Dans mes cartons

Hello Lovelies!

 From Pia's book

This post's title is a pun: it means I am both "in my cardboard boxes", sorting things out and decluttering, as well as having interesting stuff in my paper files, waiting to be published here. Simply because "cartons" means both "cardboard boxes" and "paper files". ;-)

So, what's up? I'm not perfect, but I feel at home, despite the mess that is going on right now in my house. Don't declutter like I did: avoid taking all of your possessions at one out in the open to be sorted. Be patient, work one room at a time. Maybe I feel good during difficult times because there are 2 or 3 things I know about wabi-sabi, or happiness.

Hearing about Seamus Heaney's death, this end of august really feels like the end of an era. Maybe we all need new beginnings - and ask to be given light.

On another note, I've been thinking about sharing my own version of the hummus recipe. Soon. and end of summer doesn't equal the end of dipping one's toes in the nearby river, either. Ditto:

 

photo, my own.

Links in this post will all lead you to lovely posts on blogs by people I admire (found through Pia's blogroll. Pia's book is very high on my want list right now, too.

Enjoy!

-Alix of TeaButterfly.

A Small Glimpse at My Behind-The-Scenes

Hello Lovelies!

I am currently thinking about moving this blog and other content in order to gather all my art, photographs and texts in just one address:

http://teabutterfly.virb.com/

Here is what it will look like:

screen shot of my TeaButterfly website homepage, as hosted by Virb.

 screen shot of my TeaButterfly website blog page, as hosted by Virb.

 

 screen shot of my TeaButterfly website - shown is one of my galleries.

I am still working on it, so it's visible online yet, but of course I will keep you guys posted!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

However Vast the Darkness: Thoughts on Simplifying One's Day & the Meaning of Life

Hello Lovelies,

One of my main goals in simplifying my day & life is this: "Do more of what makes you happy".

So... I have started to simplify my day and joined the June 2013 ZenHabits challenge. Part of my simplifying project consists in simplifying my online life, too.

I started emptying my email inbox, 35 emails at a time, 70 per day. My inbox currently has over 11 000 unsorted emails in it! I file away the important messages, answer immediately the really important and urgent ones, and toss the rest. I have subscribed to a gazillion newsletters over the years, as I surf the net daily since 1997... I unsuscribe from one newsletter a day. I still need to do the math as to know when exactly my inbox will be finally 100% clean & empty.

After that, I plan to go on a light media fast once i complete the June challenge, at the beginning of July 2013 (more on that later).

Simplifying my online life means that I started to clean and empty my email box, as I said before, but also cleaned my computer desktop icons - now I only have 10 of them, along with a new beautiful abstract painting desktop wallpaper from Ghostly, found via apartmenttherapy.com. It looks like this (you right-click the image in order to save it as a desktop wallpaper):

I also organized my many, many digital files, all the photos I have been taking digitally since 2003! While cleaning my photo files, I found this gem, and wanted to share the wisdom with you lovelies.

Excerpt from a Playboy interview with Stanley Kubrick:

Enjoy!
-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

"Ghosts": My very Own "Happiness Project" [personal photography project]

Hello Lovelies!

When illness imprisons you, you have to break free!

IMPORTANT NOTE: All pictures were taken by me, Naomi Lipson, during May 2013, in the park of the hospital I was staying in at the time. All rights reserved. Please ask for permission before using. thank you.

I think and read a lot about happiness, and I am pretty sure I am not alone in this. Two regular reads of mine on the Happiness subject are:

* Gretchen Rubin's famous Happiness Project
* Maria Popova's Brain Pickings blog, which deals quite a lot with the issue of happiness, too.

I am forever indebted to the lovely Jane Flanagan, who, through her delightful blog, made me aware of the ideas goldmine that is the Brain pickings website.

About my own "Happiness Project" - and what it has to do with ghosts.

First of all, you might be aware that I suffer from a chronic kind of illness, which means I have to check into a hospital, from time to time. This is a chronic illness, I have to live with it, but it is not life-threatening... Anyway...

As I am currently in a hospital, I wanted to describe through photography the long, not-so-often taken path from misery to recovery. In my initial project, I wanted to take pictures of a patient whose face I found particularly interesting, but after a few days of reflection, he shied away altogether from the project. He looked a bit like this:

photo (c) Naomi Lipson, 1999-2000.

So what I did is take pictures anyway, of all the places I wanted to take *his* photograph in, except he will be no longer there, except as a ghostly presence.

These are the photographs I came up with...

At first, you are behind the bars of illness and misery, you are a prisoner of depression (or any other illness). Can you see the unhappy ghost behind those rusty bars?

Then, through a more or less intricate labyrinth or maze (which symbolizes any kind of path, like undertaking therapy, you are chosing to get yourself out of misery), you  try to set yourself free:

On the long, complicated journey from misery to happiness, you might find different landscapes, open gates that symbolize opportunity, such as this one:

Sometimes, on this long and difficult journey, you may need some rest and will sit down on these scattered rocks:

I guess you get the picture now...

More photos available at my flickr photo set called: "The Ghost Project".

Naomi of TeaButterfly.

Sometimes I'm Happy

Hello Lovelies!

calligraphy and photo, my own.

I've been busy IRL, so didn't blog much. I did leave you with a special treat, tough, and I hope you liked it!

I have collected (who said "hoarded"?) quite a few visual typographical inspiration on pinterest, as you can see here on my "Type Love" pinboard. I love, love , love inspirational quotes written or printed in a nice type! And since lately I have been listening a lot to Phineas Newborn Jr. (a genius! I must say) version of the popular song, "Sometimes I'm Happy", I have been playing around with the idea of a printed calligraphic poster, saying just this:  

Oh! SOMETIMES I'M happy

calligraphy and photo, my own.

Included in this post are two versions of my first attempts with this calligraphy. What do you think?


With much warmth,

-Vic from TeaButterfly.

Cozying Up - in the depth of winter.

Hello lovelies!

photo, my own.

This week has seen the last days of my struggle against the flu. It's finally over, hooray! So i have been eating macarons to celebrate (see above).

Even before I had fully recovered, I ventured outside (crazy, I know) because the depth of winter is so beautiful, and I wanted to take some pics of ice and snow before they melted.

photo, my own.

After going outside in the cold, here is a glimpse at what I come home to:

photo, my own.more here.

After much inner debate, I have discovered the virtues of Dr Bach's flower elixirs. They really work! Life has been good to me ever since I started taking them, from day one. Quite amazing!
I personnally use the hornbeam remedy, but you might want to read a book or two before you take the plunge and choose your own flower.

I am starting to think about and prepare an exhibition of my oil paintings this year. This is a very exciting project! I need to count, name and photograph all of my oil paintings, not just these three few you can find here. More to come about that.

In the meantime, I have tried the following "Joyful Simplicities" for February, as advised by Sarah Ban Breathnach:

wear perfume everyday,

try a "muddy rose" lipstick, (mine is called "ripe rose" by eyeslipsface.com)

treat myself to a single white flower for my desk

listen to the music of Cole Porter.

What are your pleasures in the depth of winter?

-Vic from TeaButterfly.

The Process of Drawing, part I.

Hello Lovelies,

I wanted to share with you the before/after of a drawing I did back in 2009...

Here's the start:

first sketch of a drawing - photo, my own. (c) 2009 Lipson.

The 'after' will be published tomorrow!

Talk soon,
-Vic of TeaButterfly