The SoulBearers line up...

I'm honestly besotted with these precious souls.  I've started prepping my heart and studio for their departure for the Triumph and Survival Auction.  I'm not trying to be presumptions at all by saying that but it feels like I'm sending my children out into the world and I need to prepare my mind.   If the don't sell at the auction then I get to hold them closer for a little longer, which will be sweetness either way.

I lay all my pieces out for the Auction to see what needed fixing and tweaking or extra layers of paint etc.  I still have a few things to tweak but I gained huge ground yesterday.  I still have two pieces to go.  My donation piece for Stephanie and one more painting.  I've also spent this week at my printers sorting out back up prints and cards etc. and tomorrow I order my custom made boxes for these souls.

I had no idea I could do this and I've always said {no} to this kind of commitment.  I like to work to my own agenda, at my own pace but I guess I'm growing up a little, right.

I've loved the whole process and yes, I'm nervous but so excited for Auction day.

I hope you will be there too.

Much Love, me.

She's finally home...

Finding her body to match her beautiful soul... took days and days.  I can't believe how much I struggled to find my way.  But I'm so glad I did.  I was reminded to keep it simple and go back to basics.  I used brown (raw umber) for the the first time on one of my figurines and I love it, with the cream accents, she's perfect.  I'm so thrilled with her.  She's with the rest of The Soul Bearers #InMyStudio and she is finally home.  She feels like Peace to me today.

Happy heart.

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Let's Face It - Going live...

Oh I'm so excited to share this piece, at last.  She's been under wraps until my mini-guest appearance went live today for Let's Face It.  I've been quite nervous and excited about this.  I so loved doing this piece for Let's Face It.  Thank you Kara for inviting me to do this insert.

As for this piece - she's now going towards my body of works for The Triumph and Survival Auction in October.  Which I'm so thrilled about.

Sleep tight, xoxo

 
 

Coming in to land...

This is our last massive week and it literally feels like we are holding our breath... our schedule is jammed packed this week.  Corks wraps up her exam schedule (phew), my Momma is arriving for a conference, Digz is out of town for work, play rehearsals, all the appointments leading up to the big dance and of course... The Big Dance.  Oh yes and a race and training.

 
 

It's tight but we are trusting it will go smoothly.  I can't believe we managed to pull it together, from appointments, the hair and of course the dress and she looks incredible.  Can't wait to share more about it but I'm thrilled to say once this week is behind us then we can start breathing a lot easier until we close out the year.

Happy week ahead. Much Love.

Jeanne-Marie

Conflict resolution...

 
 

I love where we were heading on Saturday morning and I fell head of heals in love with her sweet face.  She felt a little Geisha.  But by late Saturday afternoon it felt like we were in deep conflict resolution and nothing I was doing was working.  I slowly started shaving off her flowers one by one until I was back to her original form.  After dinner I started rebuilding and by the early hours of Sunday morning this is where we ended.  I'm not sure my efforts will save her from returning to the miry clay but for now she is drying and we live in hope that we can find our way home together.  I'll keep you posted how we go.

Me, xoxox

Snip snip or rather chop chop...

The other day I found myself flanked by both my girls in the changing room while Corks was trying on dresses for her final school dance... she was tall and beautiful to my right with an elegant long dress on and in high heels and Kitty was to my left, naturally tall and elegant (no heels needed) and me in the centre.

I was totally shocked by the "little old me" looking back at myself and I totally didn't recognise that old haggard lady.  How could that possibly be me?  How did this happen?  With the girls standing tall beside me, I literally felt like I had shrunk.  I know I have been rather stressed lately and it was evident on my face but my hair looked terrible... dry, old and lustreless.  I wasn't sure why I had been hanging onto it so fiercely.

I knew in that instant, I was going to cut my hair all off.  If you know anything about me you will know that I have had short hair issues and I have loved my long hair together with my girl's long hair.  In many ways, I defiantly refused to cut my hair for almost 2 decades.  It was very much a part of my femininity and my identity.  Whatever it was, it was deep.

 
 

My friend once told me she believed our hair carries our memories and after I saw the transformation in Kitty's personality after we cut away her long and heavy hair, I think there might be some truth to it.  Either way, I kind of love the notion of that.  If I think back to some of the memories in the last decade alone, a lot needed to go.  I needed to cut some things away.  I feel like I am in a new season and I am ready to move forward from the past - I think I've been ready for a while.   I did the cut in two stages because my hair was literally down to my lower back but once the first stage was gone, I was immediately ready for the second one.

I'm thrilled.  I didn't expect that.  I guess I was just ready.

I continue to be challenged to try and continue embracing how I get older... with grace and dignity and perspective.  No one told me how hard this would be but for now I feel rejuvenated.

Much Love, Me

Let's Face It...

Yesterday Kara announce her Let's Face It 2017 class line up and yes, I'm one of her Guest Teachers for next year and I'm so excited to be part of her incredible line up.  Never mind all the wonderful teachers but the content is going to be so amazing.  Plus I get to hang with some of my dearest friends.  Let's Face It is a year long class and it's full of incredible work and lessons.

Registration opens on the 10th October.  So don't forget to bookmark this link until then.

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Next Monday, the 12th September, my Let's Face It 2016 lesson goes live and I have to say I can't wait to share that painting, I've had to keep it under wraps all this time.  This painting will go towards the October Survival and Triumph Auction, but more about that next week.

My first {in person} class...

 
 

This week I am having my first {in person} class for The Soul Bearers in my home Studio.

I have ten lovely ladies coming over and we are getting to play with paper clay all evening and I am so excited.  Not only do we get to hang and share together but I get to make another figurine.  Making these Soul Bearers make me so incredibly happy.

I also start my official filming today for my little Soul Bearers class.

I can't wait.

PaperClay - Soul Bearers

Window to my heart...

I am finally starting to find my way with this piece...

It was the one I started last week, the one that I was desperate to paint but that felt physically painful.  I haven't felt that in a long time and I found it perplexing in many ways.   I wasn't sure how I was going to move forward tonight but I knew I didn't want to think about it too much.

There was a horizon line happening from her hair line and on it I saw buildings and it lead me in a new direction.  I'm still so in love with buildings and I know I still want to go there more.  I said I would this year.  In fact, I've just signed up for Jeanne Oliver's new class on buildings... about painting your own city/town.  And I can't wait to go there.

 
 

How wonderful to paint so gloriously big... about 500 times bigger than a teabag.  We aren't finished yet, but almost and I can't wait to finish her.  She's one of my pieces for the Survival and Triumph Auction in October.  I still have a few pieces left to pull together... but getting there.

Happy Heart tonight.

Random acts of kindness...

I received two acts of beautiful kindness this week from two fb friends, Lyn and Susan.  Lyn actually introduced me to Susan online, who decided to sign up for TeaBagGirls.  Susan is also South African and popped into Cape Town for a long weekend and I contacted her to see if she was keen on meeting up for coffee.  I don't get many art guests in these parts - so it's always a delightful opportunity when they come around.  Susan and her hubby were the kindest folk and I felt so blessed by our meeting up.  We had beautiful lunch together and getting to connect, chill and chat was so nurturing.  Thank you Susan and Lyn for touching my heart this week.  I love how kindness comes at time when the heart needs it the most.

So precious and thank you.

Love me, xoxo

Susan's beautiful hare and Lyn's incredibly moving TeaBag.

A tough one...

I'm not going to lie, this was a TOUGH week.  I am calling it my toughest and most stressful week of this year so far.  It feels like life has been throwing everything at me, all at once...  I've arrived at the end of the week in one piece, quite exhausted but breathing deeply.  Even though it has been hard, the kindness I found along the way has been restorative and healing.  I can't tell you how much I needed that.  So although it has been off the charts in terms of crazy difficult - I'm going to focus on the goodness that happened in spite of it all because hindsight is a beautiful thing and it's in these times that we gain ground.

This week was Corks hardest exam week... and it was also the week she had to hand in her final application of Art School for next year.  Her final piece was to do an architectural drawing, something she's actually never done before.   We spent a few hours driving around our beautiful city to find a landscape that she felt connected to.  It had to be a drawn from life - so she sketched up on the go.  It was handshaking stuff, a few tears, quiet withdrawing and head down moments.  The stress was tangible.  We know it's going to be tough getting in this art school due to the limited spaces available but we continue to live in hope.  If she doesn't get in then we go back to the drawing board but for now we exercise patience and grace while we wait.  Corks is still training heavily through this time as she continues to race most weekends.  Her training leaves her weeping some mornings.  I'm not sure I fully understand her level of grittiness but it sure does break my heart.  I wish I could make life easier for her at the moment but she is walking through this time with such grace and maturity.  I'm here beside her and that's all I can do.

Digging deep together has been deeply bonding and right now I'm claiming all the moments I can get with her.  My word for this year was {time} and I'm taking it... tough or not.

 
 

I must say I've been desperate to paint something bigger than a teabag but with so much stress, I've found it hard to focus.  I'm also finding with the days warming up, my paints have been fighting with me a bit.  Painting here this week felt physically painful and I haven't felt like that for a long time.  I love where we stopped and I hope to continue with her and hope she will help me find my way home.

As tough as it was to get this far - it did calm me down quite a bit.

TeaBagGirls continue to show up.  Even in the struggle of this time.  I'm almost ready to drop off my next batch.  And head into my next 40 TeaBag Batch.

 
 

Friday was a long day, I picked up my Mac from the Doctors after my mini crash.  I got to spend 2 full hours with Kitty while we waited for Corks to come out of exams and when I got home I crashed on her bed capturing the final moments of light before the sun dipped behind the mountain.  Forcing self nurture is as important as showing up.

Finding moments to be still, is kind... I hope you find these moments too.

Much love, me xoxox

200 TinyBagsofLove....

I received my next 40 teabaggirls framed and I'm so thrilled.  I now have 200 framed.  It's a hang of a milestone, I know but I still have 166 left to get framed.  I am working in increments of 40.  It's more than a little overwhelming.  I set the 40 day appointments in my calendar, in advance so I know what to work towards and for some or other reason, it really does help me to show up.  I need the target to keep me going strong.  Appointments make it more real for me, it's a real commitment.... one I've managed to honour.  So that being said, my next delivery is this week.

I'm so moved by the collectiveness of this image.

 
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It's been an incredible project so far and a mammoth undertaking.

Almost 8 months done and 4 to go.

Birds of a feather... Flock together

I'm besotted with her...

Considering she almost didn't make it and I almost gave up on her 3 times, I'm amazed at how connected I feel to her.  From the beginning I wasn't happy with her at all.  She felt clumsy and her neck was too short and thick and her face and body proportions just felt so off for me.  Creating birds around and above her head, gave me the height I was after.  When I was rebuilding her, I completely overcrowded her with birds so much so that I had to remove some of them to make her less cluttered... yip a struggle all the way through.

 
 

Seriously though, her hands and her tender-hearted face, was worth every hour I tried to rescue her.  Up until now all my hands have been the same color as the bodies but I wanted her elegant hands to be seen as they added so much emotion to her story.  It was the first time I painted hands and it completely transformed her.  The birds took about 3 different coats to settle on the color that I loved.  There is no doubt, she was hard work and she made my earn the right to her presence.  Maybe that's why I love her so much.

She will be in the Triumph and Survival Auction in October.

There is so much symbolism in her for me... 

Her gentleness and empathy outshone her imperfections.  She is a reminder to me, that we are all worthy of saving no matter where we find ourselves.  She is courageous in her resilience to be found and seen.  She is so gentle and kind that even the birds feel safe around her.

 

I filmed most of her rescue for my The Soul Bearers workshop... how even in the ugly messes, you can find your way back.

 
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Love, me

Photos prohibited...

 
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Corks took this picture while she was in Italy. It's my favorite image from her European trip and might quite possibly be my favorite capture from this year, for sure.  It's classic and timeless and if it wasn't for her reflection in the window I might not have believed she had taken it.  I could possibly have thought she found this old picture on the Internet.

I absolutely love everything about it... From the bearded guy in the chair, right down to the sign and posters on the window. 

xoxo

TinyBagsofLove - Beautiful works

Beautiful works in my TinyBagsofLove class continue to pour in.  What an incredible experience and to be part of such a wonderful group of artists.  I've been so blown away by the level of work, participation and love in our little class.  I just want to say a huge thank you for showing up and loving what you are doing.  The most incredible thing for me is seeing how everyone has gone in their own directions, from typing on teabags to using plaster to a variety of incredible different things.

Finding their own way in the intuitive process... YES.

Much Love, Me

 
 

Could this be any more precious - Robin Laws

Sign Up

The class is still open for registration and time for you to join in with all the TeaBagLove.

 
 

I'll keep growing this gallery as they continue to come in.

Exciting News...

The Soul Bearers

After many requests to share my process of how I make these precious souls - I decided to put together a little workshop for you, exclusively about making and creating these soulful beings, with a story... their story.

I'm calling my workshop - The Soul Bearers.

Together we will create 3 different soulful beings using paper clay.  It will be about finding your own Soul Bearer with what you have around you and inside you.  I hope you will join in and journey together with me as we create and find our sacred, beautiful beings through the imagery and stories buried within us.

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I am a Portugal-based artist, creating soulful, nature-inspired portraiture that evokes a deep contemplation and a quiet solitude that can be found in all of us.