I mentioned in my last post that our village Durfort (which translates as “hard and strong”) has been making copperware since the 14C. The village at one time had 14 mills along our river (le Sor) and then as the textile trade moved, the village became known for its copper ware. Even today, people come here from all over to buy copper in the Viergnes copper atelier as well as in several other shops selling less expensive copper pieces made in North Africa but using the classic old French designs.
There is also a small but wonderful Copper Museum. Inside the museum are beautiful antique copper pots- many of the designs of the pots were made specifically for the needs of certain recipes. The shapes are so unusual and call out to be drawn or photographed! An informative DVD shows the old copper making process and how it is done today.
My workshops are held at La Cascade – a beautiful home from the 17C renovated by Gwen Gibson- which is halfway up Rue des Martineurs. Our neighbor, Mr. Ferrari, was the last of the artists making copper the old way. He was the last man to close and lock up the last traditional copper making studio in the village a few years ago. I see him almost every day on my morning walk- he is either riding his bike to his garden, fishing in the river which runs right behind the houses on our street or collecting snails for his wife to make a soup!
The villagers tell me this is the most beautiful spring here in Durfort France in the last 21 years. I leave the house each morning at 7 AM to do my morning walk. I walk by the small cobble-stoned streams that make this village unique. The streams run right down the center of the three village streets.
Durfort has been making copperware since the 14C. The lovely houses that now line the streets of the village were once copper studios and the streams were made for parts of that process- i.e quenching the copper to cool it off. There is a fascinating DVD in the Copper Museum here in the village that shows the whole process.
I walk out the back of the village and follow the road up the Montagne Noire (Black Mountain), against which Durfort is nestled. The river Sor and the early morning birds provide a beautiful musical accompaniment to my walk.
There are several houses on the way with gorgeous meadows and old ruins on their property. As I approach house number four there it is. My, well not really mine, cherry tree- in full drippy juicy readiness. The cherries are bursting off the branches. I have been picking cherries from this tree, under cover of darkness, for the last two years. I feel a little guilty of the thievery, as there are cars parked at the house, on the other hand, I have never seen anyone here and noone else, besides the birds, seems to be interested in the fruit. So they are mine, all mine! I found a recipe today in a medieval cookbook that I’ll try my hand at tomorrow. Sounds a bit like a cherry crumble from what I can translate.
My art for the last week has consisted of my daily drawing in pen (so I cannot obsess about an eraser and being perfect). These will serve as inspiration for future fabric collages with polymer clay embellishments. And I’m shooting a photo a day with the macro lens, exploring closeups not necessarily for the actual image but for composition, texture studies.
Here’s a fabric collage from my Cafe series.
I hope you’ll join me this summer as I write weekly (starting beginning of June) from a small village in France. The village is an artisan village and I’ll do my best to bring you inspiration from this lovely area.
The surrounding rolling fields and forests and architecture are visual feasts for the eyes. I’ll be hosting Anna Corba’s workshop first, then will have my own workshop adventures with three groups of wonderful artists.
My “art plan” for the summer is to once again do a daily drawing with pen and ink and I would like to devote some time to macro photography that might lead to interesting fabric collages. I’ve just about completely finished the jewelry and final embellishing on a group of 50 fabric collages. The retreat I just returned from allowed me to focus on this body of work. I’ll have them in a new shop in the early fall.
Please come with me as I wander the flea markets, art studios, Saturday markets, fields of sunflowers, music festivals, villages small and large. I’d love to take you on a summer adventure!
I am in the studio for the next couple weeks and hope to make real progress on my new work. The 40 or so 
fabric collages are finished off and awaiting final embellishments and a polymer clay “something” that will be a part of the collage and is wearable too. As I said recently, I’m approaching my clay work “sideways” right now, being first inspired with the play of color, texture, patterns and images of the fabrics.
Here’s another work in progress.
And a “possible” piece of jewelry for the hair.
I’m leaving this AM for home after a wondrously creative, laugh-filled and work-filled week in the Outer Banks in NC. I am grateful to everyone who made my week so rich and magical. Working, playing, brainstorming, chatting about things tiny and profound for a whole week (with someone else cooking all the delish meals- thanks Jim) is a rare occurence and one I couldn’t be more grateful for- Thanks Judy and Tam. And to everyone else (go here to see who all was here) a huge thank you for all the creative energy that was bursting the seams of the house.I’ll show pics along the way as to how the weeks creative spirit influences my art work, I have no doubt it will!
I’m still continuing on the path of a sideways approach to polymer clay.
First the inspiration (France Art Deco period) then the fabric collage,
then a polymer clay piece of jewelry. This is all the fun part.
After the fun comes the grunt work. I’m finishing each of the collages off with a “fabric frame” so it is either ready to hang (I’m making a “hanging device” for each) or ready to frame in an 11 x14″ frame.
So I knuckled down and finished off about a dozen the other day. I have several more to do and then will be able to make MORE NEW ONES!
I’d also like to mention two week long workshops that I am excited to teach this year.
In Nov at Maureen Carlson’s Retreat Center called Creative Sparks: Ignite Your Imagination. And also at John Campbell Folk School- I have two one-week classes in Sept. Check them out and hope to see you there!
This week my studio time will at least partially be devoted to polymer clay. I still love the medium but have been taking a sideways approach to creating with it.
I’ve been obsessively devoting time to making fabric collages- and then using those as inspiration for polymer clay jewelry. So my goal is to make a couple new collages and also start tackling the polymer pieces for fabric collages I already have.
Here’s one of my newer pieces. I’ll have these for sale in an ETSY shop in the next few weeks, along with a new line of jewelry.
And a brooch inspired by it
My goal to stop, calmly focus and appreciate the beauty of small daily pleasures continues. I’m doing a bit of writing, a quick sketch, a photo, or trying out new techniques in my daily grid journal. It’s going well so far.
Some days it’s writing about a quote I hear or an event I enjoyed attending. Some days it’s a quick sketch of something I see on my morning exercise walk. And I finally have been cracking open some art books and experimenting a bit.
Here’s a couple pages from my grid journal.
As part of my commitment and desire to focus calmly on the beauty of everyday things, I’m doing a small (and quick- 5-10 minute) sketch a day. I divided my big journal page (9 x 12″) into sixths. Each square is 4 1/2″x 4″. Everyday I’m drawing a pen and ink sketch of something that caught my eye or something I enjoyed during the day.
I’m using pen and ink so that I have to commit to the drawing quickly and don’t get sidetracked with erasing and trying to make it perfect. I can write or take a photograph instead of or in addition to the sketch too. So far it’s FUN!!
I’ll scan some pages soon but for now I’ll show a collection of my quick sketches from France last summer.
I think I’ll be able to use them in jewelry designs in some fashion.
A day late, but yesterday was a special day or at least felt that way. For me, a day to reflect on the past year and to look forward to the new.
Choosing a word to focus on is a popular way to approach the new year these days and I have been reflecting on this, but unable to come up with a guiding word.
In talking with friends, I like the idea of focusing on what’s great in my life and thinking about what else I would dream to add to that mix. I want to feel grateful for all I have and not take it for granted, and not always wishing for “more or different or better.”
2010 felt like a year of running and never catching up, much less savoring all the good. This year I want to calmly focus, savor, enjoy and appreciate the small things in my daily life.
Here ’s to a great 2011 for all of us!
I mentioned in my last post that our village Durfort (which translates as “hard and strong”) has been making copperware since the 14C. The village at one time had 14 mills along our river (le Sor) and then as the textile trade moved, the village became known for its copper ware. Even today, people come here from all over to buy copper in the Viergnes copper atelier as well as in several other shops selling less expensive copper pieces made in North Africa but using the classic old French designs.
There is also a small but wonderful Copper Museum. Inside the museum are beautiful antique copper pots- many of the designs of the pots were made specifically for the needs of certain recipes. The shapes are so unusual and call out to be drawn or photographed! An informative DVD shows the old copper making process and how it is done today.
