So It Begins

Georgiana is SUPER Excited to see you here! 

  SUPER EXCITED!!!

Have A Wonderful Weekend

IMAGE SOURCE & CREDITS:

 Artwork  [copyright beingRuby©]

Created from original photography:  [beingRuby©]
Location: Normandy, France, August 2011

Somewhere In France: Life Is A Picture Postcard

Somewhere in France

'Life Is A Picture Postcard'

Hi Everyone.. I hope you are having a lovely week so far. Here in Sydney it is raining cats and dogs. Almost time to build an ark, but I'll hold off on that for just a tad longer.

Today I'm continuing with my French Week in celebration of a whole bunch of recent and future events, one being featured at the 'The Decorating Forum' this week. Once again thanks to Julie-Ann and all the readers who nominated my blog and a big welcome to my new readers. If you are just tuning in with me this week, I am also holding a photo-art print giveaway. More on that at the end of this post, but first a little blurb on my photo-art above;

Life Is A Picture Postcard: Whilst traveling in Europe last year I was fortunate enough to spend a week in Normandy, staying at Sharon's Guesthouse [see other post here]. I would have to say it was one of the most relaxing weeks I have spent anywhere and not least because of the lovely company of Sharon and family, but also the beautiful countryside and village architecture that greeted me when I did decide to move a muscle or two and venture out on a walk. It's a funny thing. We travel far and wide hoping to find nourishment for our spirit. Some will travel to an up market spa and others to a far flung meditation retreat. For me it was found here, the countryside of Normandy. In the small things that pleased the eye and greeted the weary traveller and in the simple quiet that rested slightly above the earth as if floating and swirling around me without making a sound.

Buying Milk On A Monday

These photo-art images above were created from shots I took on one of my walks through the local countryside. Little water-colour patchworks, snipped and smudged and coloured and painted till they formed the images that my memory was keeping.. 

This particular day was a Monday!.. Mondays in rural France are quiet days.. Shop closed days!. I knew this. I had been warned. A helpful notice posted in the cottage was there to remind me, and even with a verbal reminder from Sharon I still managed to overlook the fact I was about to run out of milk and on a Monday no less!!! So determined to rectify my silly lapse of brain cells,  I took off on an adventure.

I made out for the next village by foot. Then the next, crossed a valley and the river that runs through it and finally came to the little village of Chambray. And here I found the local bar was indeed open, on a Monday and yes they had milk. From memory it was a 4 hour round trip by foot, but hardly a burden enjoying all the sights along the way. Lucky for me Sharon's eldest son miraculously turned up on pushbike just as I was entering the village so I had a handy interpreter to champion my cause. Thanks #1 son.

Now of course.. back home in everyday life buying milk is nowhere near as pretty an adventure, but at least I have the memories.

Giveaway  Reminder

During my 'French Week' every comment on this and future posts up to and including Sunday April 22, will go into the draw for my giveaway. I've put together a selection of some of my art prints [see link below] and the winner can choose any two.  Perhaps your own Uncle Louis or some Parisian Rooftops.. the choice will be yours! I will also pick an extra winner from my Followers who comment, in appreciation of helping my blog make it to it's Third Birthday.

Giveaway Print Selection Can Be Viewed

[by clicking HERE]

Giveaway Button If You Feel So Inclined

Have A Lovely Week Everyone

IMAGE SOURCE & CREDITS:

 Artwork  [copyright beingRuby©]

Created from original photography:  [beingRuby©]

Location: Normandy, France,  August 2011

Thinking of: SPRING

Thinking of: SPRING

Hi Everyone.. I'm back.. I hope! and today I'm thinking of spring!! Unusual as Australia is moving further into autumn, although Easter Time always makes me think of spring!. In fact the weather plays little tricks on us around this time and alternates the days between cool crisp autumn and spring like sunshine. Perhaps the southern skies feel a little left out.. They know that Easter should be springtime.. A time of new growth and renewal.. sunshine and happiness and a bounce in the step.

So I'm just going to fake it and create my own little piece of spring... We'll start with a scene in  the French countryside. Some rolling hills fading into a backdrop of fluffy fairy floss clouds. A little stone cottage somewhere on the horizon invites us to run through the fields and make our way home. A sunflower or two so you know where you are.

Nothing like a bit of pseudo reality to fuel the imagination. In fact I've been on a bit of a roll this week creating pseudo french landscapes. Somewhere between reality and 'the land of everything as it should be' .. little water painting patchworks that take you on a journey to France.. I'll bring them to you soon.. But you'll have to wait till after Easter.. I'll tell you more about it as we get closer to that time.. But for now... take a run in the fields or lie in the grass and watch the clouds float on by, and no matter from which hemisphere your horizons hail...

Enjoy A Little Springtime

IMAGE SOURCE & CREDITS:

 Artwork  [copyright beingRuby©]

Created from original photography:  [beingRuby©]

Location: Normandy, France, August 2011

Dear 2011: A Parting Message

'My Message To 2011'
& my new answer for everything

Dear 2011

You have pushed me to my limit Sir .. Once again I find myself putting pen to paper to question your motives and point out that your behaviour can no longer be tolerated. I am saying goodbye to you dear sir!! There is no more room in my life for your fickle antics and unconscionable tactics. 

I know I spoke similar harsh words to your cousin 2009... You are cut from the same cloth... 'Brothers from another Mother'... You give with one hand and take with the other.. Ok.. I will give credit where it is due.. You did bestow some wonderful gifts... There's no overlooking a trip to Europe nor gifts of a more personal nature which will remain unspoken in such a public forum.. But really you also created much havoc to all and sundry and I think it's time to move on.. 

Don't try and stop me with flattering words or false promises that quite frankly I doubt you can deliver in less than 12 hours..  Any such attempts to sway my decision will demand the forthcoming response..

... As a wise woman once said ... 

'I Four Fourths Don't Care!!'

Have A Wonderful New Year's Eve Everyone

I'm old school and will wait till we ring in the New Year to pass on those wishes

It's been a blast once again

Blogging has brought about some of my most treasured moments of 2011

And AS ALWAYS .. Each of you have brightened my year and lifted my spirits on a daily basis

You're The Best!!!

IMAGE SOURCE & CREDITS:

ALL Text, Original Photography & Artwork [copyright beingRuby©]

Location: Normandy France 2011 [I couldn't stay away]

Quote:  Gilmorisms [more of those to come in 2012]

Normandy: Voter's Pick [Author's Favourite]

Hi everyone and welcome to installment three of

.. 'I Wish I Was Still In Normandy'.. 

Well the votes are in and the majority of you asked to see more Normandy..  Your wish is my command.. Actually you also asked to see more brocante, but as I warned earlier my shots of the actual brocante stalls are a little scarce.. Not sure what happened there.. other than being distracted by Sharon's bartering skills.. but it turns out that the only post worthy shot is this above.. Religious paraphernalia displayed on the iron fence bordering the grounds.. I do believe this was the first shot at the first brocante of the day... and from there on.. my shots seem to be only the surrounding countryside..  Perhaps I was a little shy of getting in their faces or of being so conspicuously a tourist!! [i think my clothing and camera gave that away!!].... So although I have no shots of the stalls.. I do however have shots of the gorgeous countryside I was presented with .. 

Take the first shot for instance.. currently rated as #1 in my favourites of Normandy [of course my favorites change on a daily basis!] ... I was taking a little brocanting break from all that overwhelming bargain-fest of vintage goodness .. just soaking in the atmosphere when I noticed this sweet stone cottage .. just the type you would imagine you would see in 'Deepest Normandy' and just waiting for me to take a shot.. So I did.. Now the thing about getting one's best shot is one has to get themselves into a best shot taking crouch ... That in itself can be a little embarrassing somewhere tourists aren't the norm and people are just getting on with their day to day lives.. So when I crouched down to get the angle I was after.. I do believe people were a little amused at what the crazy tourist was doing taking shots of grass.. The only tourist of the day I think..  But you know .. I think it was worth it.. The result is shot #1 above.. and the 1st shot of the altered images..  Old Stone Cottage vs New Build.. Both have their charm with their angled rooflines... Something one doesn't see so much in Australia, given that we are not prone to snow falls in most parts of our country. 

Normandy is many things for me.. and I don't think one shot can encapsulate all it's beauty.. The lush green gardens and foliage .. Or the golden hues of freshly harvested fields ... And pinwheels of haystacks strangely dotting the soft rolling hills leaving the impression that they were having a wow of a time and throwing themselves down the hills like small children at play.. Then there are the flowers.. gorgeous flowers, wild or cultivated, even the weeds became part of my portfolio.. [more to show at a later date]... So although one cannot sum it up in even one post..  The first shot does match my 'imagined Normandy' ... my mental image before I set foot on her lush fertile soils.. 

Well.. I still haven't mentioned the skies!!! The big huge never ending expanses of sky!! Skies that hang above as if placed there by an artist... The sky-writers knew it!! Knew of her opulent grandness and were often out criss-crossing her expanse and partaking in a game or two of heavenly noughts and crosses.. [again more shots to come at a later date]..

To appease you of the lack of brocante.. I can tell you I am working on a post of my ill-gotten gains.. and Sharon has recently put up her weekly loot-shoot [here] .. This week is a beauty!!! so pop over and check it out.. After you've finished admiring my shots of course!!!

Next Destination

As I sit here and write this in draft.. Yet another vote has come in for Normandy.. So next post? Who knows? It might be Paris.. or it might be more Normandy.. or I may even surprise us with something else. I am yet to upload all my pics.. Still in disk space scarcity mode so uploading piecemeal at present.. Which means.. I still haven't seen all my shots myself!! Heaven forbid!!

Have A Wonderful Week Everyone

& once again thanks to all those readers and commenters who are hanging in there with me after my long absence.. I'm sorry if I haven't visited you yet.. Pop in and remind me!!

You're The Best Followers A Girl Could Have!!!

[i was paid to say that!! haha.. No.. of course NOT]

IF YOU MISSED IT

Normandy: In The Garden

Normandy: My French Country Guest Cottage 

IMAGE SOURCE & CREDITS:

ALL Text, Photography & Artwork [copyright beingRuby©]