yesterday

Yesterday was rather a "down day". And for some reason I let it get me down. That's not like me.

I felt pushed around, let down, used. Texts were not replied to, so I couldn't make plans. Visitors didn't arrive but didn't let me know that they had changed their plans. Other plans made were not honoured. Another friend seemed to be playing mind-games, games that hurt. And it all happened when I was missing my recent visitors, when I needed an up, not a down.

I took myself to a concert on a hilltop, wonderful music, amazing views. I was up, but I still felt down.

But that was yesterday.

This morning travelling minstrels sang at my door. My flatmate and I enjoyed breakfast together and sensible conversation lifted my spirits. And then in my in-box arrived this post from The Minimalists. I feel much better now.

I know that I am worthy, and that is enough.

Today I am grateful for appropriate words. 

babysitting

Thoroughly enjoying being splashed, slobbered on, dribbled on, cuddled and hugged.

Neurotic about insects, mosquitoes, allergies. 

Tonight I am blogging only because I want to be near the baby monitor when I am not on my knees beside the sleep-tent set up on a mattress on the bedroom floor. 

Yes, I am loving my little visitor. The youngest grandie is the first to come to Italy. And at the airport she put her arms out and greeted me with a huge smile, coming into my arms as though it was the most natural thing in the world to do. 

Skype, thank you! I think she recognised her nonna. 

I am now the proud owner of a playpen, a Winnie the Pooh bedcover (for crawling on) and various other things I hadn't needed before. 

It does make you think though, how small the world has become and how easy travel is. There was a time when moving to another country meant not seeing your family again. Now that kind of move really was brave! 

Today I am grateful for family ties. 

and on and on...

guests, quotes for printing, applications, housework, gardening, applications, guests, repairs, maintenance, improvements, guests, applications, gelato (oops), concert, walking out on concert to focus on applications, bookings, bookings, checking up on bookings, car repairs, sweeping, cleaning, warrant of fitness (the car, not me),

I'm not complaining, I don't want to do less. In fact, I'd love to do more! I just wish that I could replicate myself so that one version was sleeping while the other worked or played!

But somewhere in there I squeezed a couple of hours of "Spanish" fun...

and tomorrow my favourite tenor is performing, so I have a NIGHT OFF from all of the above. I smile and relax at the thought of it. Music really does feed the soul!

and then, on Monday...

:-)
:-)
:-)

guess which trio is coming to stay?

Life is good.

Today I am grateful for quotes, bookings and a capable assistant. 

old post

Occasionally I have to go to my blog to find something I have "filed" there for future reference. This morning it was details from 2011 I was needing. In the process of finding what I needed I also found this post. It was timely for me to read it again. 

I am between guests and working madly for Legato 2014, after which I will then review my life on a bigger scale. I have made no committments to anyone beyond June 2014. Will it be time for a change? Will my permesso be renewed? Will my driver's licence convert to an Italian one? (Perhaps more importantly, what is the expiry date on my passport?) So many questions, and no answers.

But for now there is more work to be done, I do apologise for not sharing more interesting stories or downloading photos recently, but time waits for no man (or woman) and I must fill my days with other things for now.

Today I am grateful for emails received.

il tempo vola...

Is it really so long since I blogged?

I've had a few computer issues, but mostly it is simply that time flies!

I am behind with emails, applications and many other things.

But I am still here, still making decisions, still making slow but steady progress.

And very much looking forward to some very special visitors coming my way soon...

Today I am grateful for pranzo con amici. 

nothing changes much

I stumbled upon this blog entry this evening. It's the heat I have been avoiding, rather than chasing the light. And now there are two dogs.

And unfinished paintings.

When you think about it though, essentially nothing changes very much at all.

Today I am grateful for background music. 

back into the fray

Source material: 

(I have moved and added roads to give rhythm in the painting).

As I left it: 

then...

and...

Before, during and after (but not there yet).

Taking into account that these are photographed in different lights, the colours are not necessarily accurate. The two directly above are today's "working back into it after a long break". I am playing with the idea that "all roads lead to..." and am superimposing the stylised roads from an old artefect depicting the area. At the moment I have become a little carried away with the flow and will have to set these back a little. What looks like snow will blend in better later. When I am happy that I have them right, and they are dry again, I will glaze with a sepia glaze to age them a bit. I am also flattening out the upper section apart from where I want to create flow down to the next stage. I will try to unite the backgrounds a bit more on the right hand side where the two images blend.

I have "cleaned my brush" under the arch to bring some of the colour down into the next section, and I will pick out the stones again later.

And just for fun, as I am driven to paint downstairs (36°C in my studio), here it is, a work in progress with a Kiwi palm growing out of the top of it.

I am going to work my way down the painting over the next few days until my guests return. I think that the tenor heads to Rome tomorrow, so he will only have one day of fumes should he return as expected today. Painting in the bedroom didn't work; the remains of Diny's delicious curry that I had taken from the freezer burnt to ashes as I happily daubed away at the other end of the apartment, completely forgetting that I had put dinner on to heat! Now I paint in the kitchen... 

I am looking forward to bringing the painting to life, and to developing the last section much, much more. 

Today I am grateful for alternative painting spaces.