Sunday 22 November 2009

End of year Show - and the cycle continues

Well, there is no turning back. The die has been cast and no matter what happens between now and next week I need to finish off everything and hang my exhibition.

I have decided to take it very easy - I am not going to work myself up into a terrible lather over it. I will do what i can and throw our house open on that day and then what will be will be. If one person comes or one hundred it matters not a jot. I also am not going to bank on selling all my work. If it goes it goes. If it doesn't I am already planning to approach the Casa de la Cultura when we get to Spain and see can i not organise something at that end. It would be a bit longer obviously and I would not have to host it myself which would leave me freer.

So there. All my goals and ambitions for Norway have now been met - or at least they will be after next Sunday. I can't believe that our time here is nearly at an end. And now that it is of course I start to get sentimental. I am certain that I will be crying into my beer before we leave.

Still I am so looking forward to the warm sun on my back and not having to live through another dark nordic winter. The dark does get to you actually.

So, what have i been doing over the past couple of weeks? Well obviously I have been busy organising for the show. My 'secret' project has been posted, but shock horror! It has not yet arrived at its destination which causing me a bit of consternation at the moment. If it does not arrive tomorrow I will have to reprint everything and DHL it at great expense! I could scream. In fact I think I might have let out a little shriek!

I am trying to finish off two large paintings on canvas which I started months ago now, but obviously lost interest in and put down. To pick them up again is causing me great effort and I am not certain if I can do it. But I will put one foot in front of the other this week and see what I can do. I have enough work without them so am not worried. But I do hate loose ends.

Of course I am still working away at the Spanish - which moves along, probably better than I think. There are moments when I think it is all hopeless but then I look at what I have learned over the past three months and have to be a little bit proud of my achievement. Of course that does not always satisfy me. In my head I am already reading Spanish novels in their original language. I yearn for that moment. I want to be able to go to the art college and meet other artists and be able to discuss the ideas and methods of the moment with them. I want to be able to ask neighbours how they are and what their children are doing. I want to be able to ask about the past as well as the future and most important I want to understand what the people are saying to me! I know this last will be the hardest - I can already read some headlines in newspapers etc but trying to catch the meaning of what the Spanish say as they career along at breakneck speed is going to be my greatest challenge. Add to that local dialect and .... !!!!! You catch my drift. Sure, when I moved to Ireland first - even though i spoke English and the local people spoke English - i could not understand a word that was being spoken to me. It took me ages before the strange colloquialisms and accent started to make sense to me.

Aside from all those things life does go on. I cook and clean and go shopping for vegetables and lentils (I did tell you that we are economic vegetarians at the moment did I not!). I am also making plans and arrangements for our great move. And in short and tying up the loose threads over here.

In my (blood) family my cousin got married and my nephew too, my little girl is sitting exams and my boy is working toward a new album so things are happening for everyone, new beginnings all round. On Vic's side things are relatively quiet at the moment apart from several birthdays including his own. But his children in their youth are now poised on the edge of life really with it all before them, so that is very exciting too.

You see now how everything in my work revolves around the cycle of life. Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn and then it all begins again.

I will leave you with that thought to ponder until I write again.

Sunday 8 November 2009

On my Mind

Blogging is an art. There is no doubt about it. You have to be dedicated and you have to be organised I am both of those things but not all the time. Or at least in my life I have always been guided by obsessions. These vary from time to time as things come in and out of my life. At the moment I am obsessed with three things.
1. A little job that has come my way - which i am not at liberty to discuss here right now, but will when it is over.
2. The Spanish house, which after grinding to a bit of a halt has begun again with vigour, but now urgently needs decisions made and budgets balanced.
3. Learning Spanish for our impending move - very soon now - and I am still struggling with verbs and tenses.

There is a fourth thing which will come into play when number one is put out of the way in the next few days.

4. My exhibition. This will take quite a bit of organisation. Posters and flyers need to be made and put out and about, there is a little bit of work that needs to be completed and of course the pictures have to be hung.

I found that writing my blog was easier when I was actually working regular hours as I was when I was painting and printing. My life was more ordered and at specific times of the day i was eating meals, going for my walks, learning my Spanish, painting or blogging. It all fit in quite nicely and gave me variety in a day which, when spent and worked entirely on your own, can sometimes become tedious. I am always fascinated by artists, writers etc who work on their own - have to be on their own to work indeed - but even though driven to do whatever it is that they do they cannot work more than say 4 hours on the trot, before having to at least stretch, eat an apple or more importantly get out among people a bit, whether it is just to go shopping or meet someone for a sandwich.

I know you will say, I am just making excuses. And perhaps I am, but more importantly I am just trying to keep this blog open for the time when I will have some regularity again as a part of my working day which will include a little slot to write again.

So to all the people who used to read me regularly - please do tune in from time to time and I promise things will pick up again.

For now though - Hasta luego!