Self Portrait: Bonbon Oiseau

It is with greatest pleasure to introduce you to the creative genius behind Bonbon Oiseau. She is one incredible woman, full of insight, tremendous detail and beauty. Her jewelry is breathtaking and her blog is just as wondrous! Thank you darling Bonbon :)

So here goes: The old photo of the accordian players was something I bought at the first and one of the only estate sales I ever went to when I lived in San Francisco. It was too goofy not to get, but also kind of elegant... it was either a memeber of the family of the person whose estate sale I was at or that person had a sense of humor too and just liked this photo. The hydrangea is from my backyard. I take them in every year and let them dry until they get dusty. I love hydrangeas and the way they dry out, so papery and delicate. The turkey feather is from a beautiful little farm we stayed on a little weekend in Pennsylvania. The turkeys were so awesome to drop one of their tail feathers for me! The eiffel towers are from my trips to France. It used to be a tradition that on the evening of the day I arrive, my friend Corinne and I drive over to the Eiffel Tower and buy a statue from the guys selling on the trocadero across the way...one year we bought each bought a glass one that has an LCD inside and lights up in all different colors but the top cracked off. Last time I was in Paris I notice the top cracked off hers too. We both thought that was pretty funny. Then there's my favorite lace, bought on my honeymoon in a little village near Ephesus in Turkey famous for their lace (it's lining a little willow branch nest I bought for a bonbon display. (in the back are shells and rocks I collect from everywhere i go where there are shells and rocks. I love shells and rocks)

Anyway, I'm not sure how insightful this is, but I suppose this says I'm a big fan of incongruous juxtapositions (can I use those words together?) I like to surround myself with good memories that tell good stories I guess. I don't buy so much as I find. I like all of my objects to have some meaning I think so if I lose them all, I'll be able to remember how special they were and what happened at the moment when they came into my life and why. (like the rocks I found on a beach in turkey while i was snorkling in shallow water and saw a baby octopus!) I'm not sure what kind of person this makes me but here I am. Rock me like a hurricane.

I used to cut up my shopping bags and make shadow puppets so when the light would come in the winter it would look cool...I wanted to do a big art installation but my mind doesn't get that big so I just made them for me or for my nieces when they were little...these are a couple of hanging ducks from Chinatown, next to my collection of poster John Derian sends out when he announces a show and those were the keys to my house in Banares in India in 1994!