Tak for alle de dejlige besøg på Svenstrup Gods! Det varmer! Der er stadig enkelte pakker med julekort tilbage i webshoppen :) Jeg sender fra dag til dag.

Had a great time at the Christmas market at Svenstrup Gods! Thanks everyone who came and visited me - felt really good :) I still have a few of my lovely christmas cards left, in the webshop. I ship from day to day :)

There is always a special feeling inside me, when I am going somewhere. Days before, inside me, reflections start happening. Did I do enough? Are things how I want them to be? How is my life? How ARE things? I start looking at my sorroundings with a special gaze, a deeper look, and I take them in, deeper. I become more observant. What is really happening before my eyes? How does my body feel?
Tomorrow morning I am heading off to Denmark to spend my christmas time there. With my family. With friends. With strangers :-)
There is more melancholia connected with my going away this time.
Perhaps it's because it is the end of the year soon, too. The end of a full sun year where I did my best. I tried as much as I could to stay focused. To stay connected. At times, I didn't succeed. When I did, I really changed something, mountains moved, inner core strengthened. And this is how I move forward. Stronger.

I say the christmas market coming up have been much of a challenge. I have never done it before. And I really look forward, I think it's going to be heaps fun :) Yesterday I freaked out. Fear, you know. All the Unknown out there. Shit. The ambitions and expectations. I was filled with fear. Fear of not doing well enough, of failing, of course. But then I remember it's my little system inside, going on full alert!, because I have never done this before. And for the first time in my life (this is probably not true!), I don't know WHERE the story ends. I don't know if I succeed. I don't know if I fail. I just don't know. And so all I can do is try. And so, I am. Giving it a go. Rocking that christmas market ;-)
(It's 7-8th dec by the way, you can read about it here).

Yesterday we went on a beautiful trip. Actually we got up quite late, and didn't leave the house until 2 or 3. But it was sooo nice getting out.
The wind was really fierce, like Denmark. And then we went to a little piece of land, between a lot of water. Where they grow the oysters, and the sea. And it was stormy. Like Denmark. And the colors were like Denmark. And apart from the beautiful snow-covered mountains in the background, I actually felt, I was in Denmark.

Recently I've been working with a group of shamanic artists, spread across Europe. This work have made me think about a lot of things, and has opened up new doorways for me. I feel very inspired by these people and their stories, and I feel very moved by our dream to create shamanic art. (This website will be released soon, but for now, I'd like to keep it close to my heart).
One of the things that has come to my awareness, and that I have come to think about, is how we are all wounded in our creativity. These use of words, were first presented to me by Nicholas Breeze Wood, the editor and founder of Sacred Hoop (shamanic) magazine. How we are wounded in our creativity.

I don't mean to offend anyone here, but it seems like there is a great gap in us westerners, between our creativity and our inner core. Why is creativity so often referred to as "Oh, I couldn't do that" and "oh, no that's not for me". And even those of us who live off and with our creativity everyday, seem to have a whole wall of criticism and judgement looking us in the eye, when we start a new project. One, almost have to be really strong and focused to go beyond this tremendous power of negativity.
It's not easy to 'just' be creating.
Yet, we do it everyday. Create our lives! Why is creativity so difficult, when it's one of the most natural things on our planet? Evolution. You don't hear (healthy) children go around saying "Oh, no it probably won't work to build a car out of a shoe-box, and what am I to do with it afterwards? What can I really use this for?". Which is a relief.
Yes, we question. We judge. Before something is even born. Before we've even started, the mission is almost bound to fail. The way I see it: Because we haven't learned, and we don't have a strong, positive relationship with our own creativity.
When some one is creative they are either 'up there' like "she's so good, and I could never do that", or it's 'down there', as in "Oh, this is just something I do in my spare time, it's not really something, I'm just playing". Why can't it be equal to everything else that we do in life? Why does it have to be 'good' or 'bad'? What is not accepted here? If I have a strong creativity, I am 'better' than you? Or I am just playing? Are these really the only two categories we can find!? This is truly sad.

How can creativity (which, to some extend goes hand in hand with spirituality) become a natural, healthy and positive part of our society? By acknowledging it's presence. By understanding it, and accepting it into our lives. Accept that we all are creative. And that creativity means the possibility for new things, the creation of something un-known. The presence of a stranger, who can become your solution out if a problem.
Creativity is not trying to hurt anyone. It is trying to give us a voice to speak with, when we've run out of words. It is trying to teach us to let go, and be a PART of life, instead of judging it.

So next time you're about to do something a bit un-rational, and find yourself called to your son's colorful markers, or you have a new idea you want to present to the office, - encourage it! Act as if it was life itself knocking on your door, inviting you to play!
Far too much 'rationality' is going on in our community. Wouldn't it be great if, just for one day, we could let all that go, and just say "Yes!"? Yes to community. Yes to creativity. Yes to possibilities. Yes to life.

Yours sincerely,
Lone














      This morning.

There is something else I wanted to say. Although, I don't quite know what it is.

I' saw this film The Animal Communicator and it's beautiful.

I found this woman Lori Portka online. She has made one hundred paintings, each a tribute to a person in her Life. I think that is a very beautiful idea.

I have uploaded a new painting to my website. The way it's painted is inspired by Van Gogh. It was painted in my garden here in France this spring. And... I like it.

It has been raining for 4 days straight. Today, the sun came out. The temperature dropped. From 11 to 5 C. Freaking cold. You can see it on the pictures. The cold blue nuances on them. Brrr…

The snow has arrived on the mountain ridges around the house. The Kaki tree has lost it's leaves and the remaining kakis are hanging like orange christmas decorations on the naked tree.

But the olives are doing fine. Their usual picking time is november/december when everything else has given in to the cold. First they are yellow. Then green. Then they become this slightly red color and look like grapes. And then black in the end.
Did you know that all olives are black, and that the green olives you get are just black ones picked before they go black? I didn't know that before I came here :-)

Writing this blog has turned into a sacred space for me. Y'know, 'Quality Time' :) It's good. I like it. I didn't think that that would happen, and it's great!

In this post I have added some pictures from recent trips that I wanted to share with you. The area I live in is so beautiful, and you literally have to go just out the door, to find some spectacular views and wild experiences ;) It's absolutely fantastic.
I have added 2 'tags' "Dans le jardin (In the garden)" (still practicing my French) and "On a trip". This post fits in both categories.
On these recent trips (where some of these pictures are taken), I went to the prieuré of Serrabonne (munkekloster) and saw the fantastic herb garden around the priory. Just beautiful. And what a pleasure to be smelling, touching, feeling these plants. They grow on a still mountain top next to a lost castle, lots of sun during the day and prickly cold nights. Really something.

I have worked hard on my website the last couple of months, and feel that it's finally coming to a place where I am happy with it. This has taken a looong time, changing, discovering and just building up, making the site look as free and licious as I have in mind. I am especially fond of my shop, that I finally feel really good about. Ah, you just can't beat the feeling of knowing you've done it right, and you like what you see. Shoulder pats and love there ;) (Hope you enjoy it as much as I ;).
I've also recently joined Pinterest, which I find to be inspirational and great too. Oh, this digital world; never thought it was me, but here I am, typing away and loving it!

The Kaki tree down the road. A firework of color against the bright blue sky! As you might have noticed - I have a crush on trees ;)

Fenouil/Fennel/Fennikel

This is one of my favorite pictures. See how the pink light of the setting sun is making the trunks look purple? The yellow figs are giving an extra glow to the picture. Whew!

Oh, come on! You go for a ride and after 40 min. you see this! What a place on Earth! (The grape vines has gone yellow and red with the autumn ;)

Still tomatoes in the garden. Don't know how, but they are still coming!  Looks like a christmas decoration to me!

A beautiful, beautiful Downy oak / Chêne blanc ('white oak' in French), in the gardens of the priory.

Pretty soon the idea of a girl riding a huge polar bear came to me. It was sort of one of these moments where I just saw it for my inner eye, and I knew they wanted to be born. 
Next day in the studio I made the drawing.

I wanted the image to be fresh and clean, wintery but also adventurous. It wasn't until afterwards that it came to me, that this was a princess, Princess Leah, who is riding the Polar Bear. They're on some mission of course. I'm not quite sure where there are going, but I know they're making way in icy weather.








I wanted to create a christmas feel to my website. I made a simple design with some trees. I used the image of Leah and the Polar Bear and as the welcome christmas greeting on my website. 

I light the candles in my studio. I leave the light off. The day is quiet, though many souls are on the streets. It is a public holiday in France - toussaint - all saints day.

I was going to make christmas cards, and I am. But somehow the energy of the toussaint took me, and I realised I can't go on to winter, before having celebrated this important time first. 
In celtic tradition it's a celebration of harvest and stepping into winter. It lies between fall equinox and winter solstice. In the Danish churches, we remember those who are no-longer among us at all saints night. The priest might read out loud names of those in the community who have died within the past year. 

For me the time of Alle Helgen, is about honoring the dead. Lighting a candle in the dark. Saying prayers. Coming together in peace to honor what has been. Even if it's just me alone, in the woods. 

It is a special and magical experience, to come before the darkness, recognize it, see it, and be vulnerable in it. And it is something we can do just now. May this image remind you of that which is sacred to you. Your loved ones, your dead.

It's a festival of light, and of death. Let's light a fire, for those we love. Those who are dead but also those who are still here, even though they might not be present in our lives. Honor that which has been. And step peacefully and gracefully into winter.




'Behind the scenes' making of the Samhain image.