Hare Tales

This is the first time in my adult life I've not lived with a rabbit or 2.  I've owned 8 since I left my parents' home, (including the one I kidnapped off my S-I-L) and it really annoys me that I don't have any now, but I'm terrified of either a) the summer heat and/or b) the snakes or the hunting dogs killing them, so for now I'm bunnless, boohoo!
We've had house rabbits lolloping around the place that are perfectly house trained, rabbits who think they are dogs, rabbits with attitude, rabbits that play football..........
But me oh my, hares really, really get me going. There is something so mystical, instinctive and elemental about them. I am pretty sure, but perhaps it's a myth, that they are untameable and the stress of captivity kills them. Otherwise, oh yes, I'd have one.

Hares were two of my Firsts. The first large sculpture I ever created was of a hare, made with a mix of cement and crushed terracotta. Also, the first artwork we ever bought was an etching by Georgina Warne, at a time when we could barely afford food. God, it was SO worth living off nothing but pasta for a month, I still love it.

 The other day I was reading Liza Corbett's post about Beth Cavener Stichter. I've never seen her work before, just cop an eyeful of these.

 

  

Then there was my dream that had me creating this series of harewoman pictures

 

and after selling this drawing

 

I thought sod it, and bought this very beautiful Nordic Blue Hares gocco print from Dee Beale. Yes, I know, I shouldn't sell art to buy art but a girl is allowed the odd treat here and there isn't she? Doesn't make me a bad person.

 

treasure hunt

What seems like years ago in the scheme of things, I posted a whinge about how I has won a Yashica GSN on Ebay, that claimed to be in good order, but turned out to be fecked to feck. (I'll come back to my bad language in a minute, stay tuned) To his credit, the guy I bought it from refunded me half the cost, and then I had to get my old handyman husb to get it working. Well he did, and it's working sweet as can be. He still has  not repaired the light seals yet, but it's amazing what you can do with some black insulating tape (apart from stick it on your nipples)

So to check it worked ok, me and the girl gang went off to one of our favourite places. Emmaüs is a charity that supports the homeless, and has loads of secondhand stores all over France. The one in Carcassonne is a bit pants, but in the other direction is the one at Pamiers, which is a real Aladdin's Cave. Open Sesame!

Those beautiful shoes in the middle? Yep, we bought them.

 

  

  

Fur coats. *gulp*

 

 

The little grey knitted dog with the red coat? Yep, bought him too.

I hadn't at this point sussed out the focussing, but actually I don't mind too much, some of the blurry ones are pretty cool. I think I've got it worked out now tho, it's a bit weird but I am so crazy about this camera I tell you.

At one point when one of the ladies who work there asked me why I was taking pictures, as I tried to photograph the Nun's habits(!) (I've got a terribly Catholic fascination for Nuns and all things Nunny) and I did my best gallic shrug at her. I take photographs I said, and she shrugged back at me.

And the cherry on the cake: Romy has been doing her work experience at a Photography studio all week and she developed and printed all these pics for me, on her own.

Oh yes, my bad language. I try very hard to keep it clean on here. And I know I've already sent you over to look at Ink On My Fingers once this week, but you just have to read this post, provided you are not of a delicate disposition; it's so liberating and oh ho so funny!

Hello Feb

Goodbye January, always a bit tricksy aren't you? Not enough daylight, not enough money, not alot to get excited about. Today feels like a fresh start. This morning I sat down with my usual bucket of coffee made with soya milk (I can't stand cow's milk fyi) and wrote my list of 'must dos' for the week. The most exciting part is today I start Flourish, a 5 week e-course run by Stephanie Fizer aimed at sorting out disorganised, flaky twonks like me into confident and organised go-getters. Tall order, but whatever.

Last night I had a long chat to my dearly loved best friend in the whole world, Melanie (that's her above, trying to look artfully contemplative but really dreaming about a glass of rosé.) I miss her so much and we only see each other once a year nowadays. We have been friends for about 20 years, and shared so much. One of the things that you can never prepare for when you move to another country is how much you really, really miss your friends and family. These past 2 years have been even harder as we have been unable to afford a trip back to England, and we have 2 family weddings coming up in 2010  it's unlikely we will make it to either, and so visitors are a massively exciting treat for us.  Some are frequent visitors, some not so much and some have never been (you bastards!)
Hey you! Yes you! If you ever want to come and visit me you will be most welcome chez nous! If you are coming from England don't forget the teabags and marmite. If you are from elsewhere, let me sample your country's finest offerings. Just remember I'm veggie, so Hermione, no dried reindeer. And the rest of you don't forget I hate cow milk products. Except cheddar.

What have you got planned for the week?

wonderland

You know how excited I am when I get photographs back from the lab? Well following on from my recent guided tour of Limoux, I just wanted to share these with y'all, taken with the several kilo-weighing Praktica, great for those bingo wings. A few months ago I bought a job lot of Ferrania Solaris film, a weird Italian brand that has a group of die-hard devotees here on flickr. Well my jury is still out on whether it's complete and wanton disregard for reliability leads to very serendipitous pics; shut your eyes, jump in and cross fingers; or not.
The woman who works in the lab has already given me a stern lecture about using it, she can't understand why the hell I can't stick to Kodak and be done with it. She's in for trouble next week tho'; Romy is doing her week long work experience with her then, and she loves a good ruck.
So who's right, Me or Labwoman?

 

 

(of course you will pick me won't you?)

and for all of you, who like me, find that blogging is enjoyable but sometimes difficult. Hard to find the time, to be inspired, to find things to write about; but most of all to visit all the blogs you like to read, and to comment on them; reply to your comments and visit commentators blogs. Just read this post on  Ink On My Fingers. We are not alone, my friend.

My Dear Watson

Last night I saw the new Sherlock Holmes film, and guess what? I loved it! I was so surprised I enjoyed it so much for several reasons, including the fact that I've never ever seen a Guy Ritchie movie before as I assumed he was a bit Boy's Own and hackneyed-cliché riddled. Also, I'm well into Holmes, and for me he has always been Jeremy Brett and I didn't think anyone else could measure up. But I got to say Robert Downey Jr: rahr, purrr! Just needs a pair of glasses.

Victorian London looked fabulous, cue a surge of patriotism and Union Jack waving, damn we looked good in those days; All very gothic and steampunk and Jules Verne-ish. Fab. Today I shall feel so glad to be an Englishman in France, probably won't last long but hey-ho!
And what's weird is how these funny co-incidences pop up. Here I am, working on new circus themed book and right now I am drawing pictures of the circus dogs. There was this scene in the film where Holmes goes searching for a midget in a street circus, and yep, there were these little performing dogs, gawd blimey!

Not a very good image, sorry about that but you get the gist? Anyhoo, here's one of mine

 That's Chris Martin's doppelganger there on that ball.

So all this has got me thinking about films. You know how it is, some you like despite your normal taste, some you feel you should like but don't get, some that you refuse to see, some that are guilty pleasures.......

Here's mine

Wish I could watch again but found too harrowing/ Pan's Labyrinth

Love it despite the over-use and over-popularity/ Amelie

Hate despite popular opinion/ Pirates of the Carribean Films

Guilty pleasure/ Benny and Joon (note the presence of Johnny Depp in these last two. When did he get crappy? I love Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood. Hate Pirates, Chocolat, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory........)

Surprised by/ Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine and Lemoney Snicket

Refuse to see/ Slum Dog Millionaire

All Time Faves/ Donnie Darko and Spirited Away.

So what's on your list? And go see Sherlock Holmes.

Oh yes, must add that my Queen's Croquet Ground was featured on Beyond the Pale, something else lovely and quintessentially English. Hurrah!

Department of Reclusive Paranoia

Well it would seem some of you are a bit taken with my print featured here and I promised I would tell all.
So fact is, you may have noticed I'm rather keen on all things Radiohead, and that includes the band's artwork which is always the work of Stanley Donwood, although sometimes Thom Yorke gets in on the act too, calling himself Dr Tchock. The two of them have been friends since their art school days and they often collaborate. Stanley is such a great artist, he works in a wide variety of media such as  painting, screenprinting, collage, linoprinting, digital illustration and he also writes stories. My kind of guy. A couple of years back Stanley and Thom had an exhibition in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and they produced an extremely limited run of screen printed posters to publicise it. They were sold through Stanley's website Slowly Downward on a first come first serve basis for something ridiculous like 20 quid, and I was lucky enough to get in quickly, one VERY happy bunny.
I am also (cough) the proud owner of this beauty

This signed and limited edition Crying Minotaur screenprint was a birthday present 4 years ago. It's based on the artwork Stanley produced for the Amnesiac album. Oh yes, and to prove what a cool man he is; I emailed his agent when I was a student, and asked them to put a few questions to Stanley. Next day I got an email from SD himself saying 'fire away'. He not only answered my questions but he emailed me after graduation to ask me how I got on. God I love him, I don't even mind he's a slaphead. And no, before you ask, it's not an unhealthy obsession, I am in control.

 

Go look at his work here

saturday afternoon

I'm not a morning person, so I relish my laid back Saturdays. No school, drinking coffee in my jammies and listening to Adam and Joe (who have unfortunately gone off air for a bit, boo!) until I feel ready to go shopping.
My local town is called Limoux, and it's here I have to 'do' the supermarket :( 
but there's also lots of great places to go too :D
Fancy a peek?  Good job, cos luckily for you I had my camera in the bottom of my bag this week.
So, after getting the supermarket out of the way as quickly as possible, we head off to a café. This week we went to La Commerce and the best cappuccinos ever. A discovery made thanks to Urte, who I met up with there on Friday. She is delighted by the great comments left for her, by the way. Go Team Urte!

Then it's off to the patisserie and stare in wonder at the fèves and Galettes des Rois unfortunately a bit too pricey for us, so we just window lick

 

But hurrah, no matter! On the other side of the road is my favourite shop of all, Senteurs et 100 Thés. Smelling wonderful and looking gorgeous (like moi) it sells yummies that you can't resist and I reckon a justifiable treat for braving the supermarket: Freshly ground coffees, the widest range of teas and infusions I've ever seen, herbs and spices, incenses, organic cosmetics......get the picture? Mmmm mmmm.

Perfect, and they don't even mind the mad camera-toting woman.

 

 

Then the afternoon gets rounded off beautifully with a trip to the secondhand store, which I don't think I've ever once come away from empty handed. This weeks haul included a Bontempi keyboard, a Cacherel jumper, lots of buttons and these little beauties, a vintage Brio wooden bug and a 70s Fisher Price Happy Apple for 30 cents.

and this very cool mug, great with the Rooibos Soleil du Sud I bought earlier, hehe!

When we got home, Romy and I came up with this. She loves Edward Cullen. I think he's a plonker. Please choose sides.

Urte

Do you remember how I was off to do a christmas fair last month? No? Well it wasn't the most successful thing I ever did, but something good came from the experience nonetheless. I ended up having a really good old natter with one of the other sellers, Urte (rhymes with water or aorta, depending on your mindset) Reyes, who makes the most beautiful ink drawings of strange, imaginary and amusing creatures.
It's great finding out how other strays like us ended up in this little corner of France, Urte was one of those with an interesting journey via Mexico, Canada, UK and Brooklyn (probably a few other places as well) and we've kept in touch since. She is very lovely and self deprecating and is somewhat hiding her light, so I asked her if it would be OK to share her work with you all out there in blogland, 'cos she hasn't dipped her toe into these exotic and tempestuous waters as of yet. However, I shall nag her to get herself a site or blog, get herself onto Dawanda or Etsy and generally be a pain in her backside till she gets on with it. Watch out girl, I'm on your case! Talent like hers should not go un-noticed. And in the meantime, if any blog readers are interested in her work, she sells small prints of these drawings; email me and I will pass your message on.

top to bottom: The Rabbit Roars; Move That Butt; Poised Marvel

You can see more of Urte's work here

 

So life is getting back to normal now after our 'exciting' snow, and all round silliness, and I for one am so glad to see the back of it. I'm a bit peeved tho' as I shot a roll of snow-related film in the Konica S3 that the Mr picked up for 5 euros in November, only to find it hadn't wound on properly. Bah! The Pain! Would you like to see my film camera cranny, missus?

Unfortunately the films for the Polaroid and the Kodak Instamatics are not made anymore, I just keep them for no good reason, but all the rest are used. I'm procrastinating about opening an etsy vintage shop and the unused cameras may end up there. Hmmm, we'll see. On verra.  And don't you just love the robot strap on the Praktica? That came from here, Joe has one on his Zenit as well, they are just adorable.

where the drifts get deeper

It seems as if most of Europe is being snowed on right now. Our electricity is a bit hit and miss at the moment too, so this will be the third time I've tried to write this post. It's getting much worse as the strong wind is making the (still falling) snow drift and it's deadly out there. We checked on our neighbours, little old ladies Suzanne and Margot this morning, but honestly these french paysannes are like brick shithouses! I think they quite relish it, as it reminds them of the good old days when life was simple. And because they've always known a tougher kind of life, they are well prepared, have plenty of logs (which they no doubt chop themselves) stockpiled food from their summer homegrown produce and plenty of handmedown knitted blankets to keep them warm.  They don't give two hoots about the internet or TV not working, unlike us.
Luckily we have a log burning stove and a propane gas cooker not to mention the fact I AM the Queen of Candleworld, so we'll be just fine too.

I just hate it.

(photos Olympus OM10 and Fujifilm)

home sweet home

Well I don't know about you, but I feel as if a New Year should always be started with a tidy house and a tidy mind. So therefore I've decided to take some time out from studio work and try to get other areas of my life shipshape, before it descends into the usual chaos, punctuated by my frustration at the inability to find anything (normally it's in one of our various disaster drawers); kids asking "Mum have you filled in my form for the Barcelona trip/found my sport clothes/picked up my glasses from the optician?" and a long list of calls and emails to do whilst living in a house covered with a patina of dust and general grubbiness. The last few days have seen me dementedly cleaning and sorting, but it's a much bigger task than I realised and will probably take weeks, litres of coffee and doorstep slabs of brie.
The biggest motivating factor in getting some semblance of order is that we need to sell our house, and quick sharpish. All this travelling between here and Carcassonne for school is driving me crazy and so we need to move into the city, and before next September when Romy changes school. The house has been up for sale for 4 months but so far, nada.
How do you fancy living in the sunny South of France, halfway between the sea and the mountains, in a pretty and very typical village? Well, go on then, make me an offer!

And if that's not to your taste, we also are trying to sell a farmhouse we bought a year ago and have never done anything with, but still have to make monthly mortgage payments on. Honestly, it seemed a good idea at the time. 
Meanwhile, I'm snapping on the Marigolds and braving the back of the undersink cupboard. I may be some time, send help if I'm not back within 3 days.