts from this blog to write and draw in a liitle journal. This is for prompt 7 "What makes you, you?" Difficult question... Found the girl with the camera on a flickr photo and played with it.

And this is for prompt 13, "Thank someone". Choose to thank someone who was a real bastard, because without him I probably wouldn't be who and where I am, and I like it here... Found the photo on Flickr too, using the word "damned" for search.

And my last two reads!

I liked "The secret life of bees", it was nice.

But I LOVED The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Wonderful book! I wish I could go to Guernsey and meet the characters!

La maison de la sorcière

I enjoyed myself a lot with this!
This is a witch and her little house.
I wonder if she's good or bad. (that's what the text says, too).

Caroline R. avant et après

This is for Inspire me Thursday - this week the theme is "Madame Caroline Rivière", so here she is. I've been watching a little too much of Dia de los Muertos/Halloween stuff, apparently : ).
In France November 1st is called Toussaint (All Saints) and some people traditionally bring flowers to their dead, and that's all. Catholic people do more, certainly. Some kids put costumes on and a few people decorate and keep sweets for them, but it's not really popular, it's not a tradition here.

Des livres et des visages

My last reads. I loved the Dan O'Brien book, it was very interesting and a pleasure to read. I love M. O'Brien's view of life, he's very wise and he has an eternal student attitude (that's probably why he's so wise). I learned a lot about nature and ecosystems with this book.






I'm experimenting with kids faces, not very pleased by the results but I feel like doing these anyway... So I'm going on with the feeling...
I've not been blogging, very busy these last few weeks. A lot of work, car problems, lots of activities and on going projects - very good, I'm glad (except for the car troubles, but it's just material, doesn't matter).

1 moto, 3 mouflets, 3 bouquins, 8 moustachus

Made this for my july calendar page. I love bikes, I'll have one one day when I'm all grown up.



The top half of my july page. I'm not sure of the colors, maybe I'll change the color of the sky behind the bike. Or not.



Last reads : a manga, Nana, by Ai Yazawa. I love it. I used to prefer shonen manga (manga for boys, with a lot of action) but now I'd rather read shojo (manga for girls). This one is my favourite. A serious book by French author Marguerite Yourcenar, very interesting lady. And a kind of detective story, french style, with a lot of word games and old french slang, a language I love that's called "la langue verte" (the green language), and that the young don't know, unless, like I did from a very tender age, they read a lot of old detective books / watch old gangster movies!



And just for fun...

Novembre

Finally finished my november page. Now I know this calendar will never be ready for 2010. Like we say in french, I've put all my eggs in the same basket, some are going to fall down and break... (plus, I'm lazy, it doesn't help.)
Some bits of the page :






These are not eggs, in the boy's basket. It's ceps. My ex-husband is very good at finding them, and I'm not. I miss his cooking, sometimes.

Un chasseur de primes, une belle caisse et deux bouquins

That's Lee Van Cleef in "The good, the bad and the ugly". I love this movie, seen it several times always with the same pleasure. Saw a Korean movie last december with my brother that was called "the good, the bad and the crazy" and it was great, in another style, really crazy and fun!



Another car for my calendar, it's a Ford Capri - so I'm told, I don't recognize cars unless I've driven them or been driven in them for years - and I've never had a Capri, too bad, it looks cool!




And two new books.
Centering on Pottery, Poetry and the Person is a fabulous book. I don't know exactly why I felt compelled to buy and read it but I love it. It's very difficult for me, because of the writing, not my first language, and a beautiful, unique, poetical way of writing, and deep meaning. I read it very slowly and feel things moving and growing inside as I read and re-read each paragraph - it's that difficult for me : ) !
The other book is a big thriller, well done, very good for reading near the swimming pool, if you have one, or in bed until very late because you want to know the end and begin something else.

Des confitures, des cuillères et un camion

This is another page of my future calendar. At the rate I'm going I think it could be finished for 2012.
This is Août (august).



I'm drawing a lot these days and not blogging much. I seem to have absolutely no discipline at all, I mean even less than I usually do.
It's really nice...

10 Indiens et un filon d'or

Loved the book on the left, it was powerful and interesting, the kind that gives you a lot to think about. English original title is "Ten Indians", by Maddison Smartt Bell.
"The Vein of Gold" was as amazing as "The Artist's Way". It took me almost a year to read them (and work with them) and they're really life changing books.



"The Vein of Gold" really moved me in ways I never would have imagined. It made me explore and do things I never do, think in a different way, engage in projects I had never thought about before. I can't recommand it enough!

2 filles, une baleine et une 2 chevaux

I'm trying to make a new calendar for next year. These are little pieces of the "september" page.

I'm going to draw cars and motorbikes on every page! Here's my favorite of all times, "la deudeuche" - Citroën 2CV.

2 livres, une locomotive, une jolie nana et 2 tourterelles

New reads! Loved both books, one a great thriller, the kind you don't let go easily! Read it on the beach mostly, it was nice : )! The other one took some time because it was so rich, a wonderful book about love and reading, and solitude, and books, et caetera... Loved it. I'm sure it's translated in English too. The author is Italian, and the story takes place in Milano, New York, and Belle Ile in France.







Did these two cards for my parents, they liked them!

4 bouquins et 26 chats

Even when I'm not in the mood to do much, I still like to draw books, it seems...
On the left, a thriller. Didn't like it much, it was violent and I didn't care much for the characters. Not bad, either, it was okay for an afternoon with the kids on the beach. On the right, an essay about neo-paganism, what it is, the various groups and tendancies. Interesting.


These were great! On the left, French fabulous author Tonino Benacquista, with a fun story about a Newark ex-maffia family hidden in a small french village, and raising hell there. And on the right, Finland fabulous author Aarto Paasilinna, with a fun story about Suedish midwives and Finnish lumberjacks stranded on a not so desert island.


And twenty six cats. Seventy four to go and I'll be able to draw a cat properly, I hope. (read somewhere that if you draw something a hundred times you can begin to really get it right - meaning, you understand it better.)

Therapies et fantaisies

I hate the month of june. Thankfully it's almost over.
Things I'm currently reading :

I'm very interested in alternative therapies. In november I'll begin training in sophrology, while still doing my current job. Hopefully in two years I'll be able to practice as a sophrologist and in a few years be able to do it full time. I'm so fed up with the french education system. I like teaching, and I like the kids, (most of the time...), but I'm tired of the stupid bureaucracy and inept chiefs. They really know how to demotivate their troups.
Bought this, from Arto Paasilinna. Strange and fun, and a cool read, as usual with Paasilinna!

Une forêt, des mugs, une palissade, des jolies filles

I've been trying a lot of things in my new and first moleskine book - I've waited nearly two months to use it, it made me shy or something... It's over now, I'm doing my usual messes on the pages and being very happy with that...
This, I'm not very happy with it. It was better at some point, I knew I had to stop painting, and I didn't listen to the little voice... Must learn to keep some parts white.


The photo is not mine, and sadly I forgot to note where I found it. Love the colors in those mugs.


I glued a photo and painted around it. The photo is not mine either, don't remember whose it is. Loved the colors, too.


Girls from fashion magazines.


And my daughter watching tv. For once, it's not from a photo. Did it very quickly and she was nice and didn't move too much.