Small Signs of Spring...

The small signs of spring are multiplying everywhere here in western France, even though in some ways we seem poised between the seasons. I still need my warm winter coat but some days I can unbutton it while I walk and feel just a hint of a different quality in the air. And for those of you who are yet experiencing the harsh North American winter I don't mean to tease...just provide a bit of encouragement! All images of the wonderful growing things and animals at the Jardin des plantes, Nantes' botanical garden, are from one of my daily walks there last week.

Spring has officially arrived and brought with it a trio of new goat kids at the Jardin des Plantes...

I've added a few spring favourites to my "micro garden" outside the apartment door...

  

 

   

 And soon it will be time to find places for everyone out of doors in the courtyard...

 

Inside the cats are still in their cozy winter mode, sleeping much and taking over all the most comfy chairs for long siestas.

 

Twiggy Miranda in her favourite place...

 

There's not much room here but still I manage to make and do quite a lot... This week began with some new fae furniture coming into the human world...

 

A fae seamstress' work table with tiny hand crank sewing machine, vintage style.

 A fae reader's corner for curling up with a good book and a cup of tea.

 A fae fireplace with cheery flames cut from dried Chinese lantern flowers and a basket of logs close at hand.

 

 I have also begun experimenting with some lovely naturally twisty wood, copper and quartz to make fae wands. ( Available on my Artemis Jane shop: http://www.artemisjane.etsy.com ).

 

Come and visit again soon...Flea market dolls await...

 

 

as do vintage bottles---mind the mischievous faery trying to squeeze free!---

and a shelf full of art and magical things..

Wishing you all a joyful spring!

Spring segues into Summer

Away from blogging for such a time that now spring is turning towards summer, I have plans to be away yet again in travel, in Paris and other parts of France and then on to do workshops and performances at festivals in the UK in August. Life is interesting and ever changing---my art is the creative thread that holds it all together, no matter how tenuously. I do hope to stay in touch better even during my coming time on the road! Let me share with you some of what I've seen and done of late...

One of my recent projects was a papier-mache pulp and fiber mask adorned with flattened, rusty bottle caps and sea glass, made for a dance performance in Paris. Here it is on my work table nearly complete...

So many fae furniture orders have been coming my way as well... Here are a few ready to ship...

 

I have been obsessed with recording the plethora of blooms and the lovely spiral beginnings of ferns in the Jardin des Plantes and most particularly the baby goats at the mini farm of the Jardin. I was there for the birth of one kid who is my special favourite. He is quite tame, content to climb into my lap and curl up like a cat even though he is a bit older now and sporting tiny nubbin horns. Here he is at a few days old...

There were so many varieties of fiddleheads in the Jardin, varying from around nine centimeters across to delicately minute lacy curls...

 

I played with fallen petals and listened to the frogs' mating songs... 

 
I am not long back from the beautiful countryside of Burgundy (Bourgogne) in the east of France, where I traveled by train to spend two and a half weeks. I walked at sunset along quiet roads...

And conversed with magical hoofed beings of great beauty...

 

 

There were roses in the gardens and hedgerows...

and vintage doorways with mandala like designs...



















And when I came back to the west, I spent a day in the countryside near the ocean. The light was so intense that the world became a high contrast composition in shadow and highlights...

 

And once again there were flowers everywhere...

Well... not quite everywhere...

A collection of random French photos--Spring and other things...

Lately I've been dogged by a strange mood that has kept me unable and unwilling to make art. I am trying to be gentle with myself but I don't enjoy creative inactivity. All I've been able to accomplish in recent days seems to be the digital equivalent of reams of photos--mostly subjects I would normally consider cliche but currently view as an antidote to my admittedly mild but unpleasant state of mind, be it caused by depression, boredom or what have you. Sometimes living within another country and culture can take its toll no matter how lovely the place. There is always a certain sense of being an outsider and alone. I'm also the caregiver for someone who is nearly six month's way into an eleven month long treatment for a serious illness. I know this responsibility alone could be enough to push down my normally optimistic state despite recognizing all I have to be grateful for in my life and the lovely commencement of Spring here.

I hope sharing this group of photos will provide a bit of interest for those who care to look a little closer at the world as I experience it visually. I view them as my mood elevators--- and I hope you will too.

 

 

 

 

 

And I'll leave you with a couple in a different mood...