sea-side

Grey skies and balmy air today but yesterday was stunning. D and I went to the beach and found it crowded and lively. Many were in the water, bobbing about and I wished for my swimming suit so I could've gone in too. Next time.

x

Falmouth Town

And then suddenly, here we are in Falmouth! Just like that!
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Edinburgh, I'm taking you with me.

I'll make this short. I am writing from the middle of my final hours as nanny to an enormously lovely family and these days are truly bitter sweet. Tomorrow, D and I take off on a two day road trip to Falmouth, filled to the brim with excitement and in a lot of ways mystery. But then, those are nearly the same thing.
Edinburgh is sunny with a perfect scottish breeze today, like a parting kiss, and my eyes are sore from squinting as I walk- as if looking harder than usual will keep the memories of this town fresher in mind!
Boy oh boy, what a change is in store!
Next time I write I'll either be somewhere on the way down the length of the country or settling in Falmouth.
Here's to you Edinburgh, you've been perfect.
X

Caution, Partygirl!

Hello,
Here is my Illustration Friday post this week, the word is Caution. The piece is titled Caution, Partygirl! and is a collaborative effort between myself and Imogen, one of the wee girls I take care of during the week.That's actually a birthday cake in the center, exploding. We painted it inbetween games of Memory, played with handmade cards by the two of us. We have made a winter stack and summer stack and I'll try and post pictures of those too before I leave Edinburgh.
I am only one month away now, a little less. Haven't started packing but will soon and am excited and in a daze at the same time. "Busy Lizzy" never ryhmed so well!
More soon, I promise and intend to keep it.
xx

Weight in Water

So these photos are not the sharpest but I will post better ones soon. I have been invited into to show a few pieces at The Big West Fest art festival at the Whale Art Agency in Wester Hales along with some very good ECA alumni. I have two new paintings going in (shown above) and will show also one from my Degree Show last year. The opening is on Thursday from 18.30-20.00 and I do recommend every one comes and has a look. It's bound to be lovely and looks like an interesting venue too. Here's how to get there.
Back from holiday in Majorca, I got right back in nannying and had a perfect week back. I took the two youngest to the zoo and ran along a bridge together with zebras going under us. We took pictures of every animal and even got a great shot of a hippopotamus yawning (will try and post these soon too).
Along with painting I have kept incredibly busy lately as I am planning a move to Falmouth in just over a month and as I'm starting a Masters there, there is much to do before hand. Looking forward to it immensely and really absorbing my last precious weeks in this city I've grown to see as home. It will be quite something to leave. I've stayed pretty steady put for five years now, and now I have a big haul looking me in the face. I'm looking it right back though and feel good about it.
More soon. x

Nana

I am in this hot and lush place with family, talk of family, long lunches and slow-ticking time on my hands. Even if I come away only with sketches I am content (almost) to have these firey images bubbling away and preparing themselves. There are times when the internal things seem to all be lined up like ducks in a row, and time when they seem to be so scattered it's hard to see. This is a time, though, just in between. Holding promise but no mania.
Reading The Moor's Last Sigh (S.Rushdie) in this place is like the sky behind the funny rainbow that is my trip. It took a long time to get inside the book but now I am hooked. (Thanks to my dear friend who picked it out for me, you know what I like)
My grandmother (pictured above) is dancing behind me now to her favourite African music, its a breathy sound that brings heavy, vivid memories of my childhood with her. So many sounds and smells make up the ideas of what happened before, or in this case, what is still happening. The fascination we had of what she was doing and the way she moved!, every morning just as we woke groggy like lion cubs.
I don't think there's anything that makes me so interested and keen to understand as growth and family.

sisterseasun

I am not on holiday on my own here, not as a travelling brit or german drawn to the sun, sand and friendly custom- I am here with family. And I find, mostly when I am away from everyday life, not working, sleeping early and waking without an alarm (but early), that this puts my mind into a totally different place- wherever we may be gathering. I am almost a child here, thinking simply, eating happily when I am told, my chores are made incredibly pleasant and soothing... It seems 'being away' causes a shift or break really from being an adult. Is it that way for everyone?
It's lovely here of course. The Mediterranean certainly has those famous and seductive healing properties. My legs turn to fishtail under water as they did as a girl and I am almost frantic with the chance to swim in the sea daily. Today, I went out with a mask and saw many white and black fish, nibbling on the rocks and laying eggs in the sand of the ocean-floor, they swayed in the current and so did I. I lay on my back floating and could see only blue. What that does to your head and heart!
I miss my twinsister as one gets used to being apart when life has its tolls, we work and make up goals and see to them, worry and dream and what-not but when I get here with sweet-nothing to do- I really feel the gap between us. My sister- my natural half. So this picture is for her. As are all of mine.
(*Technical resources run short here so I apologize for the unavoidable blur of some of the images in these island-posts.)