French Flea Marketing

Early last Saturday morning, I took my inner artist out for a morning drive to Mill Valley for Maison Reve's French Flea Market. I am already a big fan of Maison Reve's aesthetic, and over the years, have found some wonderful gifts here. Once a season they fill their back yard with french-inspired treasures, and open their doors at 8am. My creative mind gets inspired just by being around all these wonderful objects - bottles, weathered wooden boxes, french street signs, cigar cases, hat boxes, bird baths, bicycles and much more. This time, I found a few treasures to take home to the studio including a bottle with a bright red metal lid, another bottle filled with blue sea glass, and an old book on mathematics that I want to take with me to this workshop next weekend and turn it into an art-altered book. All in all a soul-inspiring excursion.

Walking Through the Weeds

The path to my studio is covered with weeds. Walking here today I was filled with the urge to pull them and create beauty and order everywhere around me. But instead of pulling, I stopped, took a deep breath, and acknowledged what the weeds can teach me. They are an invitation to prioritize in the midst of a busy, chaotic life. I can't do everything. I can, however, sharpen my focus on the things that really matter most to me. Rather than be reactive to my environment and all its overgrown disorder, I can instead walk through the weeds to the studio, where I can do the work that truly calls me today. Once inside, I made a handmade birthday card for a dear friend, packed up my art for the next venue of The Seduction of Duchamp exhibit this time at the Museum of Los Gatos, CA, and filled my journal with new ideas for my art. These activities made my soul smile.