Vannes - Vastness of the Morbihan Gulf - Part 2

Greetings everyone,
In one of my visits around Vannes, I found this wonderful furniture shop called Villadici; I was so impressed by the quality of textiles and work that i thought :"Maybe they have samples that they throw away after a while."
So I asked them and indeed they were able to give me wonderful samples.
I was positively in heaven when they gave me all those rich textiles for me to try.
I wasn't sure in what way i would use them in my art but I had to try.
They work with Saba, a modern italian furniture company. This only confirmed how great the Italian are when it comes to quality of textiles.

So what i started to do was to cut pieces of textiles and harmonize their colours together; I never done this before so it was an experiment but it felt great to try something different; And to be artistically ecological about it.
The result gave this sort of Amerindian style to the two pieces. I called the left piece " humility" because of its earthy colors. The indians of America were very grateful and humble of nature and what they borrowed from nature, so it felt right to call this piece as such and the right piece, "Identity" because of the strips of textiles that reminded me of the way they painted their bodies and faces. In a very abstract way of course!

When I showed my new experiments to my siblings, we had a good laugh about it; One of them said it would look great as a cat tree; Another said it would be handy to scratch your back or as a doormat!
What do you think?

Vannes For Vastness of the Morbihan Gulf - Part 1

Greetings Everyone!
My next stop was in Vannes where I visited my other brother.

I really love the Morbihan Gulf.
Many islands are being sheltered in this natural habour. And because this gulf is located in the south of Brittany, there is a micro-climate in the area.
Not to mention that the light in the summer is wonderful there, a paradise where the sea, the land and the sky are meeting on and off in front of your eyes.
 This place has been described as one of the most beautiful bays in the world.

Also Brittany is known for its mystery, for its fairies, korrigans and all sort of other mischievous creatures; Celtic legends like King Arthur and Merlin were born in this region.
 This place has been described as one of the most beautiful bays in the world.

I wanted to capture that beauty, the sort of energies and mystery that exist between the light/air and the sea when all elements meet in the summer...

This time around I was able to find a art materials shop near where my brother lives. I bought a few canvases and started to get working.
Here is the triptych that I made with acrylic paint.
I find it is so much easier to feel creative when I let myself being carried by what I love. It can be a place, a person, a pet, an object. We don't even need to find inspiration. It is already there. Our love for a place is our inspiration.

In my case, when I find beauty in something, i find it easier keep it and make it my fuel to move forward in my art and in myself.
Here is the triptych that I made with acrylic paint:


But bare in mind that this is an abstract painting...

Don't hesitate to make a comment!
Until next time all...

Rennes for Running after Time

Hi Everyone,
As part of this creative crumb journey I talked about in my previous post, I made a stopover in my Brother's place in Rennes (Capital of Brittany) for a few days.

The reasons why I feel creativity must be a part of my daily activity are two fold:
1)It is a way to express myself in ways that i couldn't in the past and still in the present( so very therapeutic)

2)Creating in silence or near silence brings a meditative quality to our time/inner self which is much needed for turbulent minds like ours. Do i need to specify that we are constantly receiving a flow of information that makes it very hard for us to keep our minds peaceful?

By creating that meditative state, we find a way to be in the moment and to focus on ourselves fully rather than just running after time. Meditating even manage to make us feel like time is slowing down.

So with this in mind, I did a few pieces that i'd like to share with you.
Keep in mind, that i had no canvas with me.
So I made do with what I had:

My brother Fabrice was kind enough to let me use one of his posters ( a music band poster called Chair Lift) as a way to experiment my oil pastels on the side of the poster and use it as a make-do canvas:

  ( Credit Photo: My Brother. For once I let myself being taken in pictures- It must be the new me.)

I had no canvas or glue at the time so I used what I had: paper, water, toilet paper and gouache...flowers and heart shapes...

Tom Thumb across Europe?

Hi Everyone,

A new page. For a new beginning. Yet again.

I have decided to go on a journey. For a year. To leave behind all that was safe but made me unhappy ( job, house, city, rain, noise) to travel places in order to feel happy again.
I don't have a plan.
To make this journey a happy one and from past experience I listed the 5 elements that have contributed to make me happy. Therefore I hope to include these in my trip wherever i go.
I like painting.
I like writing.
I like nature. (Silence)
I like food. ( I mean good food!)
I like the sun. (i am aware that I can't carry the sun around with me)

In terms of destination, the wisest people have said before that it is the journey that counts not the destination.
Still for any trip, everyone needs a departure point and an arrival point.
The departure point I know. It was Dublin, Ireland.

One mandatory stop is Brittany. Where I currently am.

Other optional stops (in an ideal world) would be Guerande, St-Gervais d'Auvergne in the Massif Central, Aquitaine, Lodève in Languedoc-Roussillon, the City of Light near Milan, The Adriatic coastline, Medjugorje, and last Stop the Greek Islands.

I don't really know if I can achieve that long a journey by myself. 

For all that I know i may realise that I want to stay put. I may realise that travelling to this extent is not much for me after all. I may decide to stay in St Gervais or Lodeve which are places where two Buddhist center reside and make this an inner journey instead.
I'd like to leave a creative imprint wherever I go. Like a Tom Thumb who would leave behind creative crumbs.
Along the way, I would hope to post some of those creative crumbs on this blog.
In short, we will see. But I shall try to be happy.