A place called home...

 the waters of leith as we walk to the gallery

Hello Dear Readers...

Let's see what happened this week. This week was about making a plan and a list of all the things I still need to do and see here in Edinburgh before I leave on May 3rd. It was also about travel plans and seeing people that I wanted to see and spend time with before I leave. Busy time as I make the slow preparations to leave and return to the states. This list was overwhelming and we had mixed results with checking things off at first as we were both feeling a bit over whelmed but by the middle of the week we hit our stride and saw and did a lot and enjoyed many people. I am pleased to say I feel I have some real friends here, friends and faces that I will miss seeing, so much potential waiting to be explored, conversations to be expanded on. This gives me hope for the future.

But, for now let's just get to the logistics of the past week. Last Saturday we took my exhibition, From Across the Ocean down. It is always amazing how quickly shows come down and how painstakingly they go up. A few minutes and it was done. I added the remaining framed works to my Etsy shop. So please visit my shop as I have a wide selection of small works that I have created here to mark my travels and experience.

After the show take down we took a bus to visit and have dinner with Stewart's Mom and Sister. It was a nice relaxed evening.

We enjoyed a relaxed Easter at home with creme eggs and hot cross buns and I submitted my art to a local gallery here in Edinburgh. I have submitted my work to a couple of galleries here, time will tell if they are interested but it is always a good practice to keep submitting work to places. It always feels productive and keeps me on my toes.

The next few days were spent dreaming of the next body of work I will create with Stewart. We have a combined painting exhibition of all new works coming up in July at the Art Center of the Ozarks so it is important to be thinking of this. I enjoyed thinking about working with Stewart, after spending so much more time with him, having lived in his world, and after he has painted so much more of his own work. It should be thrilling. We will have a lot of work to do when we return. I also spoke to artist Jennifer Libby Fay about the next individual body of work I would like to create. It is always good to talk about these things and bounce these ideas off each other and seek support from other artists.

We had dinner at a lovely vegetarian restaurant called David Bann. It is an elegant place and the food was outstanding and very artful. It was nice to be out at night and have a good meal and this was one of the things on our list so at the same time we were enjoying ourselves it felt like we were taking care of business too.

On Wednesday we walked ten miles seeing the sights. Walking by the waters of Leith/Stockbridge/Dean Village to The Scottish National gallery/Modern One for lunch in the garden and we also walked on the landform. Then we went to the Edvard Munch exhibition, Edvard Munch, Graphic Works from The Gundersen Collection in Modern two, which was outstanding. I had seen an exhibition of his paintings in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta years ago that was impressive but these lithographs and wood block prints were amazing. The imagery was familiar from his paintings but this stripped down expansion of and exploration in his work through this medium was a new twist.

In partnership with the Munch exhibition the gallery also  had a display of graphic art from 1900-1925 in one of the lower galleries featuring the work of Klimt, Kandinsky, Beckman and others. It was also an impressive show. Then we walked on to St. Mary's Cathedral and then on to The Museum for the mummies (and with a buy one get one free ticket- it was a good time) then there was a trip to Spoon and to Talbot Rice Gallery to the James Cumming exhibition and then to the train station to buy our England tickets and then to legendary Henderson's for dinner. Got drenched on the way home.. but there was sunshine too..

What's that... England? Yes! You read that right. Next Tuesday we are going to Birmingham to see our friend Craig Munro (the other part of iteration/span) and his family and spend the night and then on Wednesday we are spending the day in London to see as much art as we can stuff into our brains with a brief visit with fellow artist and friend Deborah Burrow, then it is back to Birmingham for Wednesday night and Thursday. On Friday it's off to Manchester to see art and meet up with more artists and dear friends Steven Heaton and John Spurgeon and then back to Edinburgh on Saturday evening. So, next week is going to be crazy and exciting. We are lucky we have friends that are putting us up and feeding us and that most of the museums and galleries will be free. All of this by train! Because of this journey, next week's blog might be a bit late, but I hope you will tune in as I share my travels with you.

However, back to this week... There was also an afternoon train ride to the country. The yellow rapeseed fields blazing in bloom as the train passed by. A wonderful cottage and a sweet simple dinner and a warm fire afterwards and the best tea and cake. Thanks to artist Louise Blamire for a lovely and relaxed evening. It was just perfect and that brings us to today and that was a lovely visit with artist and writer Ever Dundas and her partner Cinnamon. I love being able to visit with so many sweet folks before I leave. It feels good to connect with this network of artists and creative people that I have felt as if I have known for a long while via the Internet. It is great to connect as people and be invited into their homes and see the unique way they live. It reminds me of how I live and I know we are all cut somehow from the same cloth. Tonight I am going to my favorite pub, The Barony bar to hopefully meet up with some other blippers and folks that I want to see before I leave... 

So that is what these next few weeks are going to be about. Seeing people, seeing art, and squeezing as much life and inspiration I can out of this remaining time here. 

I believe if you can dream it, you can do it. It takes a while for all the cards to fall just right sometimes. Sometimes I still teeter on unsteady feet and am unsure but in the end I have to take the leap and live this messy life as best as I can. There are so many people that are behind me and with me, and living life their way and getting messy too and it is such a beautiful thing. We are in this together...