First time, in person teaching @ Saluda

On Sunday Jane organised a meet and greet at her studio in Saluda.  It was a cheese and wine and an answer and question session, open to anyone who wanted to meet me.  It really was a wonderful time.  The questions were great and I got to talk about my journey through the past few years of my art that lead me to my Teabag Exhibition.  I was nervous, I don't have the loudest voice so I had to use a lot of energy to speak up.

Kitty stood by my side and handed me water when I needed it, and I needed it a lot.  I am not that comfortable having everyone looking at me so having her beside me was rather anchoring.  And she was a lovely distraction too.

Kate Thompson and Phyllis Riley

Thank you for capturing this Phyllis Riley

I love this capture so much

After this time, we did some teabag demonstrations and I did a painting session for some folk that got to stay behind and paint with me.  I met some new people and it was lovely.  We didn't have a lot of time and my paints were fighting with me.  The humidity level was high and the aircon was on and my paints felt like plastic goo so I was struggling.  Not easy when you are doing a demo.  I've always pretty much worked in the same climate so weather issues didn't even cross my mind.  Luckily I had my sweet friend Phyllis Riley standing right beside me the whole time and her gentle presence made me feel okay.

Thank you my friend, you will never know what that meant to me.

My nerves were edgy and my hands were shaky but everyone was so kind with me and helped me find some calm.  It was my first time doing something like this so the stress was to be expected.

Loved hanging with Kitty and Phyllis in between sessions @ Random Arts.

Thank you Random Arts, Jane and Phyllis for hosting me and for allowing this to be my first experience.

On the following Tuesday and Wednesday I taught SoulBearers and I was so excited to be sharing this class and I felt less intimidated by it.  And playing with clay is kind of nurturing for me, so I felt more encouraged that the shaky hands would be less of an issue and it was.  I only had a few moments when everyone gathered close around that my hands would take on a life of their own. :-)

I think being utterly in love with paper clay definitely helped.  I had no idea how I would respond to teaching in person, in this forum. I was either going to love it or hate it.  And I have to say I absolutely loved it.  

Most of all I loved the people and the soul connecting one on one during the lessons.  I learn as much from my peers as they did learning from me and each other and that to me was the most magical part of all of it.  

Demo number 2 - a seated SoulBearer

I'm so grateful for the incredible artists I got to meet and I feel I made such precious connections.  I will never forget this time.

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Meeting these beautiful people in person was my biggest highlight to my trip in Saluda.  Everyone was truly amazing and blessed me in abundance.  Generosity and kindness was off the charts and I couldn't have hoped for more, it was beautiful in every way.

How beautiful are these girls.  I feel so blessed to have had these precious moments with all of them.

What an incredible bunch of souls.

My life has been deeply enriched by these incredible ladies - I know I'm a little changed after this experience.  And I know Kitty loved every minute of meeting you all.  To all of you who showed her how to play her Uke - it was a moment she will never forget.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

xoxoxo 

Kate came to play...

Jane Powell had asked if I would paint her last cabinet door for the Random Art's Kitchen and I said... "yes".  It was a bit harder and bigger than I expected and the pressure to do something special was on.  Kate was due to arrive too and I was rather excited to meet her.

Kate and Phyllis are good friends and often get together to work in studio.  It was a dream come true to be in studio with both of them.  I got to work behind Kate and see her panting this exquisite piece all day.  I loved being able to watch her process.  I worked on my cabinet door and Phyllis was working on two different paintings.  I couldn't believe I was sitting in Phyllis' incredible studio working with both these amazing artists.

My Kitchen cabinet door

Kate in Action - Photo by Phyllis

I'm so grateful my door was done but I just wish we had more time in studio together.

I'm so grateful Kate drove out to stay over with us, I know it was a long drive for her.  But it was such a treat for me.  We all went out to dinner together with Bob too.

All 'n all, another fabulous day.

Thank you Kate and Phyllis - this will be one for the books.

Jane with her new kitchen cabinet door.  I loved all the doors.

Beautiful Asheville...

We headed out with a mission and that was to explore Asheville.  Phyllis started us in the art district and we got to enjoy the graffiti art in this designated area.  It was a visual treat of note.  And a brilliant day for our instamatic cameras.  What an area.  I love that they have made a space for local artists.

WHITE DUCK TACO'S

It was the first time Kitty and I had ever tried Taco's and it was heaven, right there.  To date, we haven't been able to match White Duck's Tacos.  We came close in San Diego but we will keep looking.

Thank you Phyllis for the intro, we might be a little addicted.

Bangkok shrimp was incredible.

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After lunch we headed to Cheap Joe's Art Stuff.

What a cool art shop.  I needed to pick up some basics for my first class.

I love art shops and I was quite keen to see the local ones and if what they had on offer was very different to our shops.  Michaels and DickBlicks were definitely on my list of art shops to visit too.

I even got to pop into Phyllis' little art shop in Hendersonville called the Starving Artist.  It was a real treat. 

We absolutely loved this building 4 Floors of artists studios and spaces.  Live demos and artists working and selling their work.  I was so blown away by this initiative.  

Beautiful sites in Asheville

I love this image with the flag blowing - the view from the Sky Bar.

Honey Heaven in Asheville - a little honey tasting session.

 A delightful book store with a Champagne Bar.  What a beautiful way to end this perfect day in this creative town.  My artist heart was overflowing.  Phyllis is a brilliant tour guide.  We had the best day.

We once again headed home and headed straight to bed.

Thank you Phyllis.

Love Jeanne-Marie

Our first full day in America...

After a goodish night sleep we woke up ready to gently take in our first full day in the United States.  I think our first stop being North Carolina, was the perfect entry point for our journey into the US.  We had heard about "Southern Hospitality" but seeing it in action took us by surprise and we truly loved all of it.  Arriving at Phyllis and Bob's was a soft landing and we needed it.

We woke up to good coffee and sweet Daisy Girl loves and Phyllis who is every bit as wonderful in person as she is online, well even better.  She has remarkable capacity and is one funky mama.  She is very much up with the times and styling all the way and Kitty and her hit it right off.  Phyllis worked through Kitty's American Wishlist, no problem.  I know this for sure, we will never forget our precious time in the South or our time in Phyllis' home.

First stop... 

A trip to the Grocery store was the first thing on our list of things to experience because we had heard about the choices... and we were blown away, for sure.  The chip lane (I say 'lane' because it took me around 20 seconds to walk the length of it)... the variety.  GOODNESS me.

"I love MILK DUDS" - became our favourite line this whole trip.

We popped into Walgreens to get American adaptors for your equipment and everyone was so genuinely friendly in the stores.  The friendliness really bowled us over.  After a few errands Phyllis took us through to meet Jane Powell from Random Arts and to see the studio and I took my box of goodies for set up.  It was perfect.

On our way home we stop off for an all American Burger at Wendy's... another wishlist - check.

We headed home and crept into bed early.  Our clocks were out of sync for sure.

Long haul... the anxiety was real.

All I can say is traveling long haul isn't for the fainthearted.  I was anxious to be flying so far and for so long.  The furtherest I've gone is Europe so this was new ground for me.  All I can say is I was grateful for my buddy who was so excited to be doing her first international flight.

Everything was so exciting... her blanket, earphones, movies and the aeroplane food.

She was delightful.

But even her delight was waning after two long days of voyage and navigating 5 flights, the different airports with short layovers and the time zones were killer.  The stress was real and my anxiety was off the charts.  I know there is lots of stuff happening in and around the world at the moment but the angst at security check points were a little more than intense.  And a MotherDaughter traveling duo just seemed suspect to some, right?  I know the times require it, but my nerves were edgy by the end.  

We arrived at sweet Phyllis exhausted, in dire need of a shower and not able to put another morsel down our throats.  A shower and bed is all we could manage.

We were so grateful to have a soft landing at Phyllis'.

We are home...

We are back home and unpacked and surviving the jet lag and busy catching up on love, life and everything else.

We are happy to be home and back with our loved ones and pups... nothing like distance and time away to make the reconnection sweeter.

I'm busy going through the pictures and thinking how I'm going to share our journey.  Please bear with me as I find my way with this.  I'm busy working through all my emails and letters from while I was away and I will touch base as soon as I can.

As for this girl of mine, she was a pleasure to have as a travel companion.  I'm so grateful for her and our trip and that we got to experience this together... it changed us completely, from deep within.

For now, I will leave you with one thing that seems to be the only thing I can truly get out of my soul at this stage and that's...

THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

Thank you for having us, for loving and accepting us, for graciously hosting us and filling our hearts to the brim with generosity, kindness, hospitality and abundance.

We have come home expanded... heart and soul.  I can never thank you enough for what this trip did for my Kitty girl, it came at the most perfect time for her and I know it's been an absolutely defining moment in her life.  The gratitude and emotions are spilling over and I'm not sure how to contain all of that.  I hold in my hands these beautiful keepsakes of our time and the rest remains in my heart to tap into during the next while and I look forward to unpacking that more with you.

All my love, always... Jeanne-Marie

Final Magazine Spread...

My final magazine spread for my TinyBags story.

Premier Lounge Magazine

I loved that they included this piece on a full double page spread... because it was one of my Dad's favourite pieces.

  These are not magazines you can buy on the shelf anywhere, they are especially placed in private airport lounges. I'm thrilled to say that my Aunt and Uncle were flying to the UK to see their daughter when they stumbled across this in their Airport Premier Lounge.  I just loved that.

So grateful for the exposure.  Thank you once again Premier.

NightCapped Girls...

I don't know what to say about these two girls... they have continued to perplex and challenge me from the beginning.  

I spent some more time and many more layers on these two.  My first layers were rough (see my previous post) and I felt rusty and frustrated and my canvas wasn't playing nice.  

It's been an interesting journey but I'm happy to let them rest here a little.  I may come back to them a little later.  But for now, I have some study time ahead of me this weekend.

 I also have some blank canvases calling my name... I can't wait.

Getting my brushes wet and my eye back in...

I am loving just showing up to paint and see where it takes me.

It feels like such a luxury at this stage of my life and schedule.  My filming SD card was full but I wish I filmed this, especially the painting of these hands.  They were teaching me some tough lessons.  But wow... I loved it and learnt so much.

I am so grateful for these past few days of painting and I hope for many more.

"Holding my inner thoughts and words..." -  it's busy up there, in my mind sometimes but it's in the painting and creating that helps me order them.

I am still on such a journey of painting hands and I love including them in my work but I find they can still catch me off guard and I still have to work through my inner struggles about them.  If you find you have similar issues and are looking for an introduction tutorial to including hands in your work... My mini tutorial is still available.

Come paint with me...

As you know, I am guest teaching on Let's Face It 2017 - I knew in my mind and schedule I had to start filming my lesson but to be honest, I've hardly turned on my camera this year.  There just hasn't been time with all the exhibition, auction and interviews around my TinyBagsofLove.  And of course, prepping for my trip and you know, life serving us curve balls.

Time is never on my side, I know this is a reality for many of us.

When I am filming myself, the pressure is on and I feel it in all ways.  As my dear friend Robin Jane says... it feels more like performing arts. What I've been doing to get comfortable in front of the camera again, is to keep the camera rolling and hopefully capture something that I will love and that will be good enough to share.  The joy about doing that, is that sometimes I forget it's rolling and I can get lost in the process rather than focus on the performance.

This canvas was heavenly to work on and I knew in my Stabilo draw up, I was already in love and then watching them unfold was just such a joy for me.

I look forward to doing my lesson for you when I get home.

In between life...

In between the craziness, I managed to squeeze in some studio time at Dale's.  I was so exhausted because I had just done a 4 hour round trip to drop Corks off out of town for a race and I managed to make it to class.  I didn't feel inspired for anything but it sure did feel like therapy.

And I needed that more than anything.

The thing I love about this kind of play, is that it's pretty hard to make an ugly plate and there is something so therapeutic about pushing beautifully carved wooden stamps into beautiful raw clay and then receiving a beautiful outcome.

It feels like a promise and we can always do with that...

Love Jeannie

This little Soul... spoke to mine

I loved making and painting this little Soul...

"In her quiet wisdom, she understood the value of humble autonomy and
with a maternal grace and a tenderhearted openness,
she embraced all she needed to".

What is it about beautiful brushes...

I'm not sure why beautiful brushes and gorgeous paints make me so happy but this was a beautiful way to spend my birthday vouchers.

Thank you for gifting me art vouchers... and just getting that it's the way to my heart.

I have discovered the most beautiful brushes in the world...  Catalyst brushes by Princeton.

Robin Laws and Betty Wilkins have both sent me some and they are are like heaven for me.  When I'm in the states now, I might just have to stock up because we don't get them here.

It really is the small things that make me so happy.

Sending love, Jeanne-Marie

I'm rusty...

I've been freaking out a little, with our lives been turned upside down with Digz immobility and with me picking up so many extra duties, studio time has been eluding me.  I find it hard to rest in this place and know it too is just a season and that I won't forget how to paint.  Although everything in my being, is telling me I will.

It doesn't help when you pick up a canvas that is rough to work on and fights with you all the way.  That being said... after six weeks with no brush in my hand, it just felt good to get lost here, albeit it a struggle and by no means perfect.  It was a great place to warm up and block out the world a bit.  Yes, I'm rusty, but I'm excited as I'm feeling normalcy starting to return.

I do know this...

Rusty or not, I'm ridiculously happy when I'm creating, especially painting and I know now more than ever, just how much my soul requires it.

Beautiful happy mail...

Thank you my sweet friend Betty, from Texas. Facebook reminded me this week that we have been friends for 5 years online and I know it's longer because we were friends on Instagram first and you have been one of my encouragers since the beginning.  Thank you for your beautiful friendship and love and support through the years and sharing your knowledge and wisdom too.

I adore you.  I am hoping above all hopes I will see you in June/July.  Fingers and toes crossed.

#SoGrateful

"I'm on the cover of a magazine.... "

This statement has been a long time family joke of ours since our girls were little.   It's a line from Monsters Inc.  and we have always joked about it and today I finally got to say that and really mean it. :-)

I had this interview in March and kind of parked it at the back of my mind and now in May the editorial was released and today my hard copies arrived by courier.  I have to say, I was totally moved and blown away to hold this in my hands today.  It's a big and visually beautiful magazine and I'm so humbled to have my #366 TeaBagGirl on the cover.

I sent through a bunch of images of my TeaBagGirls and art from the past few years and I just love that they chose this specific one, #366 for the cover.   It meant so much to me because she was my very last TeaBagGirl to be painted.  I just kind of loved that.

Thank you Slow Magazine for such a lovely spread.

It's been a precious moment.

Love Me.

Read all about it - here

SLOW Magazine is the official guest magazine for SLOW and SLOW IN THE CITY, the exclusive business lounges operated by British Airways Comair in partnership with FNB Private Clients and RMB Private Bank.

Crazy Love...

I'm a little in love with my Kitty Girl.  She's such a cool kid.

We have been spending lots of time together.  We have been facing long hours in hideous queues to get her registered for her ID document and getting our travel documents in order.  All in all it hasn't been too bad because how often do we get to hang together like this...  We have the best convos and listened to audio books and music together.

After the buaratic red tape - she dragged me to thrift shops in and around the city and it was a rather amazing time with her... her finding old clothing and being delighted by the antiques and me finding old art books together with beautiful images of our city.

What beautiful stolen moments... can't wait to travel with this one.

#MotherDaughterLove

QueenofHearts...

I love seeing how these Souls evolve.

It's always a bit of a mystery to me.  I often don't have a plan.  I usually say I'm going to start with something... like today, I started with her face and hands and then I allowed the rest to lead me.  I was tempted to play with the Louise Bourgeois theme on her because her body surface area was quite big.  I love how she turned out.  I'm in love with her little buildings on her head too.

I so needed to play with paint tonight.  It was great to get lost here a little.

Good for my heart.  Good night folks.

Love.

She has a bit of a Queen of Hearts feel to her.

All I know... is that whatever her heart is, I know she's crept into mine.

Stealing moments...

With things being a little upside down at home and with my studio being far away from Digby, spending hours in there hasn't really been an option.  So this weekend I moved some of my studio into the living area so I can be closer to him.  Just some basic things, like my Mac and my clay and today, I moved my paints and brushes through.  I'm ready to start working again and I'm excited.

This way we can all be together at a time when Digz isn't that mobile. 

I have loved this little project that got my hands working again.  I needed to do something, just for fun and just to get me back creating.  I had 6 little gaps to fill and it was more challenging than I thought it would be.  Working this small was a delightful treat.  I knew I wanted them to have a similar theme to them yet all be slightly different.  It was quite interesting to see each one's personality come through.

They are currently drying but I'm ready to start painting them.

Much Love, Me

What a crazy time...

I can't believe it's been almost one month since my Mister was knocked off his bike and I'm still coming up for air.  It's been challenging but each day gets a bit easier.  Yesterday was a big day for us because his initial cast came off and the stitches came out and now he's in the moon boot.  His leg is still pretty fragile and it's made us feel a little vulnerable.   There is one thing we know, that there is a very long journey ahead of us and we know we will slowly get there.  It can't be rushed and we will have to exercise patience... daily.  Each new week has it's milestones and we are celebrating each small victory as we face them.

All I know is I'm grateful for so much and it's definitely making us value what's truly important...   And that's each other and that he's alive and still with us.

I kind of like having him around and I'm not ready for anything else.

Big hugs as we lie low and survive this time the best way we know how.  Thank you for all the love, support and messages this past month.

The love has been overwhelming.

Love, always Jeanne-Marie