Pause for thought

Bit of an inbetweeny day today; many missions accomplished over the week and now waiting for something to happen and finishing off paintings. The studio is a mass of pictures, frames in various states of painting and boards waiting on priming and working; great to have so much industry going on but a little tidying is about to be necessary as I am looking after my mum for a week from Sunday and the studio is also home to the sofabed.. We're off to Skye for three nights which will be an experience; I spent a large chunk of my childhood holidays on the island and have fond memories of barbeques in oil drums on deserted piers, tin-roofed shops and single track roads with grass down the middle. Last time I was there was in 1989, so I imagine much has changed; the bridge for one thing, which will have given accessibility to tourism in a way never possible before. They can't change the hills and the sea however and I imagine there are still a few secret places tucked away that will be as I recall. Hoping to return to Elgol, a stunning beach of boulders and weathered sandstone cliffs overlooking the Black Cullins across choppy seas down a great wee hill. I managed to get on the wrong end of a rock my brother threw in the river there and ended up in hospital being stitched together again; my poor mother probably still has nightmares about that drive...

Doodling away again tonight on the continuing theme of my leafy ladies, who are merging with the forest angels a bit now. I have also been thinking of the Fornasetti china; for some reason the face used reminds me of some of my ladies. A great and iconic range of images too.

Tonight I'm working on a number of things at once to get maximum use out of my potato prints before I shut up shop for a few days; I will have a good break from painting and just use the old sketch books while mum is up I think. It gets messy and complicated working in what is effectively someone's bedroom and moving everything into the living room is just so not worth it.

The rest will do me good; perspective and all that. Consider what I have done so far and what else can realistically be achieved before the shows open at the start of November.

Keeping it brief tonight, so I can get something done in the short evening left to me.