The Bird House

 Rue de la Cigogne

 As every year since highschool, I filled my luggage with some clothes, books to draw on and moved to a new place: Brussels. Emilie and Arthur, two of my best mates I met in art school were living there and convinced me to join them. On the first week, I found a very cute flat/art studio in the center just across their street (just 30 steps from their flat) on two floors separated by a spiral staircase.

 

La rue de la cigogne (Ooievaarstraat in dutch) is straight out of the past. Cobblestone floor and gabled houses have stopped time in this peaceful downtown. 70 m long lane often called impasse because of its narrowness and the fact that very often my neighboors set up chairs and table before their doorstep when it is good weather. 
This medieval commercial street follows the path of the first enclosure intramural Brussels and was long inhabited by modest valets and peddlers. I love the fact that I probably sleep in the same room where a hundred years ago a fortuneteller predicted the future in her crystal ball. I love my life here, I'm in love with the city, with my street, with the people I meet, with the weather (a grey monochromatic sky). Everyting inspires me !

The Bird House 

I decided to decorate my witch house according to the name of the street (cigogne = stork) and therefore birds. My first purchase was a bird house of course I found in an antique for a few euros and a bird cage in which I store candles. Finally this big blue chest of drawers from Ikea that I customized with different buttons I bought on flea markets. As for the room I opted for a princess (no surprise) bed that I customize with pearls (like they do in New Orleans when the hang pearls on trees and everywhere around their houses to stay away from evil spirits) and fabric. In front of the bed I created a wall bazaar with a mixture of drawings, jewelry, and curiosities all at the vertical. It's in progress and I still don't have a couch to welcome couch surfers and friends. All the decoration is very cheap, flea markets, Ikea, les petits riens... I would like a DIY couch or - if possible - a true meridian ! Here are some inspirations : 

Greetings from witch city !!

Industrial Castle

Right wing of the castle

I found a place I could be locked in forever and live the more peaceful life I could dream of. It is thanks to Ricardo Bofill who found a disused cement factory from the turn of the century crossed by subterrean galleries and huge machine rooms and then decided to turn it into a magical castle.

Stairs climbing to nowhere, structures that sustained nothing, pieces of iron hanging in the air, huge spaces filled with a magic emptiness, all these surrealist elements provide the right balance between a fairy tale manor, a sexy underground lifestyle and the accoustic reverberation of a religious temple.

Veranda for sunny days lunch

Studio and Meeting Room

Living Room

The Room of Mirrors

View From the Tower

The Winter Room

Under Your Spell - Desire Cover

The new version of "Under Your Spell" with the studio recording :)

Peruvian Princess Mirror

Just after my sentimental break I had a creative bulimia and I started projects in all directions without never pursuing them. However this peruvian princess mirror is the only remnant of this period I managed to finish.

An antique oval mirror which I outline woven with wool of all colors. It was a manic and repetitive gesture in which  I completely abandoned myself. Months of knitting without thinking took me back to the vegetative stage of a robot. With hindsight I look at all these small projects as therapies  to bring daydreamers back to the realworld

The Cloudblower

Music Covers

As I said in a previous post, I enjoy singing a lot these days. Here are two covers I did (nothing is taken seriously). I've made the "Under Your Spell" Video and Chrys did "Breathe Me". We've mixed images I've taken during my roadtrip in the US and some that Chrys did on the railway. For the music, it's still me in front of my computer...maybe I should invest in a real microphone now that they reach more than a hundred views aha.

Miss Havisham

In the Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens, one character caught my attention: Miss Havisham. A wealthy woman who lives in her ruined mansion looking like a witch. These features already made her my hero but she really became a muse of inspiration when she fell in love with Compeyson. This man was more interested by her riches than her but Miss Havisham was so in love that she was blind. 

At twenty minutes to nine on their wedding day, while she was dressing, she received a letter from Compeyson and realized he will never show off and she had been left at the altar. From that day, she remained alone in her decaying mansion, heartbroken, never removing her wedding dress and wearing only one shoe, leaving the wedding cake uneaten on the table. 

I had been shut up in these rooms a long time (I don't know how long, you know what time the clocks keep here)