Amanda Tamsin

@amandatamsin

I'm a mixed media and macrame artist (France/UK, though I love the World) Languages. Nature. Books. Travel. Walking. My visual work lives at Instagram: @mandatamsin and pieces currently available are at www.amandatamsin.fr

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Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· 3d

Through the woods and along the river are the places to walk at the moment, slowly... (in another heatwave). A travers les bois et au bord de la rivière sont les lieux pour se promener en ce moment, et doucement (encore une vague de chaleur). #baladedujour #Bourgogne #naturesky

Me (woman in brown dress and straw hat) on a woodland walk, in dappled shade.

View beside a river on a sunny day. The river water is still and low. Dry grass, dappled shade and small leafy tree in the foreground.

A sweet little fern, growing in a stone wall.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· 4d

Not so #SilentSunday, as woke up to a thunderstorm. Enjoyed watching the lightning whilst drinking coffee in bed - a great way to start the day (especially after a long, dry period here in France). Sky cleared, then a cooling walk in the woods - here's some lichen from along the way... #lichen

A stormy, unsettled sky, with clouds that looked like they're being pulled apart. Vegetation in the foreground.

A delicate, grey lichen species on a mossy woodland floor with scattered brown leaves.

A very fine and grey lichen species on a woodland floor with twigs, moss, earth and brown leaves.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· 9d

First time I've seen these... The wonderfully named Sagittaria sagittifolia, Arrowheads or 'Sagittaire' in French. I love the shapes of these leaves. In European folklore they are associated with guidance. I'd like to find out more about this plant. Do you see them where you are? Any stories?

Sagittaria sagittifolia growing from a river in Burgundy. Green leaves in the shape of elegant, pointed arrowheads are clearly visible.

Sagittaria sagittifolia growing from a river in Burgundy. Green leaves, and one yellow) in the shape of elegant, pointed arrowheads are clearly visible.

Many green, elegant pointed arrow shaped leaves, growing from a river. Algae and other green and brown vegetation is growing around.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· 17d

I never intended to paint hares, until I saw one early one morning - leaping over the railway line in a nearby village. Seeing one at midnight in my aunty's garden in north Norway was magical too 🌜💙 Mixed media originals in progress... Final layers in watercolour, then time to add some detail.

A mixed media artwork in progress with a running hare and collaged gingko biloba leaf prints. In earth, blue and violet tones.

A mixed media artwork in progress with a standing hare and collaged gingko biloba and tulip tree leaves. In earth and blue tones.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· 19d

A lovely little plant gifted to me by my mum today. What could it be? Aloe? Haworthia? Something else? 💚 #PlantID #succulentplant

A small, green succulent plant in a ceramic patterned pot. This plant has wide spiky leaves with serrated edges and white markings. Perhaps an aloe or haworthia.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jul 6

During the heatwave, we have been walking in the morning and evening only. The wheat is particularly 'court sur pattes' ('short on its legs') as my husband says. In the 'canicule' (hottest bit), our walks were even more limited - very early morning and in moonlight. #Bourgogne #Heatwave #Canicule

A straight footpath between two brown wheat fields. Blue sky with a few small, fluffy clouds.

Man in cap, bending over to look at wheat at the edge of a field. Blue sky, with a few small clouds. Morning sunlight.

Edge of a wheatfield, showing close up of short, yellow-brown wheat. Centaurea plant with straggly purple flowers in the foreground.

Yellow flower head comprising many tiny flowers (I think an achillea species).

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 25

Some sort of Fritillary and unidentified Skipper species. Please let us know in the comments if you know what they are. #InsectThursday 4/4

An orange-brown and dark brown spotted butterfly, some sort of fritillary. It has its wings half-opened and is perched on a lavender flower spike.

Two small butterflies with orange-brown wings (closed) and grey furry bodies with large black eyes, resting on a lavender plant. An orange and black striped bumble bee is also visible on the bush.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 25

I think my outfit goes with a couple of these butterflies! #InsectThursday #butterflies 3/4

A woman (me) standing by a lavender bush, photographing bees and butterflies with my mobile phone. I'm wearing a pair of dungarees with a giraffe pattern in black, white and brown and a large floppy, straw hat.

A Scarce Swallowtail Butterfly (called a 'Flambé' in French) with wings open, resting on a lavender bush.

A yellow Brimstone Butterfly ('Citron' in French) on a spike of Lavender. The sunlight is passing through its closed wings, illuminating them.

A Marbled White Butterfly 'Demi-Deuil' in French, resting on a lavender spike with wings open. It is dark brown/black and white in colour, with a marbled effect.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 25

So many to see. This was around 10am and it was moving towards the high 30s in temperature, so couldn't stay too long. The butterflies and bees didn't seem at all concerned about our presence, they were so happy and excited about the plant (I like to think that anyway). #InsectThursday 2/4

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 25

#InsectThursday Have been visiting this lavender - never seen so many bees and butterflies together. There seem to be a lot of insects around in general, in Burgundy this year - though that's just my informal observation. #butterflies #bees #Bourgogne 1/4

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 24

I've two questions about this monoprint and leaf... We believe it to be a geranium, but can anyone identify what kind? I plan for this leaf to be printed into cards and am thinking about its title. Something relating to the qualities of the plant... Do you prefer 'joy', 'soothe' or 'wish'?

Close up of a mixed media monoprint featuring a geranium leaf. In multi-colours, but mainly blues, violets, yellow and cream.

Mixed media monoprint featuring a geranium leaf. In multi-colours, but mainly blues, violets, yellow and cream. Edges are blurred and multi-layered, creating a 3D effect.

A geranium leaf (as yet exact species unidentified) on a wooden table. Shaped rather like a fan, but a little asymmetrical. Edging has points. Dark in colour as paint on surface after printing process.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 23

Je suis en train de lire ce livre de Patricia Highsmith. C'est une collection de nouvelles accessibles qui invitent à réfléchir. Il y a un peu d'humour noire, réalisme et des fois, des histoires avec des animaux fantastiques 🐌🐢 Translation en anglais en dessous. #bookchatweekly 1/2

Livre de Patricia Highsmith qui s'appelle 'l'amateur d'escargots'. Il y a une illustration un peu effrayant mais marrante avec un escargot en rose, avec la tête et bras d'un homme.

Book by Patricia Highsmith, called 'The Amateur of Snails'. There's an illustration on the cover with a pink snail and a man's face and arms.

Un livre ouvert et en train d'être lu dans un espace vert. Il fait beau.

A book open and being read in a green area on a warm sunny day.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 23

J'aime bien le houmous. Pois chiches se prêtent à de nombreuses recettes! Hier on a fait une bonne fusion - curry de pois chiche et légumes réchauffé avec batônnets de poisson pané! 😁🙃

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 22

Drawn to cool blues in this heatwave... I created a monoprint with the leaf skeleton of a field maple some months ago. Now available in postcard form on premium paper. Title 'Endurance'. Available individually or as part of a set of three different leaf prints. amandatamsin.fr/products/lea...

Large square postcard showing a mixed media artwork with field maple leaf print. I blue and white tones, with accents in red and ochre.

Large square postcard showing a mixed media artwork with field maple leaf print. I blue and white tones, with accents in red and ochre. White envelope visible in background.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 21

From a walk a few days ago (today we're in a heatwave, so didn't go far). De notre balade il y a quelque jours. Aujourd'hui nous sommes en canicule, donc on n'est pas allé bien loin. #Bourgogne #naturesky

Two dainty flowerheads in a wild setting. One flowerhead still in flower with tiny white flowers, the other just has delicate green stalks remaining. I think this plant is a member of the cow parsley family, which I'm not good at identifying (though I understand they're often poisonous if they have purple blotches on the stems).

A view from the bank of a river on a sunny day. The river is lined with grasses and trees, including a weeping willow.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 20

Rather than our usual Saturday market, we exhibited at the 'Foire et Jeux Inter-Village' in Coulanges. A hot day, but the stalls were nicely positioned in the shade 🌳🌳🌳 I think this butterfly, which stopped by twice, liked my husband's calm energy. #Frenchvillage #Bourgogne #mixedmediaart

Market stall on a tree lined avenue with artwork, cards and macrame items, such as plant hangers.

Man in a paisley shirt sitting behind a market stall. A butterfly has landed on his hand and is now perched on his fingertips.

Closer image of a small brown and white butterfly resting on a man's hand.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 17

I've just added a few of my handcrafted, one-of-a-kind macrame bracelets to the website, including this one with up-cycled bead. amandatamsin.fr/products/mac... #handmade #macrame

A handcrafted macrame bracelet in coral pink and apple green tones. Features an up-cycled bead with patterned, jasper-like appearance. The bracelet is sitting on top of a large elongated shell with tree bark and grass in the background.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 15

Discovering a new street or two in #Auxerre La maison avec volets bleus m'a fait penser des rues où j'étais en Amérique du Sud, surtout en Chile. En découvrant des rue nouvelles en Auxerre. The house with blue shutters reminds me of some streets I've been to in South America, particularly Chile.

Old house on one level with blue shutters. It meets the possibly pedestrian only street directly (no front garden).

Detail from the façade of an old house. The wall is pale, dusky pink and the part of the window visible has pale grey shutters. An ornate detail is above the shutters with abstract leaf or shell pattern.

Part of the façade of an old house. The walls and shutters are painted in pastel pink and an uneven wooden beam, with natural weathered colour, is below the window.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 15

Perles Mérovingiennes, pâte de verre, Musée Abbaye St Germain, Auxerre. Trouvé dans le Yonne. J'aime particulièrement les perles translucentes. Merovingian beads (glass paste), Abbey St Germain Museum, Auxerre. Found in the Yonne. I particularly like the translucent ones. #MuseumMonday #beads

Merovingian beads made from glass paste, in a museum exhibition cabinet. Displayed in necklaces and as loose beads. Beads are mainly in neutral colours, and varying in size. A translucent aqua-coloured bead is prominent in the foreground. A man is standing behind the beads, studying the exhibit from the other side - he is wearing a paisley shirt in colours which co-ordinate with the beads.

A bracelet of Merovingian glass paste beads, in neutral colours and of varying sizes. Some are flat, round or patterned. A translucent, colourless bead is catching the light at the front of the bracelet, and a large, opaque grey-black bead is loose in the foreground.

A necklace of Merovingian beads. Some are tubular, some are rounded. Beads are mainly in sunny colours and blue, yet a few are in neutral shades. Several of the beads are patterned with lines and swirls.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 15

Did a little painting in the garden today. Just one layer on these hares... Definitely slow art. Sharing for #MammalMonday #workinprogress #mixedmedia

Mixed Media artwork in process. In tones of blue and brown with gingko biloba leaf print collage pieces. A hare with a thin layer of paint is leaping across the scene, from left to right.

Mixed Media artwork in process. In tones of blue and brown with gingko biloba leaf print collage pieces. A hare with a thin layer of paint is moving across the scene, ready to jump, from right to left..

Mixed Media artwork in process. In tones of blue and brown with tulip tree and gingko biloba leaf print collage pieces. A hare with a thin layer of paint is standing, alert, on its hind legs.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 10

Streets I regularly walk down, but each time something is different. A different hour, the June light... Des rues où je me promène régulièrement, mais chaque fois il y a quelque chose qui est différente. Une heure particulière, la lumière de juin... #WindowsonWednesday #baladedujour #Bourgogne

Old wall in sandy colour with rough semi-circular hole with two iron bars (the one underneath is slightly decorative with curved details).

Section of a probably mediaeval house in Auxerre, France. Mainly in subtle shades of white, cream with faint pinkish tinge. Has light green wooden beams. Balcony has wooden balustrade painted black.

Probably medieval house in a street in Auxerre. Photo shows whole house apart from part of roof. Has three floors, plus a dormer window is also visible. In soft subtle shades of pinkish-white and cream, with sage green wooden beams/stripes. Balcony is painted in a darker colour, almost black. Old stone wall to the left of the building and a smaller (again, probably mediaeval) house in pastel pink and light green to the right. Light and shadows are cast across the house creating an interesting, subtle light.

Focus on shutters of an old house in Auxerre, France. The shutters are wooden and painted in a cream colour with unusual diamond shapes cut out (hearts are more common here). Light and shadow are cast across the shutters and surrounding wall, which is a whitish-pink colour with darker brownish colour showing through underneath where paint has worn down/peeled.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 9

Enjoying getting back into my macrame practice, alongside painting/drawing. Just finished this adjustable pendant with a stone which I believe is green agate (plus an up-cycled red coral chip). Do you alternative between different creative practices, and find this helpful? #macrame #artbyhumans

Handcrafted Macrame Necklace with Green Agate Stone and Red Coral Chip

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 8

I found the leaf skeleton used in this monoprint along a woodland pathway - it looked like a folded white handkerchief. I opened it out to see the lovely field maple shape. My original artwork and postcard prints are available here: www.amandatamsin.fr #naturesky #mixedmediaart #postcards

An original artwork (monoprint) featuring the print from a field maple leaf. The artwork has been created in layers of acrylic and gouache paint. In tones blue, violet and white, with accents in umber, ochre and red.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 4

Some more details from yesterday's woodland walk. Do comment if you know what the wildflowers might be (they were both growing in dry grassy clearings (pélouse sèche) close to the woodland. 3/3 #woodland #baladedujour

Pink wildflower, with four petals and ragged edges, growing on dry grassland.

Glossy roundish green leaves growing close to the woodland floor.

Smal plant with elongated, spear-like green leaves and small, fine trumpet-shaped flowers in orange-red and yellow. Growing close to a grassy ground.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 3

Also from this woodland walk. The second two (Helix Pomatia, the Roman or 'edible' snails famous in Burgundy) were in the darker, cooler part of the reserve. It is lovely to see them in their natural environment, crawling happily over moss 💚 #snails #naturesky 2/3

A pretty striped snail on a rock in sunlight.

A Helix Pomatia or Roman Snail. A large snail with a faded grey-brown shell crawling over a mossy rock.

A large snail with brown shell (Helix Pomatia or Roman Snail) climbing down a mossy surface towards earth. Dried oak leaves and wild plants are here and there.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· Jun 3

We walked through the Réserve Naturelle Bois du Parc today. A magical place... As we follow the path the habitat changes from from an area of warm, dry woodland with stunted trees and clearings to a cool, humid green valley with ferns. #baladedujour #bourgognefranchecomté 1/3

Information board about the nature reserve 'Bois du Parc' in the Yonne, Burgundy. Showing an illustration of the oak and hornbeam woodland at the top of a calciferous plateau (ancient marine reef). Beetles found here are also illustrated, including a stag beetle.

Wildflower (probably Melittis) growing on the limestone plateau, along a woodland path. Pale green flowers with purple patches about to open, looking tubular/hood shaped.

A small oak tree growing on calciferous dry grassland (pelouse sèche). Tree is in leaf and in motion as it is a windy day. An unsettled sky in the background.

A woodland pathway with dappled light. Deciduous trees have slim trunks and are in leaf. Limestone boulders are in the path. A man in a cap is looking at the plants/ground to the left.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· May 29

Every now and then, I make some unique macrame bracelets. Shall I add them to my online shop? #macrame #artbyhumans

A selection of four macrame bracelets with diamond motif. They feature glass and metal beads. The bracelets are placed over a Gasteria succulent plant in a decorative vintage pot.

A selection of three handcrafted macrame bracelets, placed on top of a piece of tree bark. The bracelets feature glass beads.

A handcrafted macrame bracelet in saffron yellow with turquoise-colour glass beads. The bracelet is placed over a piece of tree bark.

A handcrafted macrame bracelet in turquoise waxed cord. Features glass beads in neutral colours and muted green. Bracelet is placed over a piece of tree bark.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· May 28

Seems to be a time for pink... These are two different roses in the village. Love seeing this colour around - it feels soothing and nurturing. Interested to know about the symbolism of pink roses #FolkloreThursday I've read that they're given to friends to show admiration... What else? #rose

A trailing rosebush with pink semi-double flowers with creamy-yellow centres.

A rosebush growing over a white metal fence with plenty of single, vibrant pink flowers with whitish centres. A blue sky in the background.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· May 27

A quiet moment waiting outside the bank in Auxerre... Un moment tranquil quand j'attendais dehors de la banque en Auxerre. #WildlifeWednesday #poppies #abeille

Three peach-pink single poppy flowers in a planter. Stone paving and old street walls in a sandy colour visible beyond.

A vibrant yellow poppy in a planter surounded by little double daisies. A white-tailed bumble bee is at the centre of the flower collecting pollen.

Amanda Tamsin@amandatamsin· May 21

Turning the page, this second excerpt describes how the children who followed the Pied Piper and had disappeared into a mysterious mountain, can still be heard by residents of Hamelin, on clear nights, as they continue to dance and sing. Not sure yet how this relates to the main narrative! 3/3