BJP 2010

I am still working on the 2009 BJP - still missing a few months. It is very difficult for me to bead someting about the months where I felt so horrible. And I can't start 2010 if 2009 is not finished... same old story. However at the B&B show I met a new friend, a 70 year old lady from Florida, and she is a great coach !

After one year working on red/white/black, I have felt compelled to change. I took all my pieces out and realised that what I gained in unity in the 2nd year of BJP, I lost in spontaneity. My favorite piece ever is till the first one I did (the howling coyote). This weekend I am meeting my dad, back from a long US trip where he met a lot of American Indian tribes. Apparently he asked the jewellers if they would take a student (me ?). They said yes. Wow. Wait till I tell my boss ! lol

Anyways, I know that the 2010 BJP for me will be about blues and greens. And boxes. One's place in society. And maybe feathers. I have been wondering about feathers for more than one yar. Maybe because for the last 2 years I've been walking through a park to go to work, and have found many feathers on the ground. Then Jude of Spirit Cloth did a whole embroidery research about feathers.

Sometimes I wonder how "reality" is linked to dreamwork/arts & crafts reality. Today I read in the newpaper that scientists are worried because snake population is declining in Europe. They say snakes are a tough species and if they suffer it means many species are probably in danger of disappearing. I know that snakes and bees and frogs have been wery important symbols for mankind for centuries. All 3 are threatened species. Never mind biodiversity, what does it mean if symbols disappear ? (or is it past bead time for me ?).

I meant bed time of course...

Birthday present

I m off to Milwaukee for the Bead and Button show !!!!!

I ve been waiting for this for 4 years and treated myself to this for my 40th birthday.

I m a little scared, but happy and excited.

Take care.

Robin Atkins invited anybody who is interested to take part in this challenge...

The idea is to go back in blogtime to your earliest posts and identify the 6th picture you posted. The next task is to critique your own photo, explain what you would do differently now, and then pass on the challenge to 10 other bloggers. I'm not big onpassing along, because of the sense of obligation that might be felt, so the challenge is extended to anybody who's interested!

I started blogging in 2007. I don't use this blog much apart from posting my Bead Journal Project efforts, which have been er very minimalist for a year...

So here is my 6th photo...

From early this morning, I have felt Coyote's presence around me. It is a day of hidden giggles in the most bizarre situations, which doesn't allow me to relax in my bad mood and tiredness. Like I went to church before work this morning, feeling very depressed because of my very frustrating love life. After a few minutes this sexy man appeared, which was striking since the church is always empty. The priest seemed puzzled to see me there. When I came out I saw many flowers, one with the inscription "to my husband" ; a funeral was apparently planned. I didn't know what to think about all this but when I spotted a Coyote Express van across the road, I got the message : SMILE, DON'T TAKE YOURSELF SERIOUSLY !

So what would I do differently today about this picture ?

Well, I would clean my fridge before taking the picture (note to self : clean the fridge), and I would use a picture software to reduce the size. But I think I would definitely not take a picture like this. Well, I hope so anyway ! lol

More than everything this challenge has reminded me of what is really important to me, because all of it is on this blog. Thank you Robin !

BE HAPPY EVERYONE !

March BJP (in progress)

March BJP in progress

Last year, I thought it was important to respect chronology in my BJP efforts. This year, I cannot do it, and I keep thinking for every piece alternatively "something is missing" and "I can't go on with this piece".

With this piece, still not finished, I am quite pleased because it is maybe the first time I really do improvisationnal embroidery. I am beginning to think more in terms of cloth and colours and textures, rather than in terms of illustration of a feeling/idea. Then, I am amazed to see the piece is more revealing (to me) like that.

I just started from the juxtaposition of two textiles I had, and went on, following the voices of the piece/materials. I know which beads are wrong for the piece because they make me sick.

In the first days of March I visited a town with a sacred tree dedicated to fertility, then left India and my boyfriend. When I look at the piece I can only see an empty bed under a tree, no lover, no baby. My first visit to India I did after discovering I will probably never have another baby. I see also Christian symbols (Holy Spirit and trinity), and it is amazing how the more I learn about Hindu faith, the more I understand the religion of my ancestors ; symbols may be different, but in the end all human beings aspire to the same things.

Bead journal Project Update

November 2008 - Skeleton Woman

First month after separating for the second time from the father of my children. Reconstructing. Work propositions.
Using Robin Atkin's ruffle embroidery technique.


December 2008 - Quiet Christmas
Using part of a made to measure Salwar Kameez and shisha mirrors from Chandigarh

January 2009 - Lightness of being
Snow, light, no pressure.

February 2009 - I love U
I went to India again. U became my lover.
U asked if I would consider marriage.
Using "ari" traditionnal Indian embroidery and Indian sequins.

June 2009 - Play/Marche
I went to a shamanic workshop. Did meditation work and drumming. Walked out of the workshop after a few hours with the two people I came with. Using textile markers as in workshop. Inspired by Marie's "Butterfly of How" and E E E E snake introduced to me by Acey.
Happy Solstice anyways everyone !

(September page here. October page here)

Bead Journal Update - I'm still in

OK, I am very very slow, and very late, but I am still in for Bead Journal Project 2008.

Back to beading !

This week, I started beading again, after a very very long pause.

True, there was many things happening in my life, but I can't help noticing my creativity stopped just after I started working on the Maid with no Arms, and DOM, the Decent Old Man.

Dom, the first from the left on the picture below, was cut out from the ceremonial cloth I carried with me in shamanic workshops, and in India (to be honnest, this cloth is what made me decide to start visiting India by coming though Chennai/Madras - yes, i know it is very foolish). He is supposed to help me heal from the legacy of wounded ancestors...

A few days ago, listening to Clarissa Pinkola Estes' tape "How to love a woman", I discovered the Inuit tale of "Skeleton Woman". I cried, and creativity came back... Just like me, she doesn't like being photographed. It is funny because I kept wanting to add bones in my october page...

A glimpse of my november BJP

This is a glimpse of my progress on the november page. Not an easy month. I choose the fabric, and did the moon first (a japanese embroidery design). Then I stopped for many days. I opened Women Who Run With Wolves at random and find a scary story about a girl who gets her hands chopped off, but survives and gets stronger. Days later I envisionned the police outlines of corpses and thought about Keith Harring. I started the spirit doll body. Next day The Bombay terrorist attacks started. We hear that two French nationals were killed ; the founders of a delightful underwear collection that especially appeals to teenagers and young girls. This month's theme is about the freedom of women, the freedom to love and be oneself. The importance of keeping the heart alive, even under the ash of fear, hatred, jealousy, sorrow, contrary winds...

This page is still in progress. May peace be with you.

Update on October Bead journal Project

Let's keep smiling

Here is an update on my october page. I don't know if it's finished yet.

October 2008 will probably be remembered in History as "black October" or something similar since the World economy is now rocking seriously. On the ecology side, we learn many bad news everyday ; icecoat melting, toxic gas spreading and animals disappearing. Many of my friends and family members have had a hard time in October - and me too...

And so what can we do ? "Let's keep smiling...." as Mr Chat seems to suggest :o)

Update on September Bead Journal Project

This is an update on my September page, "That old black magic (called love)". I don't know why, but I don't have a lot a creative energy at the moment, and I work even more slowly than usual.

I have thought a lot about eyes in September. There was this poster everywhere in Paris for a theatre show about Maria Callas giving a lesson when she had lost her voice :and then at the end of the month I learnt through this delightful blog and this one that it was festival time in India for Durga and from link to link found this :

So it has been a journey from fear and magic to love and feminity back to magic and fear :o)

September BJP

First there was this...
Then this...Then this...

nothing finished yet,tsss...

My workpace

Denise has challenged us to show our beading workplace. So here is mine ; the kitchen table. This summer I finally put all my beading books and materials in just one cupboard, what a relief ! In the corner, near the spice basket, you can catch a glimpse of the Asa Foetida box that came with us in Italy, because it rolled out of its shopping bag.

And this is what the workspace looks like when I get excited over a project. Yes, I am a very messy person. Personal message : Stellou we have found the Coyote statue at last !

Hidden friends

Theodora, San Vitale, Ravenna

When I was a child I was given a poster of Empress Theodora. For years she stared at me from over my bed. It didn't always feel comfortable, such a weird gaze, but sometimes it made me feel good or it sent me into long daydreams. It was my mother who gave me this picture, saying very little but with much intensity. I just knew it was a precious gift.

And so this summer, we visited Ravenna and saw the original mosaics. I insisted on that. Funnily enough, everybody enjoyed the visit of the Basilica San Vitale and the mausoleum nearby. In the Basilica, I found many red, black and white tiles. An interesting website with many photos is here.

My pictures of the floor of Basilica San Vitale, Ravenna

A few moment ago, I followed a link suggested by my friend Tally and suddenly found a story of Theodora's life (longer version here). A truly wonderful lady. I'm amazed that my mother casually gave me a feminist (christian) icon with many jewels to put in the traditional place of the crucifix.

Isn't it strange how we are surrounded by hidden friends all the time ? If we manage to stop the noise inside and outside just for a moment, then we start to hear their voices...

And from a textile point of view I am amused to hear that in her time, the Blues and the Greens were fighting each other :o)

Why red ?

Geranium by Duvalmickael50

Why red ?

This is going to be a long wordy post, I’m afraid !

I was welcomed into life with a drama and a red flower bunch ; a gift by my grandpa’s excentric 3^rd wife, which my mum thought very shocking and unappropriate.

Later on at age 7, I was gifted by my parents with a red bedspread which became my dummy and helped me stop sucking my thumb. I am quite ashamed to reveal that I still have it on my bed, although it has grown very dishevelled with the passing of time. On last year’s Bead Journal Project I was tempted several times to do a page with a piece of that old bedspread, and also to work on the red thread theme.

I love colours and when I started reading the book “A Perfect Red” by Amy Butler Greenfield which had just been translated into French last year, I got really excited and fascinated. I had no idea that the quest for a colour was so intimately linked with political, economical and scientific issues !

Then just before I left for the holidays I read somewhere the claim that black, red and white are the three major colours of mankind. Elsewhere Michel Pastoureau, a French historian specialized in colour, claims that red is THE ultimate colour. Black and white are sometimes said to be no colours. These 3 colours are associated with many symbols ; day, night, bone, earth, blood, life, death, power, desire, church….

Obviously as soon as I had made up my mind I saw red everywhere, in paintings, road signs and even insects !

Finally the Museum of Arts Décoratifs in Paris is organizing an exhibition on the colour red next March.

For me, working primarily from colours rather than concepts is an attempt to harmonize my efforts and also to go towards abstract.

Plus I have decided to buy a minimum of supplies this year, and a very large part of my existing stash is red based.

There you are ! :o)

Added later : the BNF - French National Library organized an exhibition on red and the costumes of designer Christian Lacroix a few years ago. The text is only in French but there are nice pictures of the costumes here.

Back from Italy and Bead Journal Project 2008

Alley in the fishing port of Chioggia, Venetia, Italy

Vegetable stall along the road, Venetia, Italy

Hello, I'm back from a lightning trip to Italy, one of my favourite places on earth ! I am very tired but I have the impression that everything is new in my head.

Graphosoma Lineatum

Today is the first day of Bead Journal Project 2008. Last year I chose to work mainly around the journal theme, trying to express faithfully moods, thoughts and dreams that came each month. In the end, I was a little annoyed by the lack of formal unity of my efforts. So this year, I have decided to work mainly with 3 colours, red, black and white, and to expand my format to a felt square.

May BJP : Serpent Wisdom

"Serpent Wisdom"

And so, this is my final page for the Bead Journal Project 2007. I'm a little late. it's because I didn't want the experience to stop. Ah well, I have enrolled in Bead journal Project 2008 so I'm not too sad...

In this page, I have made hints to the two powerful dreams I had in India. In the first one, I dreamt my favourite ring lost it's garnet stone and that I couldn't repair it. This actually happened a few weeks later during the month of May when I apparently lost the stone on the beach, helping my kids and nephews to build a hole in the beach - will I ever learn to take care of my things ? lol

Second dream involved a serpent who tried to kiss me. I was quite uncomfortable with this, as I kept thinking about Eve and Jungle Book Kaa. Then I listened to the wonderful audiotape by Clarissa Pinkola Estes In the House of the Riddle Mother. It reminded me that snakes and serpents are powerful archetypes that are found all around the World. Often (even in the Bible), they are associated with trees worship, wisdom, the Goddess Mother, spirituality, life (DNA)... Sometimes they come to teach us how to move gracefully through the ups and downs of life, says Pinkola Estes, as snakes are at home on earth, in water and even in air since they are able to jump. Wow. I recognised then that this dream was a gift.

Thinking back on one year of Bead Journal Project, I realized what a great year it has been for me. Since I enrolled in this project, I found the courage to do a shamanic retreat, and to fulfill a dream I'd had since I was a teenager ; going to India. This year I have grown as an artist (hey I said artist !) and as a person. Also I have met many wonderful people. It is a year to remember.

Last June, I was feeling sad and beaded a mourning Coyote. This May I was a little sad too, and decided that this page would be a pendant to the Coyote piece. Thus the mischievous snake wisdom. Also you can see in the page of motive from Robin Atkin's new book Hearts to Hand Bead Embroidery.

April BJP

"April in Paris"

Due to my little trip in India, I've had to do my March page in April and my April page in May, which I have found a little bit unsettling.

In April I was mostly in Paris. Well, April in Paris is supposed to be special and it is. However coming back from exuberant India, this month I had the impression that my country was washed out. No blunt colours, no strong smells, no noise, no constant sollicitation. In April I felt between two worlds. In April, I slowly managed to unwind and appreciate the subtleties of my home country. In April goes the French saying, "Ne te découvre pas d'un fil" (don't take even a thread off), meaning that the weather is very unstable, and it has been this year. In April, I've had great pain in the solar plexus region as well as various physical discomforts. Oh well, that's life...

The central motif is adapted from a kolam design, traditionnally drawn by South Indian women in front of their houses every morning to bring good luck on the family.

March BJP

"You go there"

Remembering my trip to India.

I edited this post after a few days, however I am putting back the links to the Theyyam ceremony to which the page is partly a reference :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theyyam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ygo98X-fUM&feature=related

BJP February

"Out of the box"

This is my BJP page for... February. When I was a child my parents often stressed the importance of having degrees ; they didn't have any, because life had played tricks on them. I remember a particular message from my mum ; she said I had to put all my efforts into obtaining my Baccalauréat (A levels), she used to say "you are a circle, and you have to find a way to get into this square. Just pretend you are a square for a while and then get on with your life". I didn't know I was a circle, I wasn't sure I wanted to be one, and found all this pretty mysterious and quite scary. I didn't understand either why square society was prejudiced against circles... This has been in my mind for quite some time :o)

Years later, I heard of the expression "getting out of the box". I also learnt that in India, sacred mandalas are based on circles and squares, which are supposed to represent heaven and earth. I also heard the thoughtful phrase "there is no way to happiness, happiness is the way". Thus the arrows that are also tendrils.

I'm in the middle of an emotional turmoil at the moment, and I have decided to use some of my savings to do a trip to India - a dream I've had since I was a teenager. Because I've just realized that no charming prince is going to come my way and fullfill all my dreams, it all depends on me somehow :o)

With love,

Hélène

BJP progress

Hello, I'm back :o)

This is my BJP page in progress for... February. What I really wanted to do is a square and a circle, though now I'm doing it I can see stories behing them, which I'll tell you about later on.

Take care,

Hélène