Create your notebook

I have once in a while to rearrange my own filofax, keeping some scrap papers thowing others. Well not exactling throwing keeping them aside in my overfilled studios as a friend was telling me last night! How can you work with so much stuff around? That's my point everything really depends on your vision of your world as i feel that i don't have much material comparing to my heart friends in the US and of course it applies for everything in Life. Some will see the bright side others the dark side no matter what they have. My studio feels comforting, reassuring, cosy but for her as she suffers from asthma it's to much papers, tissues, hair cat...as for me i crave for more!

Creating my handmade journal is always something very relaxing and a way of knowing what i have been doing last year. As i rewrite in new papers what were my goals, my sales, what i create, what courses i had etc... and what i would like for the year to come it's a way of remaining self centered and connected. I am doing again the "artist's way" exercices by Julia Cameron as doing the Katie Kendrick online workshop was great  but being so much out of my comfort zone my censor hit me hard! You are not capable of drawing, who are you kidding bla bla... positive thoughts as you can see so urgent measures needed to be taken! I am writing everyday her three pages as she tells us, not negociable! With my censor nagging me what's the point of this pages? bla bla.. So i come back for a while into my world which is good as i'm taking some balance to continue Katie's course that i absolutely love.

In the meantime holidays are over so let's get back to work, flying to Sao Paulo not a city that i like very much being overly crowded but there's a flea market that i want to go...so i'm excited. Will give you tips if it's worthwhile.
 Thinking a lot of my beloved and my mom who are in beautiful sunny Toulouse doing a raisin cure for a week. Wow! Check on the net for more information if that fancy you cure-detoxination.fr
Have a good week end
Remember
Dance
Laugh
Make love
Enjoy...

Life is good...

It's 7h30 in the morning and i'm already wake up...thanks to my special teacher katie Kendrick! I'm completely addict to her faces having a notebook with me all the time and practicing practicing... She's a wonderful creative inspiring teacher giving us a tons of tecnhiques with an open heart that i don't get to see often. I was out of my comfort zone and still am but it's like she granted us with a green light...go girls unleash your creativity. I would love to add to my albums painting as well. I'm really into the mixed media gathering in one piece all sorts of techniques and materials. Above for example I sewed into an old paper a coco leave that i brought from Brazil... This album is on progress...let's see what comes out of it. I am always wondering when looking at old pictures where they happy? This woman, did she loved the man she married? Was he caring devoted to her?What were her dreams? Her vision of the world? Was she an open minded? Did she give enough? I don't know for you but i have always mixed feelings not to say guilty when spending time doing something that i love the most. It must be among other things for the fact that i don't have kids as God didn't granted me that part so there's always this nagging feeling...am I being selfish?My beloved husband goes every saturday visit a young man who is in prison, bringing him newspapers, self help books and a positive attitude towards life. Luis knows how to connect, interact and touched others heart. That's a blessing!
Have a good week end
xo

Serenissima...Venezia

Had I arrived 15 days earlier and I would have probably seen...George at la nostra de Venezia! Instead I get to see beautiful Italians who possess an unique and astounding charm. The italian men show you by whistling, singing, saying out loud how "belissima" you are and...it feels good! My advice is that  any woman after a rough experience with men  should go to Venice because her self esteem rises up pretty fast. One feels awesome and gorgeous in this magic city. Beauty is everywhere.

The only but...that cannot be neglected is the excessive price of everything! Feel free to share the taxi boat  on your way to Venice with other tourists like we did or when sightseeing in the grand canal for example. Be aware that most of the mask are made in china and the shop owner is chinese!

My husband Luis fulfilled one of my mom's secret dream that was staying at the Danieli. She was like a kid, savouring each moment of this timeless luxury hotel. The breakfast with a top view over the grand canal is incredible and we did feel in heaven! The palazzo was built back in the XIV century and belong to several venetians family like the Dandolo or  the Gritti and they all highly preserve it splendor. Dal Niel bought it in 1822 and transform it in the hotel known since then by his nickname DANIELI as he was known in Venice. The most romantic room being number 10 where Alfred de Musset et Georges Sand lived their love story back in 1833.

Hope you enjoy the photos

I enjoy taking them

Have a good week end

Divertite

Grazie

Thank you

I am really excited about Katie Kendrick online class. She's so inspiring and talented. It's like i have been waiting all these years the green light...and off i go. I have been in my studio with my hands full of paint and watercolors crayons feeling alive. I don't know where i'm going but i definitely sense that a new and exciting path is ahead.
i like to doubt
i like to try
i like to question
i like to explore
i like...myself each day a little bit more
Make something bold this week
xo

Being impatient...

I am very far from home and longing to come back. Last night i watch all over again Katie Kendrick awesome videos about collage and painting and i'm rather impatient to be in my studio. I love her way of teaching and sharing. I have to overcome the nagging fear of not being capable then, last night i was surfing and come accross Lynn Whipple blog. I knew her work already but haven't seen her tutorials videos nor her 100 bad paintings as she call them. There's the 8 steps video which is not only fun but inspiring where she acurately describes the process of creating with all our doubts, fears, wanting to gave up blabla but in the end we just have to keep on trying because creating is what makes us feeling whole.
We practice and practice and sometimes it seems that everything flows and then again we feel stuck. It's really an ongoing process, to know that it happens with all of us who have this need to create feels reassuring and comforting.
I think she called it step 4 where she highly advise us to show our art to someone we trust, who will not turns us down again my fan number one being my beloved husband and i know that he is always there for me to listen, to encourage, to motivate, to lighten up, to laugh... I miss him deeply, hopefully as we say in portuguese "Se Deus quiser"(if God allows it) tomorrow i'll be next to him.
Have a good sunday
xo

On struggling

Hope you had a nice week end? Mine was unsettling...I am doing Katie's Kendrick online class on mixed media which is absolutely great but very unfamiliar for me. One of her students share on our yahoo group that she feels scared to just let go which was odd because it was just plain paper. I do feel exactly the same way it's only watercolour paper not that expensive and that's part of the deal we have to make mistakes! I have this crazy idea that painting is not for everyone so of course I struggle but I do enjoy the journey. My faces look like an alien not friendly at all so i will not post them for now. I keep remember one of my dearest friend who is now more than eighties who started painting when she retired at the age of 65 who wanted to give up at every single class she attend but she didn't and I kept reminding her advice, step after step you will make progresses. I am definitely out of my comfort zone but it feels good because it means that i'm learning and challenging myself despite the fear of not making it, not being able too bla bla...the usual "saboteur" as my mom calls it.
Our worst enemy being our "dearest mental" who is nagging us all the time we have to be aware!
My husband is my GPS kindly bringing me to the right path again over and over knowing that i will doubt but never losing his patience. 
I feel blessed to have him by my side
Do something different this week...and tell me about it
xo

A new journey

I am over excited as i join Katie Kendricks online class. Starting tomorrow can't wait! That's the good thing with the net today, distance disappears and we are all able to connect with one another. I know i will meet wonderful and creative fellows who are eager to learn and share. I do feel a little isolated back here in Lisbon as the mixed media world as yet to flourish...so meeting art sisters truly makes me happy. I feel integrated and connected and that's a priceless feeling.
Have a good week
xo
 

On self esteem

 The school is about to begin...time to go back to my studio again. I had a whole and full summer with plenty of emotions(not all positive...) but that's part of the bargain. We know there's a path but are we on the good one? When we feel whole i guess it means something is working for us. I could say that my inner voice tells me to withdraw, to settle a little, to look inside myself and start working again on my self esteem.

 What about you? In a scale one to one hundred where do you place your self esteem? When i m working and starting new projects i feel always very enthusiastic then i doubt...am i repeating myself?
What do i want to say? How can i be more creative? bla bla...  on and on which is very confusing for those around me who look at my art  and really appreciate it. But then again are they just being nice? So the solution always comes from within because somewhere in the road i got lost again and i don't like being that confused. I had my studio reorganized, cleaned, throw away plenty of unwanted stuff so now it's time to just seat, breathe and look within. I am working on my site which comes out to be stressful but also highly productive as i am visualizing all of my work along the years. Realizing the progresses, what i want to improve, the workshops i want to attend, the art i want to create, what i love to do ...

I should imitate my cat Frimousse and surrender to LIFE once and for all...
In between if you any advice i appreciate any tips you may give me
Have a nice week
xo

About love

In the end it is always what prevails...
The love for a man
The love for our children
The love for our parents
The love for our friends
and one that we tend to forget
The love for OURSELVES


My deepest wish is to grow old with my man.
Know every wrinkle of his face
Know every scar inside in and out
Know what makes him cry
Know what make him laugh
To look back and be proud of what we have accomplished together.
The road is not an easy one, every couple experiences up and downs but
i believe that LOVE transcends it all.
Love is what moves the world
Love is what we all seek
and fortunately GOD blesses everyone at any given time.
Be blessed
 Have a good week end
XO

I love my life

After 3 days at "Festas de carcavelos" time to relax! Sunny weather here in beautiful Lisbon heading to the beach... The three days were great, very well organized, very good crafting with laughs and good humor. I was next to an artist who makes his own tee shirt each being different and unusual. What i like about him apart from his art is him being so available to share insights informations. Sergio is definitely on the giving an authentic soul which as we know tends to be rare on big cities! Check his site www.id-wear-com
I do love being in contact with the public. I am fortunate that they apreciate, recognize my work and my creativity. Now is time to go back to my studio as i am running out of necklaces, notebooks, kits and albums. A special thanks to Frederica who happens to be a stewardess like me who is not only beautiful inside in and out and was the one organizing this event. Check is site too at  www.cultodaimagem.com
Through my art i meet wonderful souls. I am truly blessed
I am still caring the Machu Picchu energy...
Wish you all the best

XO