The Quicklime Quickstep

I'm back from London. 

With THESE!!!

I had to wear them home!!

 Incidentally, I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in 12 months in the line-up for customs.

She was behind me. 

Eying off the SHOES thinking 'I could really get on well with the girl wearing those...'

Then I turned around ;-)

Funny how life works, isn't it!

I also came back with 2 other pairs: both rather more sophisticated, rather less 'zany' but with heels so high I could touch the sky.

All 3 pairs are hopelessly impractical for a woman who lives in the middle of a very muddy or dusty countryside, surrounded by horses, who homeschools her messmonsters and plays with pigments and ink at least once per day.

I just ADORE the impracticality of life.

Mind you, it's probably best that I have a propensity to avoid cities and shopping most of the time…

For an art blog, shoes should not be very important. Unless, that is, a girl is wearing them whilst shimmying around her studio to the tune of 'Mamma Mia,' breezily whizzing herself up a quick fix lighting solution for over her work table with some plaster and old bedsprings. 

They inspire me to create

What can I say?

Hope your weekend was fabulous too.

(still have to bunch up my kiwi fruit vines and cement them into a gumboot)

Stay tuned for a 'lighting tutorial' later in the week 

and some specs for those of you who asked about the recipe for the lime mix.

 

Much love to you all. 

Mixing the blues… colour of the sky, flying high!

As you can see, I've got a case of the blues. 

Up to my elbows in it. Literally!

You have to use your fingers to knead out the bumps made when mixing lime powder and fine sand with water, before you add the acetate that binds it all together so you can plaster it to the wall.

There's something that drives me crazy about blue pigments

Bleu Céruleum…

Bleu outremer...

I know I have a big load of visiting to do.

But this weekend I am taking the extra special friend 

who spent ALL last Monday helping me 

apply lime putty to my new studio wall 

with a big blue border around the door frame :) 

to

LONDON

for the weekend.

In fact there are 3 of us taking her.

And we have reason to suspect she's never taken a plane before.

So it was quite a job getting an identity card for her without her guessing ;-)

We told her she would need her bikini and skis.

So far, so good! She hasn't guessed where we are going!

Although she did try and wheedle a clue out of my messmonsters on the sly!!

It's amazing how kids pull through in urgent situations ;-)

I love girly weekends

Especially when they are a big surprise

for someone so lovely as my sweet friend Nath.

She doesn't read my blog. Or anyone else's for that matter.
Internet is not her thing.
Fortunately for me she is the world's leading expert in mixing and applying blue lime putty or 'la chaux' as we fondly call it here.

So she will never know I wrote this, thank goodness.

She is uncomfortable around verbal outbursts of affection.

.

She doesn't speak ANY ENGLISH

Hehe. The weekend is going to be a blast.

When I get back, I shall grab a wine and tell you all about it,
(as well as doing a bit more visiting from the seat of my chair :)

She'll be like a messmonster in a lolly shop

Hope your weekend is bright blue too :)

Finding the right Brand

This post isn't quite about what you might think it's going to be. I bet you're thinking I'm going to be going on and on and on etc about my own brand, or someone else's; one of my favourite brands perhaps. Or maybe have a bit of a rant about a terrible branding campaign.

Tricked ya! 

I have been far too busy putting the final touches (ie: a HUGE WINDOW) on my studio or atelier as we say here in France, so I can finally quit the kitchen table for good. Well - if you don't count meal times that is!!

(Meet Tiago, the lovely Portugese builder, putting a cage up around my mess)

(Mess firmly locked inside with a satisfying view of the surrounding vegetation)

ENFIN mes amis, I will be able to sit in the light of the setting sun in the evening, after the messmonsters ...

...have finished their hard labour supper and paint to my heart's content as the light gently fades in the sky, supping a wee glass of champagne delightfully in the peace and quiet. Sigh - I can almost feel the pleasure permeating into my wee pieces of wood.

 (Sometimes I potter around with things other than old doors..)

But that's not what this post is really about. This post, as I mentioned earlier possums, is actually about personal branding:

(Hint: It does NOT say 'NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!')

I have started scrounging around in the vide-greniers and brocantes again, on the look out for new and interesting pieces to transform and paint. As it turned out, this Sunday I found a piece that has the power to transform me, not necessarily for the better I might add.  My own initials 'n all! The brocanteur who sold it to me cautioned me against showing it to Beaker unless he got some sort of strange ideas about branding.

Now, where is the key to my studio. I may need a safe place to hide ;-)

Have a lovely week now y'all.