Pont Neuf by MissKitteh

The construction of the Pont Neuf in Paris commenced in 1578 by King Henry III and was completed under the reign of King Henry IV in 1607. Restoration of the bridge started in 1994 and was completed in time for its 400th anniversary in 2007.

- MissKitteh

Chaline Oullet

"I am a self taught, ever stumbling into learning, artist and live-er of life. I thrive on and love color, texture and depth in a painting. I like to incorporate various papers, fabrics, cordage, rope, glass, clay, etc. in my work. I enjoy making rope from cattails and wild iris. Weaving, knitting, mosaic, buiding ponds, gardening, stone masonry, jewelry making and pine needle /vine basketweaving.. I am inspired by cultures, cities, places, the design / forms in nature, thoughts, sound, music, the human condition, rocks, Water, clouds, silence, emptiness, ghost towns and so on.
My heart is deeply moved by the plight of those suffering homelessness, poverty, isolation, and issues facing women, and children,.A portion of my knitting is donated to pine ridge reservation, please check their website at friendsofpineridge if you might be able to help.
I taught as an artist in the schools,(CA), as an volunteer for art for the disabled and homeless and taught Indian Education for tribally enrolled students . I was an AmeriCorps and Vista volunteer for 2 years which i enjoyed immensely building community gardens and sustainable cultural programs for tribes, and economically impacted rural areas.
I am a woman of faith and follower of Christ, Inspiration, like breath and life, is a divine gift. Art is the outcoming of that through the limited filters and abilities I have been given and with which my hope is to use wisely and well, to honor God and to help and give hope to others. I studied horticultural therapy and ethnic studies. I have visited and lived in many places, among my favorites are Turkey, Morocco, Scotland, California, Oregon, Seattle, South America, Greece, Spain...,
Seek peace and persue it, live a quiet life, work with your hands......
Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate your time and your feedback.
'let us not become weary in doing good'
Blessings!”

- Chaline

Feature Artist Paola De Giovanni

"I am a textile designer by training and a visual artist by vocation: I picked up a camera in my early teens and after many rolls of films and b/w photos I am still in love with photography.

I trained as a photographer in Florence and at the International School of Graphic Arts in Venice. I moved to the UK and gained a BA in Design Studies and a Master Degree in Fashion Studies at the London College of Fashion.

My creative practice is a balanced combination of art and design, which I define as "a voyage of discovery, enchantment and experimentation". I document what I define the “beautiful decadent” and people, places and situations that are often overlooked in this fast paced society.

My photos are often the starting point of a new collection of printed textile designs for exclusive interiors, where traditional and digital techniques blend together to create atmospheric interpretations of nature and vibrant semi-abstract compositions.

I have exhibited my photographs in prestigious art galleries in the UK, in continental Europe, USA and as far as Japan. Last year a large body of my work was shown in a collective exhibition titled "We Are All Photographers Now!” at the Elysee Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

My images are timeless and spellbinding. I love photography for its power and immediacy to capture and convey emotions, the present, its beauty and hold it in time."

Paola De Giovanni
Skype: meanmagenta
paola@meanmagenta.com

Feature Artist Margot Koefod

“free as a bird , I had fun painting this large canvas 4' by 2 ½'. It made and makes me feel good! Comme un oiseau, c’est l’histoire de ce que la liberte represente pour moi. L’oiseau vole vers la lumiere, au risque d’etre “brule” ou “aveugle”. Il ne doute pas, il sait que c’est ce vol vers l’absolu qui lui donnera la liberte.”
- Margot Koefod

brighter future

I wish I've learned another lesson.

There is an art and literature group I'm attending. A young lady from Atlanta came to this group on the 4th of January wanting to meet some people who know Finland. She is doing a great job by using art to promote homeless awareness in America.

I sent her a letter the other day:

"brighter future

Dear Johnna,

You probably might know already that I am homeless in America and to be more exact homeless in Atlanta as well.

In case you work succeeds to provide any extra homes there, I might consider living part-timely in Atlanta, since there is no Bush in power in US anymore.

If I get some response from the President of the United States of America, Mr. Barack Obama, I might consider changing my status of being homeless in there.

After all I have almost commented some reviews of Mr. Obama’s book, which was recently published in Finland, too.

By the way, the book got an excellent critics on the pages of the biggest newspaper of Scandinavia, Helsingin Sanomat.

I hope you do not find me intruding and I really am looking forward to see a brighter future for all of us.

God bless us,

Jim Dahl
homeless in America"

She came back to me on the same day:

"RE: brighter future

Jim, I did not know you were homeless. Are you in Atlanta now?

If you are, go to Peachtree and Pine streets. The Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless is there and can provide you shelter for the night. In fact you can call them. Their number is 404-230-5000. The office is closed every Tuesday, but that number is open. You need to reserve a spot for the night by phone!

You need to be very careful too and not associate with folks you don't know. I live in the area and it's a bad neighbourhood, but if you stay to yourself you will be fine.

Now, you also need to go to Project Connect. They are a homeless service center. They are located at 100 Edgewood St in the United Way Building on the 8th floor.

What you would do is go there and sign up for orientation. They have their orientations every Friday at nine in the morning. They will help you get shelter, food, medicine, glasses, hearing, dental, and more. I have been helped through them and they are great people.

Another place where you can get medical care, food, and more help is Crossroads, which is near the Task Force. You have to sign up and can receive help for 90 days.

Keep me updated and stop considering yourself a bother or intruder. Art4TheHomeless is here to help everyone with whatever means we can.

You can also check out The Homeless Network, the site I built. It has excellent links including help getting Naturalization Papers, Immigration, Social Security card, Jobs, and much more.

http://thehomelessnetwork. tripod. com
*hugs*
Johnna"

I can’t tell you how bad I felt ´cause of my bad joke. After receiving her kind answer I did some serious thinking and sent my deepest apologies.

The answer came back soon:

"RE: my apologies

o...k

Well, if you know anyone who IS homeless in America you can pass the info along. Weird sense of humor but we are all human.

And you are not intruding, Jim, have some self confidence ;)

Peace
J"

I was quite relieved and actually I think I've made a new friend or two.

In case you want to check out what we are up to, please click the headline of this post.

Guitar man, Part 3

The other day when I visited the guitar man, he was having another guest as well - a gorgeous lady called Hulda. Deliberately I took her place to find out how she would react. She got elegantly closer and closer. Finally she ended up having a rest on my lap.

There we, the guitar man and me with Hulda on my lap, were listening to some progressive rock and discussing about the ways of life. Every time when the music got higher, she stuck her nails tighter through my jeans. Quite a cat she is.

Guitar man, Part 2

My friend told me a story from his childhood. His stepfather was a professional photographer taking erotic pictures at the time and the young guitar man was sneaking behind the door.

The peeping tom was caught by his mother and got a physical punishment. I wonder if this has something to do with his present life. Nowadays the guy is almost fifty years of age.

Guitar man, Part 1

I have got a new friend, a guitar man. I´ve heard him play couple of times and listened to some of his records. We´ve been talking ´bout philosophy and religion. Chit-chatting this and that.

We watched a movie, "Apocalypse Now Redux" today. We had seen the original several times before. A good picture of madness of war.

Tomorrow we´ll check out "Last Tango in Paris", which is a part of the Marlon Brando series, too. The guitar man has a large poster of Maria Schneider and Marlon Brando in his bedroom. A fine taste the guy has.

Mary and me, Part 15

Not good enough

Having one of those nights again. Woke up at midnight and could not get to sleep anymore. Needed another start in writing.

This time I ripped all the written pages of my note book and wrote it all again. How stupid one can get – to cut his fingernails too short or do my fingers ache because of the writing, I do not know.

Was not satisfied. It did get little bit better, but not good enough. I do not think it ever will be. Well, now it is half past seven in the morning. Been writing, smoking and drinking coffee from midnight.

Yesterday I said about these texts that I feel like I'm dancing on a thin ice, which does not even exist. Will the imaginary ice break soon? Luckily Mary likes swimming, but do I? Am I too shy? Will the water down there be too cold? I maybe yellow. She likes yellow, the color I mean. Good for her...

Yesterday I was irritated. But not because of Mary. It was one of those days, when you feel in advance that something will go wrong. You just do not know what it is and then you start to wait for it.

We had agreed with Mary that she will spend the night with me at my place. When I started to feel that something will go wrong I called her to ask if I could get to hers instead.

She said we can talk about it later. Meanwhile I went for my writing course just to find out it was canceled. I called her again to say that she is welcome to mine. She did not feel too good about this going back and forth and I had started to feel irritated as well. We decided not to stay together that night.