Old friends

I decided to revisit old paintings of mine. OK, they're not THAT old, they were done a few years ago before I got married and had kids but I think its interesting how different they all are. I've done a few paintings since then, most hurried because II can't just do whatever I want anymore.. Anyways, some have meaning, some mean nothing more than nothing.

The Three Sisters

I better find Solace

Matador

Fireflies

Crazed

Silence (is bliss)

Northern Lights

Northern Lights

My Soul in a Box

Montmartre

Montmartre by Me

This is a painting of my 'take' on Montmartre. It's a great place to be: beautiful, vibrant.. alive. The view is looking down onto the gardens and city from the Sacre-Coeur Basillica. I didn't give myself much time to do this painting, just an hour or two here and there one dreary day. I didn't want to spend too much time on straight lines or accuracy. I wanted it to be quirky, like the place.

Week 2: The Lake District

Beatrix Potter

Fast-forward a few weeks... I know I haven't been keeping to my word with this blog so far, naughty me. I have been working on a screenplay with Ali so I am still being creative.

My next project is going to be the Lake District, as we were just there and its so very inspiring. You can't help but fall in love with the beautiful scenery and peacefulness of the place. Its like food for the soul, well, mine at least. I wish I had seen Beatrix Potters house though.. I could just imagine her sitting at her desk pottering away: doodling illustrations or looking off into space lost in thought thinking up stories of rabbits or mice. Her timeless books were sweet, mischievous little tales with pretty pictures. They remind me of childhood. Next time I'm coming to visit you Beatrix.

But back to the task at hand.. What to do? What to do..

It ain't over yet...

Jardin des Tuileries (by Me)

I've been thinking about it and I'm not sure that I'm done with Paris yet. I just love it way too much. So much that I think about it at least once a week, it just took my breath away . I haven't felt so excited about being anywhere since I landed back on home soil one December afternoon in 2007, has it really been over a year... Awesome. But anyway, back to the doors thing. That was too easy, just required a little cropping and Paris is sooo much more than doors. Every girl wants to go to Paris don't they? Unless they're weird.

So yeah, watch this space basically.

Parisian Doors

1. The First time

2. Fancy Pants

3. Antique

4. Fancy

5. It doesn't take a genius to figure this one out..

6. Gray

7. Louvre Door @ night.

Its slightly ajar because it began to open right when I was taking this which was weird because the place was silent until a troop of 10 people piled out. I wondered what they were up to.. I guess you never know what goes on behind closed doors..

8. Facteur = Postman

came along right when I was taking this and plonked his cart in front of me. I wanted to wait till he had gone but it was more authentic to show life going on at the time

9. Shell

10. Woody

11. Forget me Not

12. Square = Place

13. Eerie

14. Austere

15. Mesh

16. Sacré-Cœur

This door was mahoosive and oldy-worldy

17. Kingfisher Blue

18. La Rue

19. Nombre 102

20. La Dernière Porte

I'm no door buff so I had no a clue what the name of each of the door was, though I'm sure someone, somewhere will know. I decided to name each door. My favorite is Door 1, which also happens to be the first door I photographed.

What's your favorite door?

Doors Smores

The famous door of the Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

(No, I did not take this picture)

We spend so much of our lives behind doors, don't we? House doors, car doors, the doors of our minds... I have been busy cropping my Parisian Doors and I'll soon be posting them.

I'm so glad I decided to photograph them and I must give my Husband some credit for his almost perfect patience at my stopping often all the time we were there to take "just one more" photograph. I think he'd had enough of doors by the time we left Paris! Next holiday, I'm going to take photos of peoples shoes, BTW. Imagine how fun that will be! :)

Week 1.

PARISIAN DOORS

I chose this theme because its been something I've been waiting to do since I returned from the City of Lurve. I have hundreds of photos from my trip to Paris last November. When I first got there I was so excited I wanted to soak everything in and kept snapping away. While I was doing so the one thing that struck me most were the big, beautiful doors of Paris. I kept wondering what was behind them.. Sometimes if they opened I caught a glimpse of a pretty courtyard, other times I was disappointed to find something dark and gritty but life is not all beauty is it? Most of the time though, I preferred it when they were closed so I could wonder at what lay behind them. I have always been the type of person who likes to be surprised. I barely read the back of a book or DVD, I take a quick peek and thats it. Like I said, I like to be surprised..

But back to Parisian Doors! A few minutes into my walk to the hotel we were staying at I decided I wanted to document the doors, so thats what I did. Thank God for cameras and a patient Husband and baby, eh?

Ideas...

The things on this list are things I like, am curious about, places I have been or am going to, or words I picked out of a book with my eyes closed.

1. Paris
2. The Lake District
3. Eggs
4. Old
5. New
6. England
7. Trees
8. Twins
9. Familia
10. Collage
11. Sea
12. Life
13. Surprize
14. Memories
15. Anger
16. Spring
17. Donuts
18. Meadows
19. Food
20. Magazines
21. Photos
22. Nail Varnish/Make-up
23. London
24. Doors
25. Cupcakes
26. Summer
27. Flowers
28. Russian Dolls
29. Earth
30. Abstact
31. Autumn
32. Houses
33. Polka Dots
34. Fabric
35. Miniature
36. Iraq
37. Sushi
38. Rain
39. New York
40. Washington DC
41. Lines
42. Symmetry
43. Mice
44. Owls
45. Elephant
46. Black & White
47. Photography
48. Winter
49. Christmas
50. Words
51. Children
52. The World
53. Eyes
54. Beauty
55. Colours
56. Song
57. Happy
58. Fear
59. Rebecca
60. Imagination
61. Pottery
62. Food
63. Short Story
64. India
65. Violence
66. God

To Be or Not to Be?

I need to stop procrastinating. I am losing my creativity. I've done a handful of paintings since getting married and reproducing and it's my own fault. I just miss holding a paintbrush or drawing a picture or sticking things onto something or writing blah blah blah. Just creating something from nothing.

I am dreadfully forgetful so much of my time is spent making lists - endless lists, be they mental or on paper. Lists for groceries, things I need to buy, things I need to do, clothes I need to pack for one trip or another. Lists are my weapon. If it weren't for lists, our fridge would be stocked with a whole bunch of crap and my mind would be about as useful as a bowl of jelly. So, I figure I should put my list making skills to good use and return to creativity. If I can set myself the task of producing some kind of 'THING' once a week, I should be able to satisfy my creative urges, you would think?

In galleries, you often see an artist showcasing his/her work by theme. I don't want to be rigid about this, it will bore me to tears and I hate crying. Instead I have decided that each week I will have a new theme to play around with. Variety is the spice of life, no?

I am excited! I have tried to paint or create and have hit many mental blocks these last few years because I have felt a little put off by not knowing where to begin until I realized that it wasn't the fear of the unknown that was killing me, it was the fear of the known. I simply read a quote by Picasso and it summed it up for me like 1+2=3:

"If you know exactly what you are going to do, what is the point in doing it?" -PICASSO

Exactly. What is the point? I like the element of surprise, revelation, keeps things.. Life. Alive.