I have waited longer than I intended, I meant to write here sooner than this. I’ve been a little busy working, a little lazy and perhaps a bit dreamy. I think I have just been getting on with living.

Last time, I mentioned I had carved out a small studio space and it is really tiny but I am loving it more and more. There are many things to appreciate about it. I love the big window and enjoy observing the light on the chimney’s and buildings that make up my view. I like seeing the leaves thinning out on the big tree as Autumn turns to Winter. This window helps me connect to nature. I like watching the magpies hopping on the roof lines and the black cat that sits in the window of a neighbor’s flat. I like watching the light as it changes and the clouds as they roll by. If anything the older I get the more I realize how in tune I am with my environment and especially nature and how much I need it to ground and inspire me.

Another benefit of my studio is that it is so small I must work cleanly.I also just like the challenge. I want to see how much I can create in this 30 square feet of space. As my life is starting over in many ways, I feel like it is a good time for my studio practice to change as well and the work will change accordingly. I am very excited by where it is going. I have always struggled with “enough.” What is enough when it comes to art? What if I just like how this paper meets this edge and how this line crosses it? If it makes my heart sing, can it be enough? Do I really have to put paint on it or draw something else there or add another layer? I also struggle with what is enough in my life.This is what I am finding again and again too. Art doesn’t lie. Art shows me what I am working on inside and what I am hiding from (I will leave this topic for another post).

So last time I mentioned I had just started two new 12x12” pieces on panel. Well I finished those just in time for them to be included in the Christmas Exhibition at Union Gallery on Broughton Street in Edinburgh. The exhibition opened on Friday, November 7th and it was lovely to have work in the exhibition and chat with folks at the opening. I was in the same exhibition in 2011/2012. Union Gallery is a great space to show work and it was a special treat to have my work on a gallery wall near Stewart’s. He had three pieces in the exhibition as well. It is a great exhibition and if you are in Edinburgh it will be up through January 31st. We also had a lovely opportunity to watch the gallery the day after the opening on that following Saturday. It was great to be surrounded by art and to really get to know the art by the other stellar artists a little better. It was lovely to see people come into the gallery and really engage with the work. As many of my friends know, there isn’t much I like more than talking with people about art and engaging folks with work so it was a very welcomed way to spend a day.

The following Sunday I was off for an adventure with Stewart’s mom, Pat and her friend Terry. We went to check out the New Lanark Wold Heritage site that was hosting The Great Scottish Tapestry. It was my first time to New Lanark and my second time to view the inspiring tapestry. It was a lovely day trip, the view of the River Clyde was very impressive and the yellow and gold of the leaves around the site were beautiful too. It was a lovely weekend.

** I am so behind in my writing. I am trying to not be bothered about this and slowly catch up or just let it go and live in the moment. I do know I feel better when I write.