French la Vie

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

Alwen describes how she started to collect French ephemera,

"La Belle Brocante was born of carbonation … sitting in front of a cafe in Anduze, France watching the bubbles rise to the surface of the glasses, watching the world pass by. Musing on the word Quincaillerie, and the fact that it would probably be challenging for English speakers to get their tongues around, though it was the essence of what we wanted to do. A mixture of old treasures, old ruins, snippets of life in the beautiful south."

 

Alwen describes her shadowbox (above): "10" x 20" stretched canvas. Vintage photographs and paper ephemera. Embellishments: brass finials, dip pen, monopoly car, shell buttons, optometrist lens, clock hand, charlotta doll, French box lid, fossil, human tooth, enamel pocket watch face. A mosaic of thoughts and stories."

 

 

 

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

 I love the way Alwen describes her photos and artwork on her blog,

"Teeny tiny ink bottles to add a little dose of French sweetness to your studio decor." Alwen mixes snippet of poetry, and fact, "Bottles are approximately 2.5" tall and are for decorative purposes only … after decades of opening and closing and waiting to write that fateful love letter, the ink has dried up in despair."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

 

I thought I had the peeling, rusty, chipped, faded, dusty French brocante bug badly… until I discovered Alwen's blog. Alwen makes my collection of bugs look like a hiccup.

Last week when I asked what do you collect I was giggling inside thinking of Alwen and her mass collection of brocante bugs.

I admired too, that my cousin and another reader, who do not know each other, both said they collected their cat's whiskers. I am sure Alwen smiled reading that too.

 

 

 

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

Collecting what we love, what inspires us to live an artistic life.

Be it objects, or memories, or most likely a collection of those things and thoughts that make a whole.

 

 

 

 

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

 

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

 

 

 

 

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

 

 

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

 

 

 

 

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

 

 

"The teeny tiny things that accumulate in my studio:

Vials of watch parts. Mourning pins. Wee carnivorous teeth. Clock hands. Gem sized photographs from early photobooths. Small bones. Military buttons from forgotten conflicts.

Bits and pieces of a creative life."

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

 

 

 

 Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

 

 Alwen's collections:

 

"Beautifully worn handwritten mailing labels. Glued to small wooden boxes that were used to post gold and other valuables, the boxes were then wrapped in twine and secured with wax seals."

 

 

  Photo Source: La Belle Brocante.

 

Alwen comes to France, in search of those bits and pieces that are often overlooked, she said,

"…Early morning brocante in the Super U parking lot. Bits of magic unceremoniously displayed on rickety tables and blankets laid out on the ground. Old books and piles of engravings. Zinc basins. Enamel clock faces and hand blown wine bottles. Wooden crates of postcards and letters and other ephemera. And at the back, a jumble of handmade lace, knotted and tumbled together. In amongst the larger pieces were cards with lengths of the sweetest lace pinned to them. Fine as cobwebs, and not much more expensive."