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I thought I would share a tidbits of what’s been on my art table lately. I am not ready yet for the big reveals but… I really want to share some of it with you all.

Today, something weird happened. It’s been a while since I last recorded and shared a video, after several attempts that ending being big failures (camera’s battery dieing in the middle of the recording, me having to cut it off because of some duties implied by being a mom……..), I decided today would be the day and nothing could actually stop me.

And I just abandonned myself in the painting… trusting something positive will come out of it. But honestly, I would never have thought of THIS. You’ll understand when the video will be ready (tomorrow I hope). What ended on my canvas is either abstract or a Nixie, I don’t know how to call it yet. But I simply LOVE it, which makes me feel a bit ill-at-ease for a reason I don’t understand yet (oooh personal message to my dear friend Anu: it has a mouth !!)

Here is a sneak peak of it:

I recently shared on Inner Voices facebook page this tidbit of my latest Nixie, named Kowana:

Yes, Kowana is different from all the previous Nixies. And I fell in love with her.

This one has no name yet (this seems common this month…), see that gorgeous texture ? YUM !

Gratitude Friday is a weekly ritual I started in order to focus on all the small and big positive things that happened during my week. I invite you to join me, you’ll see how much being thankful can change your life. If you want to know more about it, read my introduction post.

Hello !

I’ll be honest with you, I am beyond exhausted. Not even because I ran in the cold or worked out. I’m just worn out and have to deal with it. I did not really know if I wanted to write this Gratitude Friday, as I write it in both english and french, it asks twice the energy.

I am apologizing, again, for doing it short. Hoping you won’t mind and will enjoy it as well, and that it may inspire you to reflect on your week and what was good in it.

This week, I am thankful for:

• The unexpected features of the Nixies that were born this week.
• CHA (Craft And Hobby, it is a huge show that happens twice a year in the US, where companies share their new products. It is opened both for the public and for professionals) is around the corner, and so the web is filled with sneak peaks. I love the new stencils coming from The Crafter’s Workshop designed by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (and some other of their releases); the stamps and other products by Christy Tomlinson, some of the new stamps and ideology stuff by Tim Holtz, lines from Studio Calico… It is very inspiring.
• I received the beautiful mixed media portrait of me made by Joyce. Amazing !
• I started my Project Us, inspired by the famous Project Life. But I am not a scrapbooker. I still enjoy it a lot and I just love documenting our daily life in picture. Would love to have a pogo printer or other ZINK printer so I could have the pictures from my phone and camera printed quickly at home. Maybe later.
• I realized that small dreams are as good as the big ones. And feel more reachable for me at the moment.
• Vivian is now offering her «old» art journaling class for free. I took it in 2009, freshly arrived in Canada from France. You’ll love it.
• I almost have 300 «likers» over Inner Voices page. It just a number, but I like it.
• Grenouille lost her second teeth yesterday, which put her over the moon excited.
• I am carving stamps thanks to Julie’s class. Love it !
• I finally found a way to create my portfolio ! See the link in the horizontal bar. Or click here to see my mixed media gallery (not everything is in it). I’ll do an Art Journal gallery asap.

If you wrote your Gratitude Friday on your blog, don’t forget to enter your NAME and URL below so I’m notified and can come to read you (you can also join by commenting this post):
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Ooooh there are such amazing and inspiring stuff out there. I wish I’d have a huuuuuge cork board to print and pin images so I could have an inspiration board at eye sight.

So I thought I would share with you a bit of what is inspiring me right now 🙂

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer‘s Stamp Carving 101 class started today. I’ve just watched the first video and it is awesome ! I will try to carve my first rubber stamp today (will post about it later).
And Julie is a fellow 21 Secrets teacher, yaaaaay !

Tim Holtz is currently sharing his CHA products and I am very excited about this set of stamps. I was waiting since forever for a company to create stamps like that. Now, I asked my local scrapbook store’s ladies if they will grab them while they are at CHA in a few weeks 😉

I am the proud and happy owner of a Fujifilm Instax 210. The instant camera that prints larger pictures (Fujifilm has several instant cameras, the most popular ones print credit card sized pics). I just love the instant gratification of it. And the feel in the photos that brings me back to my childhood, the pics of us my mom has in her albums, the Polaroid camera my grandpa let me used when I was in vacations with them.

I love browsing through Pinterest. So many inspiration happening out there. You can find me under my name, simply, Nolwenn Petitbois. I have a fascination for faces (and for hands, but that is another stories), I have a board dedicated to portraits. This man… well, I have no word for it (It’s a shame I don’t know his name etc). It combines my obsession of faces and of Native Americans’ culture.

We are currently dreaming of our future home. The one that will be ours (well, it will be the bank’s lol). And of course, I am planning how it will be decorated. I want colors. Not an overdose of it, but nice touches here and there. I know it may take time to build our interior style, but I know we will get there eventually. Here are stuff I love:

I am struggling defining my personal style. There are lots of things I love, and I don’t find the clothes that match (or very expensively). And I don’t want to wear stuff my husband really dislikes (even if I am the one wearing it, his opinion matters). I love layered clothes. The Spleen girl I was is still resonating when it comes to style. I want colors because I wore black only for way too long. I want something that shows who I am inside. Gosh this is hard, isn’t it ? And it is even harder with my current body shape (but I am working on it). And all these also inspire me for my Nixies’s clothes as well 😉 Here are some I really love:

And speaking of style… how is your hair cut ? I have afro hair; so I feel kinda limited in what I can do with it. I dream litterally of color. You know, Manic Panic kind of colors… Like this:

And what would I be without music. I can’t get tired of Florence + The Machine (I know, I mention her for weeks and weeks…). Her songs bring a lot of imagery in me. They make me feel kinda better about myself, like I am not alone to feel what I sometimes feel, like it will get better and better because you know… dog days are over 😉

I think that’s it for today. What is currently inspiring you ?

As I was saying last year, I don’t really like taking resolutions anymore. But I do like have goals to meet when the new year begins.

This is all over the cyberweb, this trand of finding/chosing a word to define your year to come. I see mine as a personal mantra, a line of conduct, sometimes I can turn to when I feel lost and don’t really know in which direction to go.

This year, my mantra is a verb. I feel it like someone whispering or yelling it (kinda) at me when needed.

Expand…

Page in my Art Journal

Expand my horizons. Expand my practice, spiritual and artistic. Expand Inner Worlds even further… and I don’t know what yet.

I have this gut feeling that 2012 holds a lot of deep changes. Positive ones. With some waves because without them, the ride would not be as fun, right ? A turning point. Something that will shift the rest of my life, and of my family’s.

I am currently working hard on a secret project. Something I’ve never done before. It has been whispered to me before, suggested by friends and strangers, and was downwright told it very insistently by Angels while my Angel Attunement. It’s clear: I can’t deny anymore that this is something I have to do and stop being afraid of the what if-s….. Too many coincidences pushing me this way.
This is the first step in following my mantra…

Do you have a word for 2012 ? What is it about ? Tell me all about it 😉

I currently try not to push too much when I paint and a new Nixie emerges.
Usually, I start with the background and then I see a face. While I paint her, she speaks to me. Don’t think I’m crazy (or maybe I am and just don’t really care) but my Nixies tell me their name and their story so I can then share them with the world.

I thought something was off with the Nixie above.
I was SO frustrated because I could not point out what was wrong with her. I changed the background, tried to listen closer. Tried to see if it was something with the Nixie («Is she too weird ?»). None of this was shifting my feeling about the painting.
Then, i realized that i did not have her name nor her story. Nothing. Nada. Niente.
The silence I was facing was killing me. It never happened before. I faced the «I don’t know what color to chose. I don’t know what her hair should look like.» etc. but never a one-way relationship with my painting.

So what do I do now ? Fight ? No… this is not the best option, in my opinion.
So I think that maybe just go with her flow ? I know this is happening for a (good) reason. Is she a reflection of my own moments of silence ? And I love that while writing all this her name just popped in my mind… Muette (which could be translated with tongue-tied or mute or even silenced).

And maybe that her story simply has to remain her secret for now..?