Let’s catch up…

How epic was this week when our social media’s fell down. Wow, it did make me feel so vulnerable that it could disappear in a moment. Definitely made me think how silly it is that we have all our social media eggs in one basket. I guess that’s not the most prudent decision of all time.

I am so grateful I have this space to share my creative journey with you too. My blogging has always been my space to work out and write about my creative ups and downs and growths and non-growths. This week I realized how important it is for me to have other spaces other than Instagram and FB to connect. I will keep you posted if I move across to other platforms. In case you don’t know, I am also on Twitter and Pinterest if you ever want to find me there too.

Anyway it’s good to be back up and running and connecting again, phew.

What’s new…

This past month saw us getting our beautiful Corksi-girl on a jet plane with her bike and getting her across the world to compete in her very first World Champs event, held in Belgium. It was no easy feat with all the new COVID protocols and regulations around travel and competing. It was one super emotional and stressful month… like this year hasn’t been full on enough. Never-mind the competition itself and the enormity of such a big event for our young athletes from a small scale everything to the world stage. To say it was massive would be an understatement of gross proportions. She got to line up with some of her all time cycling hero’s and I couldn’t have been happier for her and this special time in her life. She had 10 to 14 days which was originally for quarantining until they lifted the quarantine ban on athletes coming from SA - she used that time to adjust to her environment. All in all she had the most incredible experience of her life and we are hoping it will be the start of something so special for her and her cycling career. I just wanted to say a huge thank you to her coach, of course and everyone else who have been on this epic journey with us and who contributed to her Back-a-Buddy to help her travel. We have no words to express how every little bit helped so much. YOU moved us so deeply with your kindness.

How incredible to be flitting around Europe with your bike after 18 months of travel bans.

Sweet Nostalgia…

This time of year, my socials are flooded with such sweet nostalgia of my trips to Italy and my beloved moments in Orvieto. This beautiful relationship started in 2012 and I’ve had the honor of going back several times since. The longing to return, never leaves my body and now more than ever the need to go back is huge. I was supposed to be back this year but with the pandemic, everything got pushed out, understandably. That being said we have finalized our details around our new trip dates for next year. I am so thrilled to share that everything is up and running for booking. Please pop on over if you would like to join me next year, September in that sacred place to create alongside each other.

I can’t wait to do this again and with YOU.

New workshops….

I announced this week on my socials that I’ll be releasing two new workshops / tutorials in the next month or so. Please keep checking my workshop tab to see what’s coming up but in the meantime, here we go…

Firstly I will be releasing ComeClay3DwithMe….

3D Creative Portraiture in a frame. I have several projects here for this workshop and I can’t wait to reveal what I have install for you… such beautiful fun.

Just after that I will be releasing a mini workshop on making my sacred La Madre - The Mother. I have some added surprises in this little tutorial. More Soon.

Painting…

SOLD

I have loved finding my way back to my canvases in between my clay, classes, life and everything else. It makes my heart sing. I have been loving being in this space and finding my way again. I am working with big brushes on small canvases to help me loosen up and small brushes on big canvases working on details. I’m playing with new primers and paints and all in all just loving this time as I find my way back to these bigger substrates. In the meantime I have had these latest works made into high quality Giclee prints and put a little grouping together for you in my shop.

I loved catching up with my news here and I can’t thank you enough for those who take the time to read my musings and to those of you who write to me. I love hearing from you and I am so blown away that we can stay connected this way.

I am so grateful for so much and I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you.

Much love, always… Jeanne-Marie

Il Guardiano

SOLD - ©JeanneMarieArt 2021

I adored making this piece…. I had my little face from Day 16 of FebruaryFaces and my ready made and dried vessel and I combined the two. Adding extra elements like my extra hand on her generous “body”.

She holds my clay tools perfectly and she has a beautiful sacredness to her too… an almost Madonna feel to her. I have loved seeing this theme come out in my pieces this season.

I have called her… Il guardiano - {TheGuardian} as she looks after important things and right now I am loving her call to duty.

She is available in my little shop. Please feel free to take a browse around and keep popping in. I’ll be sharing works in there on the go.

Much love - Jeanne-Marie

Nature's Calling...

She was my very 1st face of #FebruaryFacesinClay and I originally had her made up into a full clay piece that I wasn’t loving. I salvaged her from that and hung onto her face and hand and reworked her into this sweet tiny little piece.

I finished painting her around the same I had been working on a big canvas piece and I coincidently held her up and saw her in front of my painting and I was rather taken aback. They rhymed!

I don’t always see the cohesiveness straight away and when I usually work on my projects and pieces they feel in isolation and I am usually so internally focused that I don’t even realise it. To me in the moment, they always feel so individual but then I realise… “oh indeed, I do in fact have a style”.

Even though I don’t always see it.

SOLD - ©JeanneMarieArt 2021

ArtPouches...

I have been so thrilled to share my beautiful art pouches with you.

Thank you for those who already purchased your pouches. It’s been a labor of love from having the fabric printed to having each bag handmade and lined by my special friend, Jackie with traditional South African Shwe-Shwe cotton fabric on the inside.

I love seeing my art this way in a reproduction format and functionally as well. I’ve been testing my prototype bag for the past few months and it’s been a wonderful additional to my art traveling kit.

Sold Out

Only 6 left

Shwe-Shwe fabric

Limited stock - only 6 left of “Fragmented Self”

©JeanneMarieArt 2021

ComeClaywithMe Collection

©JeanneMarieArt 2021

Hello September…

The months are merging into each other at such a pace, it continues to leave me breathless. I was scrolling through my blog and realised just how much I hadn’t shared here and although I had been sharing my clay journey this past while on my Instagram and Facebook stories, I hadn’t been sharing them here. I’m sorry about that. With all my prep for my classroom and then with all prepping for my Solo Auction, followed by the shipping… there hasn’t been much time for blogging.

That being said, I’m slowly finding my way back to the admin side of my practice and of course I want to get back to sharing my words and works here with you too. I am always so grateful when I hear folks have been reading my blog. Thank you.

Some of my favourite pendants from my collection.

With some nudging from my beautiful friend’s Carlanda and Daniela, I made some clayful pendants and they were such a delight to me and a beautiful addition to my body of works. Only one pendant didn’t sell at my auction because she was a bit of a departure from usual style but I have subsequently reworked her and made her into this unique being below.

One of the best things I appreciate so much about clay are the modification that you can continue doing after the fact and at any stage. There are zero limitations and you can literally, just keep going.

This tiny duo, The Coral Sisters completely stole my heart and I was so deeply moved at how they just seemed to be joined by the hip right from the get go. I kind of made them together although it was on different days. They were completely cohesive and I knew they needed to be homed together. Like typical sisters, there was much nuance, emotion and drama between them and that was love all the way for me.

The Collector, The Protector and my sweet little WiseOne all equally crept inside my heart and parting with them was not easy. This whole collection was so cohesive in the end and although that was mostly unintentional, some of it was definitely intentional too. At a point I decided that I would continue to use green in all my pieces because each piece seemed to be missing something without it and the same went with the theme of nature and flowers and of course, without a doubt my expressive and slightly exaggerated hands. That was a theme that rhymed the whole way through.

It was the first time I put a complete body of works together in just clay and it was my first auction only sharing clay. I know it was a big leap for me and one might even argue, a risky one but it felt like it was the right thing to do. I adored this undertaking so much and I am keen to keep digging a little deeper in this space too. I had 30 little pieces in this body of works and I still have a mountain of unfinished pieces on my desk… so I’m getting back to work.

Working with the clay is once again fully part of my daily and weekly regime and I don’t think I will be letting that go anytime soon. For whatever reason, it seems to have brought me much joy and total tranquility the past while and right now I’m holding on tight to that. I will hopefully be sharing more finished pieces as I go.

Much love, Jeanne-Marie

©JeanneMarieArt 2021

A few days grace...

We decided that after the auction, we would steal a few days away together and we did exactly that. We left the girls to fend for themselves being in their twenties and all. How lovely to be able to do this more and more? They are loving it and so are we. We headed to the beach and wanted to really switch off from all things work related. We spent time waking up slowly, having long chats and laughs over coffee and meals. Took a walk, a kayak, a ride and did some yoga. I even got to paint a little, knit some more and take long slow drives together.

It is in the middle of winter and it was a very cold week. We had had a big snowfall on the mountains and that was rushing down to meet us. I do love winter holidays just as much as summer ones. Kayaking in the icy water was cold but worth it because it was so breathtakingly beautiful. We had the whole place to ourselves. I am so grateful we could steal some time away to recharge. This year has been fully intense and it was good to be reminded that we can still find laughter in it all.

Thanking you kindly....

I wish I could say the auctions have got easier on my nerves after all of these years. To me it’s never a sure thing that I know exactly how it will unfold. It always surprises and in many ways I don’t want to ever become blasé about them. They mean the world to me and those who walk with me too… please know, I am carrying the full weight of what they mean in every fibre of my being.

This auction had many new variables for me which truly heightened my stress levels. It was the first time I had done a summer auction and an all clay auction at that. The platform was new on fb and the navigation was a little different. I guess it’s good to manage one of the new variables but to have them all new was a lot so I really felt it. These are of course, never bad things, just new and stretching things on top of the full vulnerability of sharing one’s work out in the world… right. I am always stretched in new ways and I’m grateful for that and of course working with Stephanie Gagos - was magical, as always.

Thank you for a beautiful few days with all who came and supported this body of works I put together. I can’t thank you enough for walking along side me on my days and of course for acquiring pieces. As always, my heart was blown wide open. Sharing a full body of clay felt more vulnerable than normal and maybe that had to do with these pieces that included nature elements. It felt like I was sharing something deeper on some levels.

Each piece is not only made with so much love but also packaged up with equal measures of love. Each year I learn new shipping techniques and ways of making their journeys a little safer and a little more comfortable.

~

To my little ComeClaywithMe body of works…

You have kept me company and filled my studio with so much love and joy through the year. Thank you for holding me captive all these months and I’m so thrilled to be releasing you out into the world…. Safe travels my little darlings as you voyage onto your new homes.

Much love, always Jeanne-Marie

1 more sleep.... Auction Day tomorrow

This collection has been extremely personal to me and once again working with Clay has been like medicine for my soul.  It has really helped me through some deeply personal moments this year. a year that has seemed to carry the full weight of life.  Being able to escape into my own little world of little friends #inmystudio became almost a kind of sacred practice for me. 

There is something sacred to me about making these Soulful beings in clay.  They seem to whisper truth to me and have a way of telling me which way to go.  My pieces are a little weighted in your hands… even the smaller pieces, giving them this incredible grounding feeling in your hands.  At times they seem to hold wisdom and they have a knowing of something in them.  I am utterly captivated by this clayful practice and even more so, sharing them with you. 

It has been such a joy to come to the other side and of course, to be working with Stephanie again.  I hope we will share much love and fun this weekend in this special little group.

Much love Jeanne-Marie

Please remember to click on “going”

©JeanneMarieArt 2021

New Art Sling Bags

I’m so thrilled to share that my new bags are ready to share with you. Thank you for the love and support already, I’ve been so overwhelmed by the love. Thank you.

As you know I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to find a solution and I feel I have finally found one. I love the new style of bag we settled on and that I have been able to use some of my horizontal artworks for them. I am also super happy to be working with the organisation called Township® once again. It was founded in 1997 with a commitment to creating meaningful and sustainable economic opportunities for women in South Africa’s township communities, an initiative I fully support and love.

Each bag has been beautifully handmade, lined and with a long handle to sling across your body for comfort. The printed image has been digitally printed on CottonTwill and sewed onto a 100% Organic Cotton Bag 240gsm with Juco Webbing Sling.

Front cover flaps over

Fits iPads/Computers/Journals

Mobile/Pens pouch

©JeanneMarieArt 2021

ComeClaywithMe - Collection

I had some new studio friends arrive this week as well as last week and it has been like a joyous party in here, as each one has been completed. They have been stealing my heart and each new one re-steals it from the one prior.

I am so grateful for these precious souls and the lessons they teach me. I am always learning new things, how to create nuance, new little techniques I find along the way, new colors coming forth and if I listen closely, they have secret messages of wisdom for me. I’m not sure how exactly that happens but I’m always listening to the quiet whisperings of their guidance and wisdom as they tell me where to go next. They almost always lead the way.

It’s been such a joy.

Hiding in Plain Sight

This last stage has been so delightful and has felt life bearing as their stories unfold and are completed in color. I can honestly say, I enjoyed each stage… finding my faces during FebruaryFaces, then adding new elements as I wove their sweet faces onto organic elements, creating their bodies and narrating their stories with gestures and elements like hands, masks, wings and finally right down to this stage of color.

It has been months and months of work but I guess working in a body of works/collection format does take it’s time and I have loved this way of working. More importantly, this collection has felt truly cohesive and my souls seem to rhyme with each other. Some things were done with intention and purpose but others happened naturally and organically. All in all, I am thrilled with my little collection so far and as always, this has been a complete labor of love. I still have a fair amount of work to do but I’m working steadily towards my solo auction date which is the 31st of July.

Please book the date and follow the invite below and click on going within the fb event page. Excited to have you there with me and so excited to be sharing this very dear to me collection with you.

©JeanneMarieArt 2021

Limited edition prints...

I have some limited edition Giclee Prints available of this special piece…

The Places in my Head…

I am offering them in two sizes. Please feel free to browse around my little shop

I am so thrilled with how they turned out. As usual my printers going beyond the extra mile for me and once again I am so grateful for the support I have around me.

To the Trees I go...

“To the Trees I go… ”

Going to the trees is always the place I retreat to when things get hard. It’s the place I go to breathe deeply, to exhale long, slow and intentionally. It grounds me. Nature has been important to me as I’ve got older and I’ve loved seeing it come out in my art in various ways. She made me work hard to find her. She is 14”x18” big and painting bigger has me working much harder for my proportions. It’s different but I’m loving it too. I wish you could see her in real life... she is completely holding her own space with a fair amount of authority. I love that about her. She’ isn’t conventionally pretty but there is something about her that is drawing me to her.

SOLD

I am loving painting big again…. I realised that it’s something I’ve been avoiding for almost two years now and I’m still processing why. I hope to share more about that with you as soon as I have figured it out. I think I have some ideas around the why but I think I need to order the words in my head before I can share them out loud. For now… showing up has been a full body, full heart and full act of love of late.

All my new pieces are being listed in my shop every week so please feel free to pop in there to take a browse around. I’m working from small to big so there is something available for everyone.

©JeanneMarieArt 2021

Thank you cards are back....

I’m happy to say my new Business Cards aka Thank you cards have arrived. I had a good system in place with my printers to have my cards printed off but during the pandemic there were lots of changes and it was no longer just an easy phone call away. Starting from scratch with a different branch felt like a massive mountain to climb and every time I tried to face the reorder - it felt too overwhelming so I would shut it down. Almost a whole year past and I finally pluck up the courage to face my mountain and got my order in and I’m more than over the moon. I’m ecstatic.

I had some new images run off and they are beautiful.

Now my new system of run offs are in place so my next order won’t feel like I’m heading out for an epic expedition but are now once again, just a phone call away.

#HappyDays

MadreNatura (MotherNature)...

It took me a while to find her story in the paint, I’m so grateful when I did. She turned out more beautiful than I expected. I originally thought I would call her Madre del Sacro Cuore - Mother of the Sacred Heart but the more I worked with her the more like Madre Natura - Mother Nature she felt.

I absolutely adore everything about her.

Her armature was made from a spoon shaped shell that I found on my special beach which made the perfect Italian Archway to her soul and I combined that with one of the heart shaped stones I found on the same beach. I have loved incorporating nature and organic elements into my work this past year and I feel it has brought something extra to each piece.

When I go on my walks I find these beautiful natural treasures and I immediately see how and where they can be used and it feels like a kind of alchemy.

This special angel will be in my ComeClaywithMe Collection solo auction later this month.

I will share the event’s page soon.

©JeanneMarieArt 2021

Bags in the testing....

I have been having some new sling bag enquires locally and internationally but I’m all sold out. I hadn’t intended on running off a new batch anytime soon mainly because it’s such a big undertaking but also because things run their course and change is always good. So I’ve been in touch with my suppliers and we have been looking at some new sample options and some new ideas. These were two older images I tested with but this coming week, I have two new samples to check which I’m pretty excited about.

I will keep you posted.

I forgot how much I love this part of what I do.

These added elements to my creative practice are so rewarding too and I have had some renewed excitement this month in this department. All these things are creative energy pulls and administratively demanding but all so worth it when they come together.

In a nutshell what I think I’m trying to say, is that I love what I do and I’m so grateful everyday for my creative daily practice, right down to the admin.

#sograteful

The places in my head...

I have forgotten how much I love painting big and how I love oscillating from big to small and small to big. It is something I’ve always done.

I’m not sure why exactly but I have been avoiding my big canvases since we went into lockdown. Maybe it had something to do with confidence or courage but both have been missing in action as I have been walking circles around these big white substrates since.

I started this piece in November last year and I thought I had finished them early March but they have been calling me back constantly, each time I walk on by and this week I found some courage. They have something magical about them and I love where we ended together this morning. I think I might have said that in March too… oh dear, but I think soon after I shared about them being finished, I knew right away that they weren’t.

SOLD

This piece is 24”x18” big. The extra layers of paint and colors have completed their story so much more and I’m more than happy with their story. This piece was a mixture of playing with the idea of my hanging building earrings that I made last year, combined with my love of Orvieto, that little hilltop village that has stolen my heart since 2012. That sacred place is always on my mind and we were supposed to be there this year, if I am not mistaken but it’s been pushed again. but it goes without saying, I miss it so much and it’s always in my head and always always in my heart.

As for my courage around painting big… I placed another big canvas on my studio floor this week, 28”x20” and before I could overthink it, I grabbed my long bamboo stabilo pencil holder and from a distance started drawing my new piece. I had one of my smaller painting concepts in mind that I wanted to enlarge. I worked all day to cover the white spaces with my first layers of paint. I haven’t done this for so long and it felt so magical… tomorrow I start another big canvas and I’m going to keep going. I’m playing and what could be more beautiful than that.

I’m painting big rusty, for sure and my eye is a little out in terms of my proportions but I’m loving playing and practicing again. My big canvas love tank is slowly starting to fill again.

Hope you have a beautiful weekend and hope to connect again next week.

From my heart to yours, happy weekend.

Tiny does it...

I originally bought these little miniature wooden blocks for bases for my clay works, but I just haven’t got there yet. They have been staring at me for months and I eventually decided to paint them with a primer. I quickly scribbled down a tiny face… I was intrigued. One face turned into two and the rest flowed nicely after that. Filling each side with the tiniest face was so therapeutic. I am so grateful I took this little journey.

I say little because they are tiny but painting small can be as long and complex as painting big. Small doesn’t mean easier. To try capture emotion, story and nuance in such a small space has its challenges but some I rather love taking on. I am thinking about either selling them individually or as a set of four blocks.

Let me know your thoughts.

Much Love, Jeanne-Marie

A free gift...

The other day when I was prepping for my ComeClaywithMe - tutorial workshops, I stumbled across some old footage that I took last year but never put together, because, you know… life happens.

So I thought I would just share it here as a little gift.

TheTruthTeller

This sweet soul was made and finished last year and she was called the TheTruthTeller.

She was one of my first smaller sized works as I had wanted to work towards playing smaller in general. She was made simply around an old fashioned clothing peg which was my armature and it helped me stay within that scale. I absolutely love her form and shape to bits… so simple, a little quirky and her patterns create enough interest to finish her sweet story.

These sweet little souls have this incredible way of teaching me little lessons and often share little wisdoms with me along the way. As for this little TruthTeller, her message to me… was that sometimes working simply is more than enough.

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I hope you loved this little painting gift. Please feel free to ask me anything and thank you for taking the time to visit here.

Much love, always - Jeanne-Marie

Sharing the love...

My beautiful friend, Natalie Eslick is having her birthday today - Happy Birthday Natalie, from my heart to yours… I miss you.

We have been friends for a long time and I can’t remember when exactly we met online but we met IRL too in 2019 to retreat together with Ivy in Italy. We had an absolute ball together all of us.

Well this is a special shout out to her for her birthday but also because she released some exquisite fine art prints of her incredible work this week and I wanted to share the love.

So excited and so proud of you my friend… keep shining.

Miniature works of love...

I filmed my myself painting some of my little miniature works of love and I thought I would share them just for fun. I thought it would be a fun way to share some of the way I find my little souls in the paint.

I paint wet on wet and I love pushing the paint around until someone finally appears. Sometimes it can take super quick and other times super long, regardless of the size.

Music courtesy of BENSOUND - royalty free music