What’s missing in my life? A foto of myself with an Eiffel tower background. It’s not that I’ve never been to Paris it’s that I’ve been to Paris and haven’t had myself photographed with the tower. What was I thinking of?
And what made me suddenly discover this lacuna? Because I have an upcoming birthday and would like to celebrate my 60th year by initiating a photogenic lifestyle.
First of all, what do I mean by photogenic lifestyle? I would like to routinely look around me, close my eyes and snap a mental photo then say to myself: How lovely! The photo would not be of me but of the context I’m in.
How to achieve this? Well, I’m not sure. But one thing I know, it’s an inside and out process–The Out being my surrounding environment and The In being the way I see myself. You know, my Weltanschauung!
I don’t want to be a still-life. I want to be a motion picture.
Below are fotos of a fabric charm bracelet I recently made. It’s name is “Je Suis Muy Wild”, the wild coming from the fact that it makes use of animal print fabric. I recently posted about the love many have for animal prints–sometimes we just need to roar, I guess.
Unfortunately, I am not in a very good mood today because I didn’t get much sleep last night thanks to “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” by Muriel Barbery. It was a book that had been well-publicized and, from the descriptions I’d read, seemed to be inspirational. The story is about Renee Michel, a 54 year old concierge of an elitist Parisian apartment building. Renee’s life is gray but she gives it color with the books she reads and the films and art exhibits she sees. The world gives her no special attention until a new tenant recognizes Renee’s animated mind. And, as I read, my heart swelled with joy thinking how lovely it was that finally Renee’s life was becoming magical. Flutter, flutter then, wamO bamO, a wack in the face and life became unfair again. The book ends tragically–so French in that it’s so existential (maybe that’s why France has such a high suicide rate). The denouement filled me with sadness and, at 4 a.m., I was crying my heart out for Renee in between curses thrown at Ms. Barbery.
I want to believe. I don’t want to be a cynical skeptic. Nor an insomniac. So, for the time being, I will refrain from French literature. But, in all fairness to Ms. Barbery, below is a list of appreciable quotes from the above mentioned book:
Do you know that it is in your company that I have had my finest thoughts?
When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things. Where is beauty to be found? In great things that, like everything else, are doomed to die, or in small things that aspire to nothing, yet know how to set a jewel of infinity in a single moment?
I find this a fascinating phenomenon: the ability we have to manipulate ourselves so that the foundation of our beliefs is never shaken.
Madame Michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside she is covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that on the inside, she has the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary–and terrible elegant.
But, on a happier note, a video of a kitten and a hedgehog:
Fur is the oldest form of clothing used since prehistoric times. Animal skins were once worn because they kept people warm. Then they were worn because expensive and thus a manifestation of wealth and luxury.
Early America, having access to land greatly populated by wild animals, profited from fur trading. Unfortunately, this led to the displacement of many Indian tribes as well as to the distinction of animals such as the beaver.
Thanks to the protests of animal rights activists, the wearing of furs is no longer fashionable. However, during the 1960s, animal prints for women became popular. So why do women like wearing animal prints so much?
Some believe animal prints provoke sexual arousal and wearing them is like saying: Hey, I’m wild, would you like to tame me? Because, as women know, men like to conquer.
Philematology is the study of kissing. And the reasons why we kiss. The first known written reference of kissing is that found in the Bible’s Song of Songs: “Kiss me again and again, for your love is sweeter than wine.”
The Romans had names for various kinds of kisses. Baseum (a kiss on the hand) , osculum (a kiss on the mouth with the lips closed) and saveum (a kiss of passion).
There are different ways of kissing: Italians kiss by touching cheeks, cats kiss by blinking, Eskimos by rubbing noses.
Basorexia is the overwhelming craving for a kiss. But why do we kiss? There are many theories. Some anthropologists believe that it’s instinctual, others believe that it’s a product of kiss feeding, a means of feeding infants by first chewing their food then passing it into the baby’s mouth.
Kissing is often a neurological experience.
The name of this bracelet is “Basorexia”. It’s made from fabric scraps. The base was made by crocheting a shredded t-shirt whereas the “charms” were made by fabric scraps sewn together to create giant beads. The beads are embellished with stitching and paillettes/sequins made from soda cans.
A few years ago the world became cartoonish. Women were buying expensive purses with kitty faces on them and pajamas with Minnie Mouse on the front. There was a manga mania and crafters worldwide were making animal softies. People were no longer taken into consideration and what was real was démodé. My drawings have always been fairly aggressive so, to mellow them out a bit, I took advantage of the new animal trend and startedreplacing people with bunnies. And I didn’t stop with the drawings. I also painted and embroidered them. And made tons of sock bunnies.
Recently I’ve been thinking about the practicality of neck purses—small purses that can be worn around the neck and used, for example, when travelling so you can easily have your tickets and passport available. But neck purses are also nice for walking. They are big enough for the essentials like keys and coin purse. This bunny was made for carrying sketch materials. There is room for a small sketchbook and space for pencils in the legs.
The Narrative Within 