Stillness and Chaos

Hello again! Last time I wrote, I had just moved into the new studio - and it wasn't quite ready to work in. It now is....and I've spent the last week sitting in it for most of the day - reading light novels, looking at my photographs, re-photographing paintings, letting the NEED to paint come through strongly enough that I can once again pick up the brushes after nearly 2 months! At this point, 2 months feels like an eternity....as if I will never paint again! But there are interruptions to this stillness. I share this house with my dear friend Grahaeme, who has kindly and generously offered me space while my life sorts itself out. We are both creative people (he is a poet and gardener), needing long periods of solitude, and while we hang in our separate parts of the house, I'm sure he feels my presence as much as I feel his. Not in a bad way. In fact, in many ways, its been very good to not live alone for awhile! But, I find its easy to let my mind float to whatever activity is happening outside or somewhere else in the house; to help my cat adjust to this new space and all the new residents around us; to try and help clear out so that there is a comfortable order to the general chaos... anything but focus on allowing the first paintings to come out. Its nearly there. I can feel it.... alas an interruption again tomorrow.... the memorial of a very dear friend... distractions! I'm trying to start working with images from Iona once again, so I'm going to show you some of the photos from my last trip.... enjoy!