Salvation Art - part three

There is nothing exciting going on in my life this days except for the exams. I had my French exam last Monday. I know you're tired of me saying that I didn't do well and then having an excellent note, but this time I really wasn't great. For the first part, I didn't have enough time to complete the last document, I only started to write it. I've lost lots of time with my first because I couldn't concentrate at all in the beginning. I wrote the second one stressed knowing that I'm not going to be able to complete the last document. And then in the second part, I was shocked by the kind of text they presented us with - nothing to do with the domain - but I tried to do my best. Anyway, this time I'll be very pleased only to pass the exam...

Back to the art! I continue to present the pieces of my "Salvation Art" collection. Click on the link to learn more if you hadn't read my first post about it. Today's print was one of the first pieces I found in Quebec approximately ten years ago.

Sorry for the picture quality and the reflection - the light was not so great. I loved this print immediately: colors of the fire of creation; organic, almost living, interweaving lines...and then their resemblance to the symbol for eternity and infinity. This print hangs in my dining room along with two others.

The signature reads: "F. W. Reiter" and on the back there is a label with the following text : "No. Reiter New Abstract, Montreal, Canada". Underneath the damaged paper cover on the back is a text written by hand: "Show VXK4". I don't remember how much I paid for it but it must have been a couple of bucks only. I wasn't able to find anything about this artist or painting on the Internet but I certainly enjoy it.

Salvation Art - part three

Do You Feel Orange?

Yeah, why can't I feel orange? Or yellow? But I'm allowed to feel blue?! If you're anything like me, you feel colors and colors influence your feelings and moods too. When talking about orange there are no two ways about it: either you love it or you hate it! Either way, you feel passionate about it. And passion is one of the words associated with this color. There are also: heat, joy, energy, fall, harvest,  fire, warmth, sunshine, tropic... Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is said that it produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity and appetite (not so happy about the last one). Vibrant and glowing, orange can add a punch of energy to any space. Orange is also often overlooked in home decor because of its intensity. But when balanced correctly, orange will add a happy, stimulating and even healing atmosphere to your home. I especially love the combination of orange with white and everything in bluish-grey direction. I could never paint an entire room in orange though, details in small doses infuse already lots of character. How about you, can you handle this color? Here are some vitamin C pictures from my inspiration files:

You like the pillow with rosette clusters in the last picture? You can find a complete instructions to make it yourself  here.

You also have to visit How About Orange blog - awesome! 

To learn more about the psychology of the color orange visit this website.

Do You Feel Orange?

I Am So Happy About...

1. My New Camera

I finally received my new camera yesterday. After reading many reviews of a low price range digital cameras with lithium-ion rechargeable battery, I decided to go with a very humble model that makes apparently great photos. Well, if people all over the world think it's a good camera (for an amateur like me) - I'll take it! Here is the first photo I made in my living room, with only a little day light:

Here is the second picture made using a macro feature (I cropped it a lot):

Although I reduced the picture to 1024x651, you can see beautiful details (click to see larger image).

Not bad... I will experiment more with my new camera in the coming days and weeks and let you now how it works out for me. 

2. My exams

I was extremely nervous before and during the exam on Saturday. It was a simulation examination, face to face with the examiner only. I think I have a serious problem regarding stressful situations lately. Must start meditation or yoga, stress is killing me. I had my other exam yesterday evening. It was not so easy but I hope I did well. Remember the last exam I had and I cried about this one question I wasn't able to answer correctly? Well, I had the result last night and I had 96 %! I couldn't believe my eyes! It's so embarrassing, whining for nothing, shame on me. And the exam before that (now I'm bragging) I had 100 % on the first part and 92 % on the second. I have only two other exams left: French language and the final exam that includes all the material we had. I'm really happy about it and can't wait to have my diploma.

I Am So Happy About...

Very Special Family Portrait

I woke up one day and my children were gone...somebody took my little princess and my smart little boy and left me with two troubled teenagers I didn't recognize at all. They were not bad in pretending to be my children so I played the game and pretended to be their mother for several years. Nightmare! I'm so glad it's over... I'm now a happy mother of two wonderful young adults! My princess lives in her own castle far, far away from us. My smart big boy still lives with us for the moment but I can see his wings getting bigger and stronger. They're both working, studying and dreaming... Soon I'll be left with memories and photos wondering where the time went. We actually don't have so many family photos, we have lost almost all of them fleeing from the danger of war in our country. I learned only much later that that was the most prized possession we had. Even after that, we  didn't take so many photos. I guess we humans have this fascination for capturing moments in our lives, whether by camera or paint. So I was very pleasantly surprised when my son gave us a very special family portrait, made by him, as a Christmas gift.

Several days before Christmas, I couldn't help but notice that something strange was going on, my son was very busy with something. Any attempt to learn what was going on failed miserably. Till the day we saw a very mysterious big package under the Christmas three. What a nice surprise it was! My very talented son created a "warholish" family portrait of our family using individual pictures, framed it nicely and made a gift for us. We just instantly fell in love with it and decided to expose it permanently in our living room. We placed it strategically  in our home, so we can all constantly be reminded of each other as we hectically chase through life. The value of the portrait my son made for us can be measured only by hearth. 

"A heart is not measured by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." — Wizard of Oz

Very Special Family Portrait

Taking Pictures Inside Stores

First thing first: I did it only once and I felt awful during and after. As if I was a thief... It happened spontaneously, I didn't plan it, I was just looking for some color inspiration for my second bathroom. There were some lovely combinations and since I take my digital camera everywhere with me, I decided to take some pictures instead of writing down  the ideas. Just the fact that I looked around to see if anyone is watching me can  tell you for sure that I knew I wasn't supposed to do it. And, I didn't use flash on my camera either to avoid capturing attention of the sales people. Sneaky little...blogger!  Did you already do it? Do you find it awkward taking pictures inside stores? Tell me about your experience or tell me what you think about it. Anyway, here are some of the pics I took that day:

Taking Pictures Inside Stores

White Christmas in Quebec

One thing is guaranteed in Quebec: we are going to have white Christmas for sure! If you are dreaming of a white Christmas this year, you may want to consider spending a day, or even a couple of days in Quebec City. Even if I'm not really a fan of a cold and long winter, I must admit that the time before and around Christmas in Quebec City area is magically beautiful. The snow is white and crisp, covering everything like icing sugar over the cake. In the evening, with all the decorations and lights, it glistens and glows like a billions of little diamonds covering the city. It pays to get out and to brave the cold, marching slowly and listening to your steps making a crunchy noise in the snow, gasping for breath in the cold air and getting rosy, healthy glowing cheeks. You may have winter and snow in your country and in your city - but the experience of the winter in Quebec is rather unique.
Today we had a very cold day, around -20°C (-4°F) so I finally preferred to stay at home and dig out the pictures from last winter. Those pictures were taken during a stroll in the Domaine de Maizerets parc.

Here is a little description of the atmosphere in the city that I found on the Internet:

Click on the picture to go to the web page.

Sounds wonderfull! And it's true! I'm really lucky to live here...

White Christmas in Quebec

Tomorrow is Halloween!

Since tomorrow is Halloween and all fun involved belongs to kids, I'll comment no further. A picture tells more than thousand words, and this one is over-cute:

Happy Halloween to you!

Tomorrow is Halloween!

Sidebar melt alert!

I'm in a state of panic, what should I do? My sidebar dropped completely down, right to do bottom and other inexplicable things happened. Well, OK, I am a novice, but this is ridiculous! Heeeeeelp !!! Do you know how to fix this? Please...I really love blogging... I am currently searching for solutions, apparently I'm not alone with this problem.

In the meantime, consider yourself invited to the Wonderful Color Exposition in the basement of my blog, LOL...

UPDATE : ZENITUDE is back in my life!!! As of yesterday evening everything went back to normal. And I even don't know what I did exactly to repair it... I got to admit I tried several methods found on the Web but I really don't know which one worked. Anyhow, thanks to whomever helped me, I'm a happy blogger again !

Sidebar melt alert!

Decorating with (Love) Letters

The Apartment Therapy website is one of my preferred interior design sites and I read it daily for inspiration. In one of their October posts they presented decor inspired by old letters, postage stamps etc.

I immediately thought of my old letters that I framed in a shadow box and decorated my bedroom wall with it. Those are my long lost young girl letters that my sister sent me to my birthday last year. What a surprise it was ! She found them in the attic of my parents house, carefully hidden behind one of the wood beams. The letters were bound with the red ribbon exactly as I left them there long time ago. And even though I was very curios to read them again - I somehow couldn't do it. And there is also my first love letter ever among the others...

So I took the letters and put them carefully in a shadow box that I had for another project :

Decorating with (Love) Letters

Before and after : my cosmetic drawer

What you need to know about me beforehand : I am not a messie but I'm not a neat freak either. I'm somewhere in the middle, but I can have my days more in the one or the other direction, it depends...

Last week I had my pointer moving in the neat freak direction so I finally saw the cosmetic drawer under my bathroom sink for what it was : a major MESS ! I am so ashamed of it that I can NOT show you a big picture of "before" nor can I show you the complete "before" drawer in its messy gorgeousness, sorry...

Here is the picture of the left side of my drawer before I put my "neat freak goggles":

 To find a cheapish solution I went to the dollar store of course, my wallet isn't comfortable around the designer stores ;-) This is what I found :

 

That is what I call cheap: 3 containers for 1 $. And lovely colors to... Talking about recession design !

And just by chance they fit perfectly in my two drawer compartments. I started with the right side of my drawer and what a difference it made immediately :

Before and after : my cosmetic drawer

Confession of an image junkie

I have a confession to make, I must share this secret with you : I am an IMAGE JUNKIE ! Those of you who suffer from the same addiction know what I am talking about... My computer is full with pictures, thousands of them, heck, tens of thousands of all sorts of pictures found on the Internet. I love them dearly, I save them, organize them, watch them for inspiration, or just so, because they are beautiful and they can lift my mood any time ! I organize them in folders (or at least I try to...) by interest : deco, toys, craft, vintage, sewing etc. I am especially flabbergasted by so many talented girls out there, from all over the world, who share they talent with as others, less courageous to show off our work. Thank you all, girls !

My family mocks me about this addiction of mine, but, nonetheless, they bought me a brand new computer with loooooots of storage space for my little darlings - did I say that I love them ?

What about you ? Do you have the same (no, I won't say "problem") hobby ? Tell me about it !

Confession of an image junkie

Jewel in Quebec City

Quebec City is my hometown since 1998 and I continue to discover it. Here are the pictures from the "Parc des Moulins" (The Mill Park). It is located in the borough of Charlesbourg, 8191, Zoo avenue. Covering an area of nearly nine acres, it comprises the eastern part of the old Zoo in Quebec.
My DH and I went strolling there last weekend (btw, I learned my English from movies, so I am sorry if there are errors - feel free to mail me corrections).

Jewel in Quebec City