New Book out! Walls of Sarajevo available on-line!

WALLS OF SARAJEVO

By Rebecca Mesbah an...

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Spring time inspiration...

Kids play...

Paper collage and aquarelle crayons

Trying hard to deviate from red...

Well there's white!

More African skies

Being back from Ethiopia inspired Rebecca to paint the skies!

Storm

Still in the beautiful French countryside but still thinking of Sarajevo! Took pictures of a spectacular storm there and decided to paint a storm here!

Finally!

Yes, finally we got back together at least two of us (the third is in Paris managing a luxury hotel). We painted non-stop for five days letting our kids go crazy in the huge garden in the country-side. Real country painting.

We continued on our theme inspired by the walls of Sarajevo. And added some more to our dreamy series. Have a look!

Coming out!

Let's see how could we phrase this... well, Rebecca has been living a double life for some time. We've showed you her abstract paintings inspired by the walls of Sarajevo but at the same time she has been painting figurative pieces derieved from her children's illustrations. Have a look at this portrait and tell her if it is time to come out of the closet!

Victor's our buddy...

We've had complaints about our poetic diversions. Hey, have mercy! We're about to be scattered in three different countries and Victor Hugo is one of the best to express feelings of loss, separation, exile and anticipation*... But we swear we shall not be posing as intellectuals. We were just looking for soul food to keep us going. Honest! And Rebecca has produced something so it worked. Thanks Victor, you're a true friend!

* Has Victor Hugo been translated into English? We're asking YOU this question!

Les Djinns - Victor Hugo

Murs, ville,

Et port,

Asile

De mort,

Mer grise

Où brise

La brise,

Tout dort.

Dans la plaine

Naît un bruit.

C'est l'haleine

De la nuit.

Elle brame

Comme une âme

Qu'une flamme

Toujours suit !

La voix plus haute

Semble un grelot.

D'un nain qui saute

C'est le galop.

Il fuit, s'élance,

Puis en cadence

Sur un pied danse

Au bout d'un flot.

La rumeur approche.

L'écho la redit.

C'est comme la cloche

D'un couvent maudit ;

Comme un bruit de foule,

Qui tonne et qui roule,

Et tantôt s'écroule,

Et tantôt grandit,

....

Mending Wall - Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
He is all pine and I am apple-orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down!" I could say "Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there,
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
-- Robert Frost.

Walling it up!

Yes, we needed to invent a new verb ˝walling it up˝ to tell you that Laurence decided to join us on the wall theme! There is nothing like personal frustration to get your creativity working! Jo continued on her question ˝Šta˝ meaning ˝What the..˝ ?

The Wall

Did you see the frightened ones
Did you hear the falling bombs
The flames are all long gone
But the pain lingers on
Goodbye blue sky
Goodbye blue sky
Goodbye
Goodbye
(...)
What shall we use to fill the empty
Spaces where we used to talk
How shall I fill the final places
How shall I complete the wall

The Wall, Pink Floyd-

Walls project..

Walls of Sarajevo are still carrying the stigma of war with bullet and sharpnel damage. The present political situation also shows that today walls are still present in the heads of some. However, these physical walls are a beautiful thing. They not only show a range of amazing colours but also funny and artful graffiti a proof of the liveliness of Sarajevo's population. To make bridges out of walls, Joelle and Rebecca have started a painting project inspired by their pictures of walls. Here is a little glimpse of it!

She did it again!

She did it again!! While Jo and Reb were discussing over the email about a series of paintings they started inspired by the walls of Sarajevo, Lau just did another painting. Some people can think, talk and paint while others just do it in sequence...

A preview of our ˝walls˝ series will be available soon. Once we finish talking we'll definitly start writing!

Envy!

To be honest, out of use three, two are totally envious of Laurence. She has the discipline the other two lack so she brings to life on a regular basis nice paintings while we sporadically produce one! Here is one of her pieces continuing on the theme of nature.

Thought for food

Bajram* is tomorrow! Upcoming baklava galore and compulsory visits to everyone during the next four days during which you are meant to eat... baklava! Yes, you get the picture. To make baklava you ˝just˝ need 1 kg butter, 1 kg sugar, pastry (jufka) and a huge amount of whole-nuts. Kids get money and sweets. Next week will be declared happy dentists week!

If you knew us you would know that we have been sooooo busy preparing all this that we did not have time to paint! Instead you get a nice still-life of autumn. No living creature was hurt during shooting of this picture.

*That is the end of Ramadan. Turkish word used in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Summer is over?

It is difficult to accept that summer is over. At least for some of us who would rather wait for spring time in their beds with a good book and an Ipod. For Laurence, it is now time to remember the sensation of a summer on the Croatian coast: beatiful flowers, bright colours and the lazy afternoons on the veranda. Here are some of her interpretations!

HAPPY NEW MILLENIUM!!

Happy new year! No we are ot crazy and yes, today we are entering the year 2000 - in the Ethiopian calendar... For those of you who have been living in a cave for the last years please take note that Ethiopia is actually the centre of the universe, not Bosnia and Herzegovina. People here are totally misled! How do we know that? Easy. Rebecca says so. On this occasion you get to see her painting called ˝Ethiopian sky˝. Rebecca is Ethiopian? Why are you asking?

Art for kids..

Rebecca has two nieces. They are amazing people and at only 11 and 9 they are ready to change the world. Leaving the fine tuning of their personalities to their creative mother Helene*, Rebecca as their aunt just wants to stimulate their brains! Here are two paintings done especially for them.

Helene has a blog about her adventures on the other side of the planet getting her jewellery design business up and going. Have a look at http://bouzicabyron.blogspot.com/