Beautiful Handmade Pouches...

I have been wanting to share about this very special pouch when I got back from my Italy in 2017 and again last year. I’m sorry I haven’t done it yet, sometimes life just gets in the way. There is a special story about this beautifully handcrafted leather pouch and it’s absolutely worth sharing about.

In 2012, the first time I went to Italy, I took my cream colored leather pouch like this with me, to carry my paints, brushes and supplies. You will be surprised how much can fit in this beautiful bag. In class, Kirsten and Bill told us about the local Orvieto leather-smith, Federico Badia who was making pencil pouches for us if we wanted one. We gladly ordered some.

I gave my beautiful cream color pouch away as a gift that trip but before I did, I popped down to Federico to see if he was able to make a replica of my bag too. He immediately took a pattern and made me a dark blue pouch. It was gorgeous and so beautifully made too. I was thrilled to have something handmade in Orvieto.

I have subsequently given that pouch away too. Now in hindsight, I am thinking they make the most beautiful gifts because I just can’t seem to hold onto mine. When I went back in 2014, I popped in and asked if he still had the pattern and he popped up into his storeroom and came down with the pattern, I was blown away. He made more pouches for us that trip. in 2017 he popped back up to get the pattern and made me this gorgeous red one, which my daughter has now claimed, true story. When I was there last year with Ivy, he made a whole bunch more for our class members. I so love being part of this sweet pouch story.

Federico and his wife are currently working from home during the lockdown but I believe he is still taking orders and shipping. They have a beautiful artisan story and I remember buying a gorgeous soft leather wallet from him in my first trip to Italy and of course my pencil pouch, which I actually still have. I’ve put a link to his website here and you can find him on instagram too. It’s always my hope to return to beautiful Orvieto and I know I have to go back and get another pouch made but if I can’t I will definitely have to order a new one… especially for me, this time.

My little series continues…

My little series on 6”x8” canvases have continued a little. I still have a few of this size canvases left and I am loving filling them. Each one telling me their own little story and each one taking me on a little journey.

At the moment I am allowing them to lead me where they need to go.

When I’ve finished all these little canvases, I will do a post with all of them together.

Thank you for journeying with me.

New Lesson...

Oh I loved working on sharing this today and uploading her to the StayHomeRetreat pages. I am always challenged about sharing my painting process because I know our painting styles and techniques can be so unique to each of us.

Also I painted for a good few hours and narrowing that down is never easy.

Looking back

I didn’t talk too much mainly because life at home has got rather noisy and so has our neighborhood, with everyone being home. So I typed out some of my methods but please feel free to reach out if you have any extra questions. Otherwise it’s 30 odd mintues of a painting from beginning to end…

So grab a coffee and let’s get cozy and I hope you enjoy.

Much love, Jeanne-Marie

StayHomeRetreat

This took me a little longer than expected to share with you.

I had to re-edit some of my footage due to music rights etc. Anyway I’m happy to say my little StayHomeRetreat is ready to share. For now it’s just 4 little lessons from places I’ve shared before and on various platforms including some of my own. So some of these lessons may not be new to you but some may be. That being said, I will continue to add lessons here weekly, past lessons and new ones and I will let you know via my newsletter.

I am busy editing two new lessons as we speak.

Threading

Graphite

Clay

Painting

Please feel free to share the love.

Sending so much love and hugs.

Much love Jeanne-Marie

Yoga for days....

As well as playing with gouache paint for #the100dayproject, I will also be showing up on my mat for yoga and meditation for this project.

I had to check my heart and motives for this one so that ego wasn’t in my way but like with my art, I find yoga the most humble experience and maybe that’s what keeps me coming back to my mat time after time. I’m naturally stiff in body from years of being a runner and the many hours at my desk and long hours standing painting. But I am always utterly humbled at the limitations of my body and if I ever have a moment of ego, next session I’m back on my knees. Each session I learn new lessons not only of the practice itself but deep heart work too. I am hoping this rhythm of showing up will help me establish a practice of regularity and more a way of life than just something I do a few times a week.

I know it’s going to be physically challenging because the past 2 weeks I have been working towards showing up everyday and it’s a big adjustment for me. So I have some ideas for the slower days to help me bridge those gaps. I’ve been so grateful for some of my yoga teachers showing up online in assisting during the lockdown and next week I’ll be doing a 7 day online retreat. What a perfect time right at the start of #the100dayproject. Last year I started Mysore Budokon practice and this year I took a 6 weeks course relearning the sequence and another 4 additional weeks solidifying the practice. I know my practice will continue to be a works in progress but in hindsight I can’t believe how fortuitously timed that was. To me, it’s one of the most beautiful yoga practices I’ve done.

Feel free to join me in the #100daysofyogaandmeditation and we can meet on our mats virtually.

Much love, Jeanne-Marie

#The100DaysProject...

Are any of you joining #The100DayProject this year.

I’ve decided to do #100DaysofGouache

My plan is to keep it kind of loose and casual as I don’t what to freak myself out and run for the hills. You know how those sweeping declarations that can do more harm than good sometimes. But that being said, I’m excited to join a community and play along. There is something wonderful about showing up in community that leads to growth and I do highly recommend it. The truth is I know absolutely nothing about Gouache but I’m keen to learn and I know from past experiences the best way to learn a new skill is to show up in small ways daily. I did it with my teabags, with clay, my stitching and not to mention learning and understanding acrylics. It’s a formula that works for me, generally so I thought I would try it here this year.

So without making massive declarations, I will do my best and keep it light and joyous. My main objective is to learn and play with new paint. I have bought a local entry level gouache set, with beautiful pigments and what could be more lovely than that. So here goes… I will try and share as much as possible but probably mostly on my stories on Instagram. See you there.

Checking in...

I know we are all in the same boat of feeling completely overwhelmed by the circumstances of the world currently. If you are anything like me, are you struggling to concentrate for more than two minutes at a time? I keep finding piles of unfolded washing in different places of the house and unfinished chores here and there. I have found this feeling a little out of control and my natural inclination is to go within and try figure out what’s going on and how are we going to come out of this.

But I just keep coming up with this phrase… “I don’t know what the answers are”. I realized we don’t often find ourselves in this place of not knowing and not being able to do anything about our problems. We aren’t a helpless people by nature. We are always able to do something, right or wrong to walk towards something that helps us feel more in control, right? I’m being reminded that we aren’t actually in control even if we make ourselves think or feel like we are. Isn’t it so humbling?

So all I can do is right now is continue to show up within my four walls. I am getting up early to practice stillness with a small group that are connecting on Zoom, I’m so grateful for this. I grab coffee and breakfast and sit on our small patio and read some things on my phone. Then I head to my mat for yoga. My amazing teacher has been sharing live on Instagram so I have been able to get out of my head and get back into my body and strongly breathe through each moment and movement. After that I shower and pop into my garden, do some chores, work or paint. I’m working at showing up to paint or do something creative everyday, even when my heart isn’t feeling like it. After lunch, I paint some more, read and/or write and then head gently into the evening routine. I’m still tweaking my schedule but I’m being encouraged as I’m starting to see a new routine forming.

I’m silently haunted by the words I shared with my dear friend Natalie Eslick (Shadybower) earlier this year…

“Seriously, all I want to do is stay at home doing yoga and paint all day.”

To help me through this time, will be writing and working through these two books again. Just doing small amounts daily.

I would love to hear more about your lockdown routines.

I have also finally got my act together and I’ve started pulling some of my videos and putting a little platform together of material of past works and it will also include some new works which I will continue to add to weekly. I’m back to editing furiously. I’ll send out a newsletter in the next couple of days about that. But tonight I will share my first little offering of playing and painting clay. It’s an older lesson but it might new to some or a beautiful reminder of the goodness of playing with clay.

I know so many artists coming together to offer free material to help navigate during this time. I love that so much. I think it’s one of those little steps forward to help us feel useful during this time when we are feeling so helpless.

Again, sending out so much love and care always.

---

“Creativity occurs in the moment, and in the moment we are timeless”

— Julia Cameron

Sharing the Podcast love....

I am a huge listener of all things audio.

I am always deep in an audible book or a podcast and I adore finding material filled with wisdom and heart. It fills my love tank to the brim. I thought I would share some of the podcasts that are helping me navigate this tumultuous time. Some old pods that I love referring back to because the material is so good and I’m always looking to go deeper. Others are just daily byte sizes shares of practical philosophy and others deeper and more complex material which just speaks my love language.

Chris Heuertz - he is deep and insightful and his voice and way he talks, wonderful.

Brene Brown - full of wisdom and vulnerability - I could listen to her talking all day long

Ryan Holiday - I love practical philosophy and daily stoic is filled with that.

Sleeping at Last - start at Episode 4 - One and work through all 9 Enneagrams.

I’ll keep sharing and please feel free to share some recommended listenings with me and let me know what you think too, I would love to hear your thoughts. Finding good material, like good music is always on my heart.

Sharing...

I have been thinking about sharing here more regularly for the next few weeks. Please let me know how you feel about that and if you think that would overwhelm you or encourage you during this time. My blog has always been a place for me to process my thoughts, struggles and victories in my creative process and sometimes about life too. I will be sharing some free video’s here over the next few weeks of some of my past lessons from my classes and some of my shared lessons from various platforms -

…. some drawing, clay, stitching and painting.

I had some projects and ideas planned for the next season and I guess now would be a good time to start with some of those projects. I have some plans coming up for #100daysofsomething and I will be sharing some new videos/tutorials during the next few weeks too. I hope we can travel together through the new few weeks and/or months. Meeting virtually to help make the days more manageable and what better way to do that than creatively and together. I will do my best not to overwhelm your inbox too much.

Sending much love, Jeanne-Marie

Waiting for some love…

We are all in this together...

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such a response do we find truth - Madeleine L’Engle

“The irrationality of the world” is pretty much how I feel about the world on a normal day.

Getting to paint and write really is my truest response to coping and I’m so grateful I have this to hold me on the hard days. But this I have to say feels next level. We are now in a nationwide lockdown for the next 21 days. After which I’m sure they will re-assess the situation.

I have moments of complete calm and rational and other moments of being completely afraid about so many things. Mainly the health of my family during this time as we head into the Autumn and Winter months. My extended family and not being able to see each other and so grateful for modern day communications. So much is whirling through my heart at the moment, like with all of us.

So today I’m just going to be thankful that I can paint and write and today we are healthy, we are all home and safe. And just to let you know I’m right here with you and it gives me some comfort to know that we are all in this together.

Sending you all so much love and comfort during this time.

Much love, Jeanne-Marie

Tiny love....

I have a bunch of little journals for this year. They are small, around 3.5”x5.5” . It’s my goal to fill them but I am not sure if you are anything like me, but I have journal issues. Firstly, I have a hard time starting at the the beginning of any journal and I usually flick to the middle. Secondly, I find it even more difficult keeping my images in them for two reasons because if it’s a great piece, then it’s stuck in there and if it’s a bad piece then it is stuck in there too. I wish I had the courage to just let it be, whether it’s good or bad…. but I’m working on it.

This tiny love was in my little journal but at the end of painting her, I pulled her out but mainly because I wanted to do a test run on getting her block mounted. I am so glad I did. It’s a wonderful little piece.

I have started another tiny love painting in this journal and I will see how I go about leaving her in there. I have another little journal that I’m filling with graphite drawings for practice and another will be filled with images for my ideas around #100days of something idea. I will share more about that in the next post or two.

I guess it’s more steps towards letting go and not always being bound in the final finished product but more about being in the moment and the process too.

Slowly finding my groove.....

I always find this time of year… I’m slow to find my direction and grove.

Still tired from the year prior, summer is exhausting because the heat is so sapping and boy has it been hot. It’s also still my busiest time of year, work wise… film season, tax filing season and financial year end - just to name a few things. Getting the girls back up and running into life and new routines too. It’s been big schedule adjustments for all of us this year.

So far I’ve still managed to show up albeit slowly. I am trying to get back to being in my space everyday and painting everyday. So most of January I was in studio but I was mainly spring cleaning which was brilliant. I found old canvases which you know I’ve been recycling with new works and I have totally been loving it. I’m so enjoying including figures in my work and working smallish. I’m thinking i might need to linger here a little longer and let these small canvases take me on a little journey.

I picked up some extra canvases in this size to continue working with this series.

Thank you for the love and support around these pieces.

My heart is overflowing, always.

February Love....

I love getting out into our little Cape Town towns for our birthdays, to do something special so it’s not just another moment past by but an intentional time. With us all pulling in different directions, it is hard to get us all in the same place at the same time. So I booked a morning together to go visit an old Cape Town town, called Kalk Bay (which is Dutch for Lime Bay). It’s the sweetest town, where the houses are built on the side of mountain overlooking the sea and small harbour. It’s not fancy at all but more eclectic… completely artistic. Art elements everywhere your eye lands. From handpainted patterns on the floor of every shop, creatively tiled walls and mandala patterns on pillars. It’s a visual feast. It’s a tiny town and you can easily walk from one end of the town to the other with tiny hickledy pickledy alleyways, jammed with second hand shops, galleries, artisan shops and restaurants… and you can still buy fresh fish off the harbour wall from the local fishermen.

The three of us had such a beautiful day together. Corkzi girl was out of town riding SA Champs, we missed her terribly. Her riding and racing is taking her across the country at the moment and exciting things are happening for her in this space.

Upcycling old canvases…

In 2015 when I did the #365faceaday challenge, I sold some of those paintings from that year and the ones I didn’t feel worthy of being seen or going out into the world either got thrown away or stored away for more work. I finally took them out last year and Courteney and myself painted over them with left over paints and I’ve had this little pile of small canvases on my desk waiting for me to recycle or upcycle. I started at the end of last year after my auction… and I’m carrying on this year before I start any new canvases.

Secret Garden Hidden Within

Sold

The Home Hidden Within

So I have a bunch these 6”x8” size canvases and I’m doing a little series just for fun, while I’m still deciding how my year will unfold.

I will be listing them in Etsy as I go… if you are keen to follow along, please follow my button below.

Thank you for the love I have already been receiving for these small, sweet pieces.

Much love, always Jeanne-Marie

Continued love and support...

Last year I shared about Chrissie’s beautiful daughter, Brittany England who hadn’t been well, which had affected her work and living arrangements. I checked in with her last night and although things are looking better she is still needing support to help her through recovery for the next while. For her wellbeing and self-care she’s gone more private this year, which I fully understand and respect. Social media can be quite draining when you are already vulnerable.

Thinking about you Brittany and family as you continue to heal and recover and please can I ask you too, to keep Brittany in your heart and mind during the next while. Every tiny bit of contribution will help. Now the real work begins quietly in the trenches as she walks out the treatments and recovery.

So much love and healing for you Brittany.

Little stones of love….

I’m so touched and humbled by this finished piece.

I know framing can fully resolve a piece of art and this was so the case with my little stones of love. I had the idea of the dark blue background before I left the beach and I also knew I wanted a driftwood like feel to the frame. My choice of frame was the closest I could find.

I had started collecting these rocks on every walk I did on the beach over the last two years and on my last day on the beach in early January, I found a large amount. Big storms and rough seas had brought much to the shores but as I was packing up the girls brought out a whole bunch more from what they had collected too and when I got home I found even more. It made me realize I have be collecting them in my subconscious for years. It also made me realize that things of value, take time. I love that so much.

When we were spring cleaning now during January, I found pebbles from my travels in my early 20’s. I also picked up a pebble when I was with Chrissie in Encinitas. I walked down to the Pacific Ocean and took a pebble from the beach home with me. I guess it’s just something I’ve always done.

Miss Kitty is like this… we call her our little Scrat (from IceAge, the movie) because no matter where we went, she was always filling her pockets with stuff… rocks, seeds, pods and other things from our walks and visits. What I didn’t know was that I was a Scrat too, maybe I was just a little neater about it.

I am learning more about the concept of collecting and holding and storing creative data from that beautiful book I have been slowly working through, Conscious Creativity…. and I think our Scratiness is kind of part of it. I’m still learning and I can’t wait to understand more.

ArtforFires, thank you so much

I totally love seeing community come together to make a difference and wow… how crazy amazing is this.

Thank you Natalie and Kat for including me in this initiative and thank you to my bidders. I was able to send 3 pieces to their new homes. I’m so grateful to you and us to have added to this incredible cause.

And thank you to all who came together to share art and bid and buy so willingly. I feel so honored to have started my year with so much love. Thank you for giving me that…. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

Love
Jeanne-Marie

"The Village Within... "

I finished this piece just before I left on holiday in December and I realized I forgot to share it here.

I actually started this piece in Ivy’s class in Italy in 2017 as a transferred image. I abandoned it as you can tell because 2 years had passed. I kept it because I loved the collage work I had done on the lower part of the piece. When I was sorting through pieces for my auction, I stumbled upon it and I thought it might be time to finish this piece. I love how patient my pieces can be… waiting for me to return and how they come into fruition right when they are meant to. I love trusting the process.

I can so see how my style has changed over the years and I know how different she would have looked in 2017. I love who she is today and I was so grateful to have finally found my way.

I love this theme so much about finding “home”. I want to dig a little deep with this theme, it’s very close to my heart. As someone who moved around so much through my life, home has at times felt like a liminal space and maybe something I have silently been searching for, for as long as I can remember. As I’m getting older, I’m beginning to think more about maybe it’s what’s within vs a physical space.

Painting again...

Gosh I missed it… my brushes, my paints and creating.

I took the most of December off to rest and definitely for the holidays… to rest and be with my family undistracted. It did us all good. I know how good it is for me and my creative process too.

Over the past few years, I have been learning to not fight it but rather work with it. It is our summer months and our longest holiday period because it’s the end of the school and university year and mostly, we are tired. I think not fighting myself about my lack of creativity during this time was sound… I am learning, to read the signs, to understand my creative cycles and to listen and respond accordingly. The beautiful thing is that I’ve come home refreshed and not struggling and I’m feeling so ready to paint….

I’m even excited to back #inmystudio

I am not overwhelming myself with too many plans, for now just showing up and working on old recycled canvases first. It feels less intimidating and a gentle way to start the year.

Looking forward to sharing more… Happy creating.

No frequency...

We had planned this weekend away in the mountains a few months ago and I have to tell you how hard it was for me follow through and go. I felt like we had just got home and we hadn’t even settled down yet, only to pack our bags and head out the door. My heart wasn’t ready. Everything in me wanted to cancel and stay home but we didn’t want to let our friends down.

We followed through with our commitment, and I have to say it was a delightful surprise. Not only was it visually beautiful but the quiet was rather wonderful. I didn’t have this big need to get out of the city because we just got back, but switching off completely from comms was a much needed and delightful surprise. I’m so grateful for the interruption in frequency. I slept a lot. I was more tired than I realised… my first week back to life was a little brutal.

It was a wonderful weekend with friends.