lundi 27 juin 2011

Playing with Sun and Shade

Hello Lovelies!

French actress Eva Green in the summer shade - photographer unknown.


Is it Monday morning already? Oh my! I've been in a crazy day-job situation and I couldn't, just couldn't blog, I'm sorry! I hope you did enjoy my interviewing collage artist Susan Jokelson last week, though! It's such a sweet interview!

Other than that, I'm just baking in the sun, hoping for bright, crisp autumn days to come... I love Fall most of all!

And you? Please share what is your favorite season, and why, in the comments section.

Have a great week, talk soon,
-Vic from TeaButterfly.

 I

lundi 20 juin 2011

Tea With... Susan G. Jokelson

Hello Lovelies!


Blackbird

I'm happy to announce that my "Tea with... [insert name of artist here]" series will now become full-blown interviews with living artists whose work I admire! Their art is also somehow related to my visual obsession, esp. tea scenes, Japan-inspired art, and insect drawing.






'Heavenly Bodies' 
I'm honored to introduce you today to the body of work by Susan G. Jokelson, a web-friend I met through flickr. We first exchanged some ATCs (artist trading cards), then happily emailed back and forth. I sent her some of my insect art, while she sent me one of her 'Kyoto' collages.

Here is the interview. All art is scanned collages by Susan G. Jokelson. Enjoy!

Q: Hello Susan! Make youself comfortable & have a cup of tea with me today.  Could you please describe your perfect morning?

    A: That would be Sunday.  Get up early as I always do.  Exercise first
    in bed, then at the gym in their pool.  Afterwards hot tub & sauna,
    after showering.  Then home where the New York Times awaits.
    Make my husband his omelette & orange juice & bring it to the
    'T.V room" where's he's watching some sports show.  Make myself
    French toast w/ apple slices stewed in butter & cinnamon, a
    capuccino, and sit at the dining room table slowly eating & reading
    the New York Times while looking occasionally out the window
    at the jungle that is our back yard.

Q: When did you start making vintage collages?

     A: In the '70's, I combined watercolors with old stamps and
     maps, using trompe l'oeil.  Slowly, the watercolors disappeared
     until I was using solely old ephemera.


Twosome

Q: Where do your find inspiration?

    All over the map.  Just walking around my city (that's Berkeley, CA), looking at
    gardens & trees, at cast offs on the pavements.  At the
    museums & galleries here.  Also from the magazines &
    newspapers I read: the NYTimes, the New Yorker, the
    World of Interiors.  From poetry, novels  and art books.
    From images I see on Flickr of other artist's works.  From
    places traveled to on vacation.



Chinese battle scene

Q: How long has Asia, more specifically Japan, been on your
   mind?

    A: Since we moved from the East Coast to California 40 years
    ago. Living in the Pacific Rim one is surrounded by Asian
    & Japanese culture; the art, the cuisine, the philosophy are
    all pervasive here -- much more so than on the East Coast.



Buddha II

Q: Where & when did your love for typography & calligraphy
   arise?

     A: I've always been interested in and attracted to handwriting,
    "a fine hand," as a calligrapher friend of mine would put it.
     Again, it was not til we came to the West Coast that I
    came in contact with people who were involved with
    calligraphy, graphic design and book design.  Their skills
    and interest inspired me to learn more and to try to
    emulate what they were doing.  I made my first artist's
    book, "Le Sorcier Malgre Lui," at the invitation of an
    Italian friend from Milan to participate in a show there
    in '82.  That was Betty Danon who also got me involved
    in mail art.  What fun we had corresponding via snail mail!

Don' miss Susan's Flickr photostream. You can get in touch with her through Flickrmail.

Thanks you so much, Susan!

Mes amitiés,

-Vic from TeaButterfly.

mercredi 15 juin 2011

Visual Obsessions

Hello Lovelies!

 My home office, together with my visual obsessions. 2005 (c) Lipson.
Sorry for not posting much, it's been a long (Pentacostal) weekend over here in France. Plus I missed my plane to Portugal and felt disheartened... But deep down I know...

EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON!

So I'm glad to be on my own again, right here, right now, and to share with you today a few of my  visual obsessions...They're all pictured in the photograph I took... back in 2005! I can thus tell I've been nurturing my own visual obsessions for a long time now.

You can have a closer look at this photograph here on Flickr, together with specific notes. So let's see... obviously I love beautiful butterflies (and I love "pinning" them there). And all insects, for that matter. I love anything tea and/or Japan-related. I love books, books, books... ('cause, you know, "book lovers never go to bed alone"...). I love spirals, vortex and whirlwinds... pinned here , too.


So, can you tell now I'm hooked on Pinterest? Obviously...

Talk to you soon,

-Vic from TeaButterfly.


lundi 6 juin 2011

Let It Be...

Hello Lovelies!

 via this tumblr

Well, believe it or not... I missed my airplane to Portugal. I guess I didn't want to miss the comforts of being home!

I will go and visit my friend in Portugal, but some other time. It is the timing that wasn't right. Portugal is fine, by me!

So this means I'm right here, right now, drawing and painting large abstract oil paintings that I'd like to show you. I'll take better pictures of them then post them here tomorrow.

I'll also translate some of my posts into French to post them on French Handmade, a lovely site indeed, a 100% French creators' site!

Talk to you soon,

-Vic from TeaButterfly.

jeudi 2 juin 2011

And If You're Looking For Me...

Hello Lovelies!

photo via the jjjjound.com blog

Well, if you're looking for me, I'm in the garden!

 image via the Miss Moss blog

See you on Saturday, June the 18th. Hopefully with lots of happy reports from my trip to Portugal.

another image via the Miss Moss blog

Love,
Vic from Teabutterfly.