Exciting news...

Tiny Bags of Love

Last year, my sweet friend Ivy Newport asked me if I would consider teaching with her and without thinking too much about it, I said YES.  I said I would say that much more this year but putting that into practice, is more difficult than you think.

So I had said YES - but I had no idea what I was going to teach.  At all.  I wanted it to be true to me and make perfect sense to who I am.  And what could be more so than my beloved TeaBagGirls.  They are a very big part of my life this year and have been an ongoing journey for me.

A friend of mine wrote to me earlier in the year and said she thinks I should consider doing a class about my TeaBagGirls and I guess that planted a seed... and so when Ivy asked me again, I suggested this and it was an "of course" moment for both of us.

I'm not going to lie, I'm nervous but I'm uber excited!  I have lots of work ahead of me... but I can't wait.

I hope you will join me in this sweet little adventure,

as we discover painting tiny emotional portraits on the sweetest..

Tiny Bags of Love.

TinyBagsofLove from JeanneMarie/Flowrs on Vimeo.

The Life of Riley

Literally and seriously...

Could you get a more lucky dog!

Riley is one loved little boy!

Painting big...

I have been doing some research for a new body of works for a project I'm involved with and I've been inspired off the charts... by some very powerful images by one particular artist.   I'll share more about it soon.  When I finally arrived home yesterday I started drawing over the flowers and started painting her so I could see her.  The minute her face came through I knew I was going to love her... she just felt so powerful to me.

In one of Misty's classes I painted this board as part of one my portfolio covers... it was just flowers.

It has been lying #inmystudio for ages as I wanted to breath new life into it.

I wasn't sure I was going to loose the flowers completely but I ended up taking them all away.

I wish I could tell you I knew how I was going to move with this piece but she just seems to keep evolving... and taking me on her own journey.   We still aren't done yet but I look forward to finishing our journey together...

I'm totally besotted with her eyes.  They seems to be beckoning me.

Like she has a story to tell me... and I want to listen.

InstantLove

Photo Credit : Kitty

My Fuji Instax Instamatic was my first Lomogoraphy camera.

I wanted a polaroid for the longest time but the film stock became obsolete in this country so when the Instamatics came out, I was over the moon.  I love each memory we have made with this incredible camera and the instant gratification I get with it... love.

There is still such expectancy with each shot, because each one is quite pricy so I find I'm still holding my breath as I wait for it to develop.  But on the right day - it's InstantLove all the way.

The images are moody, milky and to me... it's storytelling at it's finest.

Don't forget to click on my tabs above to follow my journey on CameraCraft or if your interest is piqued to join in the class...
sign up on the right.

Epic week, creatively and then some...

I spend many hours in my car - my other home.  Last Saturday was gruelling - 4 hours, no kidding.  That being said - I'm still grateful I get to be there for my darlings and do the lifting and carrying.  I usually catch up with admin while I wait, edit pictures or blog, listen to audiobooks to help me past the time.

This week started with me in the dentist chair and Thursday another long session which felt particularly traumatic - but I survived.  I spent most of the week running... from packaging parcels, postoffice run, art scanners, art printers, framers, developing film, ClayPlay to early school pick ups.

It's been full on and no kidding, I lived out of my bag and car.  In terms of living an artful life - I did that full-time this week.  Everyday was filled to the brim with my beautiful art love and that made my heart so happy.

Although my days were filled with running - the evenings were filled with painting...
I managed to finish one spread for journal swap that went out this week... and of course #TeaBagGirls.  Plus my next 40 frames arrived home so now I have 80 finished and ready for exhibition.  I'm totally in love with them.

Best day ever...

We had the best afternoon today, one I will remember for a long time.  The girls are writing exams at the moment, which means they finished school early.  But it is literally the first time in absolute ages that we all had an free afternoon at the same time.  We dropped off my painting for scanning first and then headed out for our photo shoot.  With their schedules being so busy - getting them to come along with me has been a challenge.  I literally had to pay them to come with me today.  Nothing like a little extra pocket money to sweeten the deal.  My girls are my favourite subjects to film and they are both amazing on camera, their photographic skills are quite on point too.  Taking them with me is always such a treat.

We weren't quite sure what we were going to do exactly.  We arrived at our destination and just started walking... we had glorious sun and we ended up stopping next to the train tracks, with the ocean on the one side... it was visually stunning.  We whipped out our cameras and just like that our photographic energies were ignited.  We spent about 2 hours just playing... with all the film cameras, the video camera and iphonography.

The train lashed passed us several times which was scary and exciting and that together with the train tracks, sea and beautiful girls made for some stunning moments.

My Instamatic images are breathtakingly beautiful and most of all they tell a story, our story.   Now the hard part is having to wait until Tuesday to get my film stock back from development - the hope and expectation is off the charts.  I'm literally holding my breath.... So grateful for today.

Ciao Bella...

So I started this piece in Orvieto, Italy.  In Misty's Class and this was our final piece.  

I just didn't know how to move forward or if I wanted to.  I had promised Anne in class at the time, that I wouldn't change her face when I got home and I must admit that kind of stumped me and my process.  Courteney said the same when I got home.

So I just hid her away.

You can read my post about her on my ItalyBlog.

Everything we did in that week in Orvieto was to lead us to this final Iconic piece.  The toned background, elements we captured and had drawn on our walks.  Ephemera that Misty had given us.  I was too overwhelmed at the time to bring it together in a meaningful way.  Maybe it was information overload.  But I know now when I look back, how it all tied together.

Sometimes I get frustrated that it takes me so long to get there and other times I'm so grateful that it did take me so long because I might not have done her justice at the time... and I feel letting the lessons and concepts marinate, finally brought out something precious to me.

Maybe it just making peace with the fact that everything happens exactly when it is meant to.

The door knocker hand held such deep meaning and symbolism for me.

She captivated my whole heart and mind all of Sunday. 

And I managed to keep my promise to Anne and Courteney.

My heart is so overflowing today, for sure.