Where Art Thou?

Hello creative self. Where art thou? What happened? Well we all know that life got very busy with babies and while the art did continue, there was less time to devote to it, let alone blog about it. Some of the art made it to other blogs, but most of it is stored somewhere in a computer (most likely now defunct) or in a box in the attic or has been sent off into the world on an adventure. I will tie the loose ends of this blog together with a collection of Christmas cards I created over the years. I think I started illustrating my Christmas cards in 2008 when we were living in our cute little apartment in Canberra, overlooking beautiful parklands and the occasional kangaroo. We owned a spiffy little pale blue vespa that we named Enio. I painted a picture of Romain and me zipping along on Enio together through the ACT. I then somehow created Christmas cards from that painting. Can't remember how exactly. The original painting hangs in our kitchen in Ainay. There was never an electronic copy of this card.....But the tradition was started and I continued in 2009, the first year of our posting in Vanuatu. Not sure then what happened to 2010. I think it was Romain and me as ninjas after our trip to Japan. 2011 was also an original painting converted to cards. The painting is now sitting on the book shelf in our living room in Ainay. So only 2010 is missing and I'm astounded I was able to find copies of all the other years! Here's the vespa card from Christmas 2008 - where it all began...

2009

2011

2012

2013

2014 These are legit the flights Leo took before he had even turned 1!!!

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Welcome Babies

for our friends in France

for our friends in Kosovo

for our friends in Jerusalem

A bit of Levity in the Levant

Aq me ben

Our friends Isah and Loreta own a bag shop on the same street as our first apartment in Pristina, called I'm Lu. They are both very creative and have this great workshop out the back of their shop stacked from floor to ceiling with happily messy piles of fabric. It is where they make their bags and raise their babies. I often take Leo there to hang out and play with their daughter while the sewing machines hum in the background. I have an extensive range of bags from their shop and have gifted lots over the years. Isah is also the guitarist in a band called Gillespie. They are really cool! And well-regarded and quite famous on the local music scene. So I was chuffed when Isah asked me to make a filmclip for their song 'Aq me ben' which translates as 'I don't care'. He wanted me to do a stop-motion after he saw my birth announcement clip. That was 30 seconds or so. Aq me ben is 3.53 minutes! So it was a mammoth task that involved thousands of photos and took months to complete. I set up the studio in the corner of our living room and we lived around it. Leo would help me by choosing colours for the cut outs and keeping me company. I am a complete amateur and don't have any of the right equipment so the clip came out wonky and far less than perfect. But it was a rewarding experience and it has been shown on national TV a fair bit. Isah has also been interviewed by the Kosovo equivalent of MTV and he gave me a plug :)

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... The clip is found on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KxcJSWM5T8 And this is Isah's translation of the lyrics to English. I don't care when you're mad at me I try to understand something you haven't said I admit it now, I hate you sometimes I don't care when you're mad at me Brightness that blinds your eyes I try to free the scarf that suffocates me I attempt to understand where are we I don't care when you're mad at me I embroidered a sweater for you I sweep the spiders with a broom at home One by one, sometimes I think of another way How to caress that beautiful face of yours A nightingale left the nest and flew away The snowball rolled down and hit the tree Somewhere, somewhen someone else sings this song To that beautiful girl in that hot air balloon I don't care when you're mad at me I don't care when you're mad at me I don't care when you're mad at me

Another Adventure for the Fraussies

We have been busy

Can you guess what we've been up to?

Yippeeeee!

you can watch the video on my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjPlq5emTDU&t=23s

Leo's Room

Leo in his bedroom

With the cradle that Ton Ton Camille gave him acting as his library

And the paintings and collages that mum made brightening up the walls

He sleeps under his yoga flags to balance his chakras

And the Tawny Scrawny Lion banner reminds him to eat his veggies.

Some jonquils to celebrate the start of spring.

And giant pom poms just because

While this hairy scary family guards his door.

2 Cats

I knew I had done some more stuff this year.  Here is another couple of paintings I found in my photo files - made for Leo's little friend Eleanor when she turned 2 earlier this year.

and the birthday card to go with them

all wrapped up and looking pretty!  the wrapping paper here in Kosovo is so cheap!  I love it!