Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Yoga Show and beyond.......



December 4th ~

Greetings blog followers, well despite my good intentions it has taken me longer to get back to this than expected! I have been busy loading new stock onto my forth coming web-shop which is nearly ready to go live, hopefully just in time for Christmas shoppers to explore and delight in!
I have recently developed some very exciting new merchandise that I am particularly proud of and now looking forward to offer up to the global market place of the world wide web! Hooray!

I have recently exhibited at Olympia in London as part of The Yoga Show which was an exciting way of launching my merchandise to the public where it was happily met with much enthusiasm.

The show itself was visibly quieter than previous years and sadly with footfall distinctly down and costs definitely up it may be the last time that I exhibit there. It is always great to meet the public and I am very fortunate to receive a lot of praise and encouragement whenever I do.
My work is so detailed and textured that it is best seen and touched to really be understood and embraced fully, and it is now a truly sensory experience.
My original paintings are made from 3D bits and pieces and have various special paint effects to add extra magic and mystique to them. In my mind it is essential then that each new item I create needs to bring a certain quality of it own. Personally I hate it when you see something your eyes like but are totally disappointed when your skin actually touches it!
There for I have designed my merchandise to please on many levels.
One of the most interesting new things I have created is a wide range of cushions using all my original images. These come in two exciting and tempting styles~

The first being my exclusive Bespoke hand finished cushions which are printed on the softest suede fabric and then individual embellished with vintage mother of pearl buttons, crystals and beads and trimmed with shell, crystal or beaded fringe.
These are heavenly to touch and hold, they really are boudoir chic, exceptionally sensuous and sexy!
The second is my Luxury range which are printed on the same super soft suede fabric and are fully washable.

Enough of my personal work developments and onto the news of the week regarding Twitchy and "One From The Heart". After months of waiting to hear back from a number of various celebrities in the spiritual and self development fields I finally got a lovely response from
Marianne Williamson, the most influential and well respected spiritual activist and author of
"A course in Miracles"

Dear Claire,
It was only just today that I opened up the package with your book in it...although it's dated from March! I'm so sorry.
Thank you very much for your kind words; your own book and pictures are beautiful. Already I can feel a very healing vibration. I send you all best wishes. Perhaps Hay House in the UK would be interested in publishing? If I were you, I would contact them.
In the meantime, you can certainly use this:

"Claire Johnson's very special work is both comforting and inspiring." -- Marianne Williamson

All my best,

Marianne


Encouraged by this I wrote again to Hay House u.k only to be told that sadly they are not taking on any one new right now! Never mind I will just have to keep trying!

All the best
Love Claire




Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Honouring and Emerging


The Past, Present and Future . Me, myself and me!
Welcome to you one and all~
Well here I go launching my self and my personal version of life and all that it entails, onto the airwaves or web waves or whatever you call them…..
For those of you who do not know me, I am a pretty complex creature skipping through life by several names!
My former, maiden-self , was Claire Saunders , proud to be the daughter of David Saunders International designer extraordinaire! Sadly he passed over 13 years ago this week and is greatly missed by us all.
I trained as a Fashion designer at Ravensbourne college of Art and Design and then at The Royal College of Art in London. During this part of my life as this “me” I worked as a freelance designer travelling far and wide and free… Then worked as a tutor at the London College of Fashion teaching design and use of colour to the Fashion Stylist and Hair and makeup artist of the future…..
it was at this time and it was under this name that I published my book

One From The Heart. click to find out more about my book!
This is a collection of chanelled writings that I have graciously received from my personal source of Universal Wisdom and consciousness that I refer to as “Twitchy”
This book was self published with much Saunders support and family help, funding from my mother and graphic design, production and launch by my big brother Julian. We are very proud of our accomplishment with this delightful little tome, it is filled with gently positive guidance for anyone who is open to hearing it! Some people are not and that is fine, but those who are can now be counted in there thousands! We published our book 12 years ago now and have achieved sales equivalent to a book a day which is quite amazing in itself , but particularly impressive as we have had no publicity, no PR and no proper distribution……….. It truly is a magical little book that has an energy that just wants to go …to wherever it wants to go …and to spread the comfort and wisdom that it holds to whomever needs to read it, and to hear it, and to feel its love and support that is held within its pages. ~ The next “me” to emerge was the “mother” me. This has been such a wonderful personal evolution it has to be experienced to be believed! Along with the physical changes that occurred, the sheer joy of becoming a parent and the total lack of sleep! All of which were incredible, also came a very different spiritual metamorphosis. It was sadly at this time that my beloved father passed away and the little girl in me who was devastated had to move aside and the adult/parent “me” was forced to step forward and take the stage!. It is a horrible thing for anyone of any age to loose a parent and my father was only 64 years of age. It was as if Claire Saunders I had known myself to be had to move on when my father moved on and over. …. Soon after this point I happily chose to embark on the next major personal transformation into the married me, the Mrs me, the brand new grown up “me” Mrs Claire Johnson ! With this new found family “me” I no longer wanted to commute to London so I started painting as another form of creative expression. For the past 12 years I have been creating paintings out of all sorts of bits and pieces of recycled crystals, gems and jewellery. Silk flower petals, beads buttons and broken mirrors…….. These have been created from my imagination and the vast store of visual references that my many travels and adventures overseas has afforded me! Now there you have it! the two public faces of “me” and yet there is another phase I feel emerging as we speak~ They do say the three stages of woman are Maiden~ Mother ~Crone well I don’t know about that but I am well on the way to becoming something! I am definitely not through with my mother phase, I don’t think any mother ever is but now my children are both at Senior school and no longer so dependant on my ever present mummyness it is time for me to stretch my wings a little more and dare to fly a little higher! I continue to receive the guidance from Twitchy that we originally complied into my book and now have plenty that could become a second volume. As the times are somewhat tricky and trying for us all right now, I have found that the call for my book has become louder and louder and sales are increasing daily! The latest writing too is very interesting and compelling so I think the best thing to do is to put it up on this blog, as and when I receive it for one and all to read. Hopefully we will get an established publisher to take on our book and to reformat it to include the new material we have to date.
I will posting some of 'Twitchy's' latest writing in the next few days.
Also I exhibited at the “Yoga Show" recently at Olympia in London and launched some of my new merchandise to the much discerning U.K public and will be posting pictures and examples of these soon. Until then All best wishes Claire.