When French blogging becomes art - Gris Bleu

Check out this stunning blog!   Artistic, sensitive, French and ..... written by a Frenchman!

Gris Bleu is guaranteed to whisk you away to France, in a dream of grey blue softness.  Philippe lives in Paris and his spirit is inhabited by the daily images of life in the most beautiful quartiers of the capital.

He loves the light in Paris, he watches people, he adores brocantes and the quirky items he finds there. He creates beautifully imaginative artwork.

I have rarely seen such an original and yet quintessentially French blog.  I hope you enjoy these pictures.   Sit back and let the images transport you to a world of artistic sensibility, where the wonderful is revealed in our everyday surroundings.   Gris-Bleu is definitely on my reading list for a while to come!

when blogging becomes poetry - my 2nd guest artist

Sometimes art is obvious to see, but sometimes it's the artist's spirit you sense first.  So it was for me with Anne-Marie at NaDa Farm.   I think I first noticed Anne Marie when I heard about her barn sale this year.

Now,  I've held a few barn sales in my time so I have some idea and lots of happy memories of what's involved.  I felt instantly drawn.

I started following Anne-Marie, stocking her in my mind's filing cabinet under the labels, 'farm, young family, chickens, flowers' ..... then I realised that behind all the everyday stuff lay a true poet.

What intrigues me is how the poet survives amidst her impressive daily routine.   Anne Marie runs an organic farm, home schools five young children, sews, takes great photos, reads alot, for goodness sake, the girl even bakes her own bread! I don't know when she finds the time to sleep! I decided to dig a little deeper and  I asked her a few questions:

- You express yourself in a very poetic manner, where do you think this comes from? Is this a character trait you find in your children too?
- The children surprise me with their poetic wisdom, especially while in the garden working with their mama. Most often times, the most personal discussions come up when alone with one of them in the potager or walking the prairie. Since we don’t watch television, because we choose not to have one, there is more time for reading, playing games, creating music together, praying together, and talking at the table during meals….every meal is shared together. We all have to adapt to the seasons that surrounds us here on the farm as well, which contributes to my candid poetry within my posts. Nothing is face value here….it all has a deeper meaning….from the chicken egg we hatch with mother hen to the farm dinners we prepare from the garden to serve our close friends.
- I do however write poetry, I particularly love old lyrical poems, as does my oldest son….my favourite poet is Martin Tupper, an 1850’s poet.
 

What influence do your words and pictures have on your daily life and on those around you?
- The pictures I post are of that week’s activities or discoveries, and I do find that while I am viewing my life through the lens of my camera, I notice more details. Farm chores and daily activities consume a large amount of all of our time here on the farm, but there is a constant hum of gratitude for this opportunity to live and work on this land and the people who preserved it. My mind doesn’t see things one dimensional….it is constantly moving and being inspired by my daily life. 

- What does your family think about your blog?
- My husband keeps abreast of the news online, and only reads my blog on occasion, but his support of my creativity and journals, both on paper and the computer is very encouraging. The children notice my depth of intensity while writing a post, so they usually close the office door for me, and give me silence, but they are always learning things on the computer through my teaching of working with the photos I take and that they take…they very much enjoy watching me pick out the photos I use for each post and the finished product. My eleven year old daughter’s opinion on my header is the last word….either yeah or nay.

 You blog, sew, garden (tell me if I missed some)......What is the most creative part of your day?
- The most creative part of my day for creating things for myself, seems to be early in the morning or extremely late at night….those are the times that I am not completely focused on my children and their needs, or the needs of our home and farm, but I do find that the most creative part of my day is being with my children, teaching them, and having them be a part of my daily life in and out of the garden.

- Your garden looks spectacular - are there many gardens like that where you live?
- There is not, and I wish there were to gather inspiration, but the growing interest in designing potagers for others, through the many compliments and inquiries from visitors to the farm, has made me and my husband strongly consider in opening up a business doing so. 

- If people were to retain one element or characteristic from your NaDa blog, what would you like it to be?
- Preserving simplistic traditions………..weaving the core moral values of faith and the beauty that surrounds us in a positive light, while working hard to achieve this goal.

Thank you Anne Marie for giving us such a  generous insight into your daily life.

Maybe one day we'll have this chat for real over the kitchen table!

when blogging becomes art - my first guest artist

Every day I visit more wonderful blogs than I care to admit. There are the funny blogs, the design blogs, the happy mom blogs, the foodies and now and again there are the blogs that raise blogging to an art form.

So what makes these blogs stand out in the crowd ?  The quality of their photos of course, the lyricism of their texts and their choice of subjects which must surely be dictated by their artist's soul.

In our blogosphere Julie is the shining example.  Blogging under the title Being Ruby she's  known for the beauty of her pictures as well as the poetry of her words.   You only have to look at the long line of comments we leave after her posts to know how much she is appreciated.   In return, anyone who has received a comment from Julie  will tell you how thoughtful and generous she is.

It's not too easy to get her to talk because she seems to find it hard to accept the admiration we express for her pictures.  I must tell you that the words "I just point and shoot" were uttered, ...  proof - if required - of her modesty.  She tries to insist on how she has no technique, she'd like us to believe the photos almost take themselves.

"Luckily for me, I seem to have finally found an outlet for my constant ruminations. A visual outlet where the mind can take a holiday, the calculations and hypothesis are left at the door."

Among Julie's recurring themes are travelling and she recently hosted a fantastic giveaway on her Venice pictures.   Believe me - I've been to several of the places that Julie has photographed, but  my snaps look nothing like hers!   Holiday destinations seem to become more photogenic through Julie's lens.

When she had to start scanning her old holiday pics to use them for her blog she discovered the joys of re-working or altering a photo, and soon realised how much it suited her methodical nature.

I am an analyst of detail, by trade and nature. Unfortunately there can be both positives and negatives to this attribute. Constantly re-reviewing and reconsidering every aspect of your work will sometimes spill over into your daily life and the results are never pretty.......  Lately though, I seem to have found a creative outlet for this annoying trait. A method to review, refine, invert, revert and 'per-mutate', that does not require mental acuity and in fact allows me to unwind, relax and just find beauty and calm in the ‘sometimes accidental’ resulting images.  ......... In fact I think it has become almost a meditative process for me.

Even though we are running out of superlatives to describe her blog, she still doesn't really seem to believe that what she does is credible, that she's authorised to claim this talent as her own.

 "it is interesting to me at least how this ... has become my hobby.. .. and to remember that I loved art as a child... I just gave it up as my brother was so good I felt like an impostor .. I think the same thing happened with photography... a few years back my brother studied art and photography and now has his own business.. so once again... the impostor"

". I am thinking of getting a new camera and will be getting my brother to help me choose the right one.... however.. for the alterations .... I just like to wing it... each photo dictates it's path.. I don't really decide I want it to be a certain look.. "

I've often seen comments where some of us suggest to Julie that she could use her photography professionally, but for the moment she seems unconvinced.

".. finding this hobby was really a life saver for me last year when I was working 80hrs a week .... although I didn't have much time for anything else....I really needed an outlet to unwind.. and playing with my photos and blogging was brilliant in that respect...now it is just an addictive... but one I love..... I'm not sure whether I would want to be a photographer... maybe... though like anything you start out with very little income  ....I think though If one started out young that would be a different story..."

So there we are, I don't think I need to add anything more, Julie's words and pictures are eloquent enough.  But I am sure that I can speak for all of you and say Thank You Julie  for the poetry you bring into our daily lives.

In the highly unlikely event of you not having been over to see her before,  may I  suggest that you click HERE straight away.  She's just posted a giveaway so, instead of leaving your lovely comments to me, leave them to Julie  ...   they are rightly hers.