Val Wineyard Publishing

 Author Cindy published  on 21st October 2014!

Natural Living from Cindy, a star pupil!

  Way back in Spring 2013 Cindy came all the way from her home in the Pyrenees to see us and tell us about her proposed book. (We guided her through the whole process.)  She is quite an amazing lady!  This is her life story;

I made a change of direction in mid-life and I have never regretted it.  I was born in Guernsey and I worked in the Finance industry for nearly thirty years for some of the financial institutions but it was never where my heart lay.  I had a stall in the Guernsey Market for a few years and used to rush down at lunchtime to set it up, have a kind person to run it and then rush down after work to pack it all up again.  I painted horseshoes, weights, cans, scales etc in the toleboat painting style and also glass painting.  I have made jewellery, painted furniture, did five years silversmithing at night school and then pottery. 
    Now I live in the Pyrenees of France with my husband and six cats.  I like to have a project on the go, I cannot just sit and watch tv.  At present as well as painting watercolour mandalas, I decorate wooden and metal items, still do a bit of furniture painting, make my own soaps and as gifts and occasionally to sell, also I now make my own perfumes with essential oils and have also made one for my husband, we then made soaps with them, male and female scents. 
   I decided to create a book on easily found herbs because so many people suffer from different ailments which would certainly be aided if certain herbs were consumed. Dandelions and Stinging Nettles to me are two of the most amazing plants and yet many people spend their lives killing them with chemicals because they make their lawn look untidy!  (By the way, I would never recommend stopping conventional medicine.)
    I Love Nature, it amazes me how many of the plants commonly known as weeds are incredibly good for us.  And these plants can be used in so many ways and many can be found easily in the surrounding fields and forests if you do not have a garden.  In spring and summer I made my salads with dandelion leaves, strawberry leaves, violet leaves and whatever else edible I can find, pansy flowers is one of my favourites as they make a salad look so good.
   I have just made chocolates including the confit de rose I made in the summer from rose petals and crystallised violets which adorn the top, tasty and good for you, what more can you want, well except for the sugar of course.  I make the chocolate from scratch.
    Another aspect of nature which amazes me is crystals.  To think that these beautiful stones are underneath us deep in the ground, and sometimes not so deep. Here in the mountain our friends have a quartz crystal mine on their land and we have found some beautiful pieces. On top of all that they can aid many people in different ways and that is what inspires me when I am painting mandalas.
   Bringing Back the Sun Mandala
   One day someone mentioned them and I went online to see how mandalas were created and thought, ooh I'll have a go at that.  As well as being an art form they can be lovely to meditate to and if someone is particularly having a hard time I will create one in the relevant colours to aid that person. 

 
  We studied Cindy's ideas for some time and suggested a meeting, it was a good three-hour drive and we were impressed by her dedication and enthusiasm, all the way from her home high in the Pyrenees, only 8 kilometres from the border.

  We looked at various design ideas together and Cindy then developed them.

      You see, you never know what you can do until you try!  In October 2014 the book was done and in March 2015 she sent a copy to a  local history publisher in her native Guernsey and they will do a second edition.

If anyone else out there is toying with the idea of self-publishing their book we can help by acting as a consultant for your project as we did with Cindy.  Just send a message in the "Contacter Auteur" box below, it will come straight through to us and not be visible on the site.

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