to blog or not?

I didn't paint today. It was one of those days where the weight of the world was closing in on me. The only thing to do then is to shift furniture. I'm good at that! But this house has stairs, so there is an up-ended couch in the passageway making it a little awkward for me to get to the bathroom... a good reminder to hold in those stomach muscles!

Anyway, I now have my studio much closer to how I would like it. There is room to breathe in it again. The compromise today was to surrender the lovely display shelves - that I see when I open the door - to make some kind of office area. No pretty display of brushes and small works, just boxes, books and the computer. But hopefully this will keep my work spaces job specific and I might get some order (and therefore less stress) at last.

This evening a neighbour called in and I showed her my new paintings. She happily chatted, describing them as in the naive genre. That surprised me, but it is a label I don't mind, when I think it through. If that means that the works are coming from my inner child, I hope that they appeal to the inner child of future clients. Certainly the stylised trees in their present form are naive. Food for thought! Her preference, however, was for the original commissioned work, the first of the series.

Same neighbour (she lives in Rome so is only here occasionally) hadn't been into my house before so I showed her around. Opened the door into the cantina... strange smell. That's odd, not a bad smell, just not a fresh one. She admired the (seemingly wooden) floor tiles, and I went to get a sample one from where it hides under the table. I leave it there because people are fascinated by the floor, first thinking it is timber. The carpet under the table was sodden! That's what the smell was. All that wonderful rain had seeped through the wall somehow, formed a river, and run straight to the carpet. The floor had dried, and only a slight tell-tale mark showed where the river had been. Oh dear, so the lake problem in downpours hasn't gone away.

Daylight saving ends tonight, so I can sleep in. Ha! I can sleep in any day, I don't do "alarm clocks" unless there are trains and planes to catch!

It was a "White Night" tonight, in fact it still is. Shops are open until 3.30am, musicians are playing, the town is rocking. It's almost 1am and I am home though, enough of a good thing!

Maybe I'll upload some photos, so you can have a white night too!

Today I am grateful for folk music.