Introducing Painter Photographer, Fleur-Ange Lamothe

"Dansons" by Fleur-Ange Lamothe © 2007

"Every time I meet a tree, if I am truly awake, I stand in awe before it. I listen to its voice, a silent sermon moving me to the depths, touching my heart, and stirring up within my soul a yearning to give my all." - Mary Webb, 1917

The above quote comes to me through Fleur-Ange Lamothe, a Canadian artist who blends photography and painting to create visionary art. Lamothe used Mary Webb's words as the sole description for one of her elegant photos of trees. Yet the quote could as well describe Fleur-Ange's entire approach to life and to communicating her vision of Nature into powerful, transformative art.

Fleur-Ange's art is part performance, part canvas or film and part installation; she is all about communication and connection; counterpoint and balance; birth, death and rebirth. She translates her fertile psyche's impulses and emotions into works of tangible beauty that challenge her viewers to look (and feel) under the surface of things.


All photos © Fleur-Ange Lamothe 2007

I have been a "follower" of Fleur-Ange Lamothe on Flickr for the last couple of years. Recently she pulled all of the photos of hers that I had "faved" into one collection called MR's Favorites. It is an understatement to say I was captivated by the slideshow of that set ... watching a fluid river of incredible beauty float and dissolve on my computer monitor. The slideshow is so worth watching -- with 66 photos playing 4 seconds each it takes only four and a half minutes to watch (unless, like me, you keep pausing the show to drink in the beauty every frame or so.)

Whenever I spend enough time to really look deeply at a piece by Fleur-Ange, I get the sense that I am on a journey with an old soul, with someone who has an inborn sense of connection to all of life, who sees even the stones as living beings. I get the sense that I am walking with a kindred soul, someone who has seen into the very heart of the Earth and who is striving with sincerity and courage to help others touch that place of healing as well.

Someday I really have to see her paintings in person. Actually, it would be wonderful to meet Fleur-Ange in person! In the meantime, since I can't just hop on a plane and fly to Ontario, I satisfy myself by cruising through her flickr sets -- on slideshow mode -- at least once a week. And I have many of her images on my computer as a screen saver. I'm fortunate she is so generous with her photography.

I am honored to be able to introduce my friend, Fleur-Ange Lamothe, who is also an accomplished artist, to the folks who read my blogs. I hope you enjoy her photography and paintings as much as I do.

All photos © Fleur-Ange Lamothe 2007

to see the individual photos enlarged, click the titles below:

• A Moment of Solitude, Italy
  
• Meadow in Late Afternoon, Italy
• Where Have All the Plastic Water Bottles Gone?
• Tree Habitant, England

Find more of Fleur-Ange's photos at Wildflower Watch, or on her (Eglantine) Flickr stream

Hummingbird Chicklets Arrive!

photo taken by my sister, Kathy Allen, in British Columbia

For anyone following the wee hummingbird mama who built her micro-nest on top of a Christmas light bulb, here are her new babies .... I'm calling them chicklets, they're so tiny. For a sense of scale, look at the wire their nest is built around -- that is a string of holiday lights!

Experimenting with a new look for my blog

Weed Beauty, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

Hello dear blog readers, thank you for continuing to read Raven's Nest blog even though I post somewhat less regularly this time of year.

I am experimenting with a new look for Raven's Nest. I would really appreciate your honest feedback on the changes I have made. The most dramatic change is that now the background is white instead of black. Hopefully this is easier on the eyes -- easier to read (for those of us with vision problems, myself included) I have always liked the way my artwork and photos glow vibrantly against a black background (as it still is at my photoblog, Land of Little Rain) but I think in the interest of keeping my readers happy over here where I post more text, I might keep it white like this.

I am still tweaking the banner at the top (am working on a new design-graphic for the title bar), the sidebar and the html -- My ultimate goal is to clean up the blog, simplifying it so it is super easy to find old posts on topics of interest to you.

Please tell me what you think -- honestly -- of the changes. Thank you very much for any feedback.

Festival of the Trees 7 is up and it's almost time for number 8

If you are a tree-lover, nature lover, ecologist, artist, poet, writer, dancer, baker, or even a logger, you may be interested in the Festival of Trees. The 7th monthly festival is being hosted by Jeremy Bruno at his Voltage Gate Blog. Please visit the Festival of Trees to ooo and ahhhh over the many different aspects of trees and forests presented by a diverse and creative community.

The next Festival of Trees #8 will be hosted in February by Gingko Dreams, a blog I hadn't known about until just now... and wow! Her design blog is tasteful, elegant, and so beautiful -- I can't wait to see how Kelly hosts the tree festival. It will be sumptuous for sure.



If you want to submit something you have made, photographed or written about trees, here is the call for submissions for Festival 8

see you there.