New collages on the shop

Finally found the time to update the shop with new stuff

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a good week. Here that was terribly difficult with the news coming from the orange douchebag. Few weeks ago I talked about not checking my phone before 10am. I will do a complete update on it soon but I can already say that it works and what makes me really anxious are not social medias in general but the news. News spread through their own apps, like The Guardian or Le Monde for me, but also social medias apps like X, Threads or Bluesky. I don’t count Instagram here because fortunately my feed doesn’t show me much news.

If I did delete all these apps from my phone, it is difficult to stay away from all the shit that happens in the world. And on Wednesday, I happened to be in the car and did heard the news on radio. Damn, even that I have to turn off if I want to survive.

This can seem stupid but hearing things like rebuilding Gaza as a new “Riviera” had crazy consequences in my head about the future for my children. I mean, where are we all going? Future does not seem bright.

It took me 2 days to calm down and get a bit of creativity back. Also it makes me think that 10am might not be enough for certain things… I will share about all these things soon here.

New collages

But among all that pollution I found the time and energy to update my shop. I did delete some products and did upload my new original collages. I say originals because that is what they are. They are not prints. They are real, hand made and signed artworks.

I started that series about Surf in December after a discussion with some friends who are surfers. Through our discussion it gave me ideas for collages, using blue colors and fun lettering. Here they are:

You can click on each image to get to the shop. You can also click on the link below to access the page with all my collages available:

I really have fun making them and it is a good way for me to make accessible original works. Next series is going to be about jazz.

Some good reads for the weekend

This week I wanted to share with you different posts coming from people who decided to quit social medias all together. There seems to be a move from many creative people to get away from Meta after Zuckerberg declared allegiance to Trump administration (other news It is impossible to avoid ^^). I read several posts about it and this makes me think about staying on Instagram.

But before giving some cool links, please check out this video from my ALL TIME favourite writer, Austin Kleon. It has all to do with what I said above about the news:

austinkleon

A post shared by @austinkleon

And here we go for some good reads:

Why I'm Quiet Quitting Social Media

Should I Quit Instagram?

Are Social Media Platforms the Next Dying Malls?

And my favorite:

Goodbye Social Media

To finish today’s newsletter, I would like to add that leaving Instagram to go on another platform is not the solution to me. And I think this is time to think about it, how we can survive or thrive without social medias. Emails list is a thing but let’s get back to human side of business. Let’s go to meet-ups, vernissages, coffee with a creative (or not) friend.

I am in a position where cool projects or art licences come from Instagram. But it does not mean I don’t work on other ways to sell my stuff. This newsletter is one thing, Updating my website regularly is another thing and even if I am not a social people, developing a local network is also something I try to develop.

Find what works for you but I tell you, being active everywhere online is always a short term thing to me. And let’s be honest, it does not make me more happy. It’s even more the opposite actually.

Yep, here are some thoughts to digest during the weekend. Let’s take a walk, explore the forest and see how it is way more rewardable and creative friendly than staying on your phone.

Take care,

Francis