How good is your memory!

Before I start in I'd like to acknowledge the new 'followers' who have come along lately ... welcome and thanks for connecting!
Recently I have been tagged, twice in fact ... first up by Mlle Paradis across the Pacific Ocean... and on the weekend by the Montreal based nathalie et cetera! Also  Mary Zeran from Iowa penned a post which actually makes me blush a little... beautifully put together for her 'discovering the world of art" blog. Take a peek here if you will!

Clouds of Calm , 8" x 8"x 2"
acrylic paint, acetate, masonite, pine, gel medium

Organica:   

Things that happen randomly or by accident.  The idea of layers, transparency, and our ability to examine things up close.  To work collaboratively  with a material.  Not forcing an outcome.  Being present to the experience.  Being in the moment. 

View Mary's website here to see more Artworks. 

Now to Mlle Paradis... I did find a moment to respond to her tagging and come up with a series of writers that have been influential in some way last week here....but what I didn't do is choose whom to pass it on to!  I really enjoyed the challenge of thinking about these writers... so I 'm keen to pass it on.

Before I got round to it Nathalie had tagged me with a very different kind of challenge - an 'I love your blog' award which required the answering of 10 questions:

The rules of the prize are:
Do a post with the prize
Answer the questions
Give the prize to 10 blogs
1. Why did you create the blog?
2. What kind of blogs do you follow?
3. Favourite makeup brand?
4. Favourite clothing brand?
5. Your indispensable makeup product?
6. Your favourite colour?
7. Your perfume?
8. Your favorite film?
9. What country would you like to visit and why?
10.Make the last question and answer to yourself:     

Nathalie did think some of us might balk at questions 3 and 5. Well.. yes... that could be so! But in the spirit of the silly season I'm thinking why not hybridize Mlle Paradis' great question on influential writers with these 10 questions above.

So...what would that hybrid version look like? ...something perhaps along these lines:

!. Name a fav book/writer that mentions blogging.

2. Name a blog you like that deals with books and writing.

3. Name a book/writer you're fond of that somehow features makeup.

4. Name a book/writer that deals with clothing.

5. Name a book/writer that talks of the indespensable anything.

6. Name a book/writer that you adore with a colour as a key motif.

7. Name a fav book/writer for whom perfume is a feature.(challenge 

   is to not go for the obvious one if possible!)

8. Name a fav book/writer which focuses on a film...or vice versa!

9. What country do your fav books/writers tend to hail from? egs..

10.What question would you like to make up about books and 

   writers... then answer.

Well I guess I could not blame you for reverting to one or other of the original tag subjects... influential writers or the first list of 10 questions above... but I wish to dare you to find answers for my hybrid challenge!!! Who wants to have a go? ...I'm going to tag various ones...but I invite you to enter into the silly season spirit and have a go if you come by and wish to take part. This is something you could even do on the night before xmas for a party game (joking) with a glass of whatever ... sherry, egg-nog, vodka?

Im going to try and answer these questions myself before I put it to you... so here goes!

1. books with blogging stories ...I can only think of the Julie and Julia book ...but i read it last year and did enjoy it!

2. A blog I like that deals with books and writing - I like to visit Slow Muse for the fact it introduces me to poets Ive not read before... and ideas that come from a broad ranging literary sources. There are others ... but thats a good start for me!

3. make-up... any ideas...anyone? Oscar Wilde?

4. clothing ... Jane Austin books come to mind... there must be many on this topic! Aesop "The lamb began to follow the wolf in sheep's clothing" (thanks google)

5. indespensible - clothes are crucial in some parts.“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society'. Mark Twain

6. Colour - The film "three colours blue" just came to mind! For a book...well... any ideas out there.

7. Perfume - "Happiness is a perfume which you cannot pour on someone without getting some on yourself" - Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

Trying to think of a book that has a scent or aroma that features.

Something is stuck in the back of my mind!

8. Film... mmm... these questions are hard... I need help... who made them up? Ben Okri's 'Arcadia' was a book about a painting which I rather liked. Film... any ideas?

9. Country of origin of fav books/writers - sometimes I have gone through stages of reading books from a particular place... Greece comes to mind and Scotland. Its a while since I did that though! 

10. Thank god I can make this one up... what books hold appeal when bedridden? Crime and Detective books - my mother gave me Agatha Christie to read when I was 14 and home ill from school. Its escapist for me... they come into their own at that time!

Well ... I barely scraped together answers here ... so of course you can do better than me...

And the blogs I'm choosing to tag:

Should you wish to respond to any of the three challenges - 

Passage Paradis , Mary Zeran , Nathalie, Caterina at La Dolce Vita, Janis at janis, Em at garden fool, Priya at the Plum Tree, denise at grrl and dog, a paper snowflake, gloria freshly art and design, Jaci at blue china studio, Lucy at nourish me , Ro Bruhn ... and you! If you have time in this busy season please join in! 

PS If you can help out with question do leave a comment!

Im thinking maybe everyone is just too busy at the moment for this... but if you're feeling game....dont be shy! Alternatively come back to it after xmas... when you've been given a few books... or have thought of some !!!! Sorry Nathalie for paying havoc with a simple idea... You can tell that Ive technically "gone on holidays'  from the fact I could be bothered to do something this whimsical...I am off to Melbourne for 5 days late thursday... so a quick break down south is also making for the feeling of lightness after a long demanding period of concentration!
See you all,
S x