With much much love i'd like to introduce to you the girl behind 'Loulou & Ocsar', i met her through flickr i appreciate her work and blog writing. She started blogging a few months ago and since then i have been following ... i think that it definitely is her literature studies that make her writings fun to read, but the thing that really amazes me is her perspective and way of introducing things.
Her work seems to come from an inner inspiration and the form is very well designed.
i think it again is her literature studies (and not my laziness) that will make me post her interview as it is... i can't correct anything or add something else....enjoy!...
who is that girl?
1. Who is that girl indeed, I sometimes wonder myself!
At the moment I am a full time mother and part time creature maker/fledgling crafter. My son has just begun nursery a few mornings a week so I am planning to experiment a little, try and expand my repertoire and put a few non-plush items into my little Etsy shop.
After university, I studied English Literature and then Modern Philosophy, I couldn't bear to leave my saturday job and became a Librarian in Islington, London for 7 years. After moving to Birmingham to continue studying I met my husband and had our son, Ishi. To fill the void left by my abandoned studies I decided to try my hand at creature making. I have been sewing since last April or thereabouts and love it. I am self taught and have so much to learn. I often wish that the artists and makers I admire lived close enough to pop over and give me some tutorials!
why fish?
- You are right, I do use fish a lot in my work. There are several reasons I think. The first has come up since we moved to this tiny island off the coast of France, I am used to living in big cities and feel a little trapped here, walk for a few miles and you bump up against the shore and the sea every time. You can't use your legs to get out of here and I'm not that strong a swimmer! The fish represents freedom and escape for me. The hybrid Fish Boys possibly bring my desire to exist in these two elements (water and air) into material form. I am surrounded by water but landlocked. Perhaps I was a mermaid or a merman in a previous existence! Secondly, water forms a barrier between aquatic life and human existence. Not too sound too odd but I was afraid of anything with fur as a child, no fluffy kittens or puppies for me, major phobia! So, I had fish. I could love them at a nice, safe distance, they kept to their element and I didn't attempt to disturb them (my mother had to clean the tank!).Ok, do i sound totally strange now?!
why blog?
- I have always wanted a shop or gallery space in which to collect together all of the beautiful objects and treasures I come across. I started blogging with the idea of having some fun and perhaps promoting my little Etsy shop a bit. My blog soon transformed itself into a kind of personal Wonder Cabinet. I found that it was much more rewarding to share the work of others and hopefully give a little light to undiscovered beauty. Blogging fulfills my need to 'curate' and, I suppose, 'catalogue' the objects that touch me. One of the most amazing things about blogging are the connections and friendships you make. I was looking at the work of an artist I admire very much on Flickr not long after I began the Lou Lou & Oscar blog. I wanted to know more about this artist's creative process and wondered from where she drew her inspiration. Why not just send her an email and ask her to do an interview for my blog, I thought. Simple right?! I plucked up the courage, emailed and happily the answer was "yes" and my Monday interviews were born. Running a blog is a fantastic way of connecting with people whose work you love and you get to share it with whoever happens to dropping in to visit that day. It is very time consuming, especially if you wish to post everyday, but blogging gives so much back. I sometimes have to force myself away from Wordpress and onto the sewing machine!
mother
- Stones, dusty hair, bear faces! These are the first images that came into my mind when I think of my son who is sitting downstairs with his Dad at the moment. Ishi is a constant inspiration, he has brought softness and much needed balance into my life, before he came along I had a tendency to inhabit the darker spaces. I move more to the rhythm of toddler time now, I feel closer to the natural world.Ishi’s empathy and enthusiasm definitely feeds my work, he is a budding land artist with a particular prediliction for pebble sculpture and leaf arrangement, we have most of the beach living with us at the moment! Ishi’s attachment to natural objects reminds me of the passionate loveI used to feel for particular stones and twigs as a child. These objects always carried a secret intelligence with them and I treated them as you might a beloved pet. I had forgotten many of the obsessions of my childhood and being Ishi’s Mum has given me access to this world again. I found thatbecoming a mother and allowing myself to be caught up less in theoretical musing opened up a new space for me and also gave me confidence in my physical dexterity. I found that I was able to transfer the craft projects I had in my mind into physical reality. Becoming a mother has given me access to so many new experiences and inspired me to learn how to sew.
share an image that you love
- This is cheating a little as there are two images here! I put them together for a recent blog post. They are my favourite images for obvious reasons. The first boy with the pink ukulele is my son and the child below him is my husband when he was around the same age. I think that they look so alike, which is a marvelous thing in my opinion! They are both very thoughtful people and I have learnt so much from them.
... have to say that i was much touched when reading her answers. thanks for being my friend and hope to see you one day!....
