As far back as I can remember, I’ve always picked up. Long before my past as a girl scout and long before those summers spent on the North Shore at my grandparents’ outfitter. I am a kleptomaniac of natural plots. I think it’s in my DNA. Is it serious doctor?
It’s stronger than me: leaves, pebbles, pieces of bark, flowers, pine cone, branch, piece of wood, shells, herbs; I take them all. Don’t worry, I said: “I take”, not “I pull”! Like a garbage collector from nature. I take and pick up what is on the ground. I clean nature’s springtime, but year-round! I realize that I am passing this habit on to my children.
When I was a child myself, we lived in one of those half basement apartments in the city. I believed that all these treasures allowed me to keep a part of nature with me at all times. I liked to remember the occasion when I had found such and such rocks or flowers. Maybe it was also a way to bring back cheap souvenirs!
Anyway, you have to store them somewhere or in something like a natural treasures… So my passion for boxes, could also be put to good use. I have always loved boxes! Small, big, made of wood, metal, porcelain or wicker to store jewelry, lozenges or cigarettes. Anything with a lid that hides the contents, I’m a taker! I always end up finding what to put inside.
Nature has always inspired me and I wanted to pursue this theme with the sister of the rococo box (see in my other article, My Life in Rococo). I was inspired by the forest, but for this one I went with water. Those who already know me know that I could live in water. I love water and all the elements that live in it on top of it as well as under it. I am not too difficult, I accept all its variations; lake, river, pool, river, bath and sea. These different expanses, no matter how big or small they are, bring me serenity, happiness and calm. Well, water is life, right!?
So, I put blue in gradation and unevenly to reproduce a little bit the decorative objects of “seaside style” and I had no choice but to put a siren on it. Again, I love mermaids! I think I must have been one in another world… They are often referred to as joyful creatures, a little naive and free. From being an unparalleled seductress, they can turn into a wild and ferocious beast in an instant. Moreover, for centuries, they have haunted our collective imagination and make us dream. This one seems to come directly from the 50s. She looks like she’s getting ready to go to the mermaid ball, but in reality no, it’s just an ordinary day. We see her in her everyday life readjusting her toupee before going out; she is natural, simply dressed in her true nature.
One day,we will have the courage to embody this true nature; to show it, to cherish it and to praise it. When will we stop bearing the weight of our old wounds? Will we be able to let go of the past? I wish that we will, for you and for me, for all of us.
This is how I wish to live like a mermaid from now on. In joy, clothed in my “true nature”.
By continuing to marvel at nature and the nature around me. By teaching my children how to preserve and cherish it. While continuing our “picking up” habits in order to clean up, certainly, but also to pay homage to it.
