20 February 2022

Well it has been a while since I last ventured here and mused on the wider world. The last few weeks, preferring to steal myself away, by myself, in my temporary winter studio. By necessity this has been set up on the dining table. As several months ago, my former designated space, for the creation of artistic endeavour, suffered a catastrophic ceiling collapse. This follows a seemingly habitual form, as my former studio in Glasgow - the great attic space above my huge Victorian flat, in the Bohemian West End - the garret leaked for years. I am well aware that water penetrating into plaster will always result in the collapse of the plaster. It usually decides to fall when one is at one's lowest ebb.... I was certainly at a horrid and sad low, when this most recent fall was discovered. But I am not letting this "set-back", hinder my creative drive. I literally and physically have been moving things away from the problem and in the process, i am, beginning the unpacking, and at last, after five years, settling back in, back home which I never seemed to have time to do before now.... I am making time. Somehow, I am finding positivity, which has been essential these past few weeks, which have been crammed with so much sadness and loss, for so many friends, family and people we know and love. It could easily be a time for despair, but I made a promise to my own Dear Mother, before she passed away and a vital element of that promise is that I am going to continue being creative and productive. So I have been drawing and painting every day since the start of the year, this seems to generate even more creative energy and I am a buzz with ideas and inspiration.