Blogging Merry-Go-Round - Brrrrrrr...

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.

Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left). If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...

This month's question:

How do the different seasons and weather affect you in your art and craft?

Well...
I was born in late July and first grew up in very, but very, sunny places, only visiting Metropolitan France in the summer.

Part of me has never quite accepted, even after more than 30 years, the fact that there is such a thing as Winter.

Actually, if it weren't that it's so cold sometimes, Winter is sort of OK. Especially here in Bordeaux were you can still enjoy the café terrasses on most days. But Autumn feels like such a let down! So unfair. Every year it's the same— I had forgotten! Boo woo hoo... And I turn into this bristly bear-like creature that can barely deal with the daily drudgery of my day job and all. I know it's called seasonal depression, but it feels more like a rebellion. I want out, you understand, I want nothing to do with this sorry business of leaves falling. And buckets of rain along with it. Not to mention the temperatures. I sort of pooh pooh it for a while, but then I just want to protest and go on strike (what with my being French, you know...).

So, you will have gathered that this is not my most creative period. Understatement of... the year! Autumn is a time of quiet activities, like researching new techniques, reading, doing repetitive work that can be done cuddled up under a thick blanket, with a few candles on and possibly some classical or easy listening music too. It's a time when I want to tidy up but don't get around to doing it, so I just get rid of the useless, damaged stuff and vow never to clutter up so much...

Come Christmas, I can just make out Springtime, over there, in the distance, and I want to get new projects going. Something to do with the light: I want light so badly, and I now that it just cannot get worse than Christmas. Until then, it's a drag. Come New Year, I'm much more bubbly, and it's not just the champagne!

Spring is probably my most active, hectic, hopeful, crazy time of year. In Summer, I tend to just want to enjoy the heat (keep it coming!) and be lazy in the afternoon (and the morning, and...). But it's also my most "ongoingly" (?) creative time of year. Just don't expect me to run around!

Oh, to be in Summer...

Going back to my blanket and candles just now...