I have been 'home' for over a week now, and - after forgetting a good friend's birthday, and another good friend's special dinner party -  I think that I have landed properly now.......




       For the first few days I am always half here and half there. I miss my family, and how easy it is to be with people you love and who love you back, but now I am remembering all the things I was meaning to do, all the things I MUST do, all the things I'd completely forgotten about........    but most of all I have to get used to being on my own again.
    In the UK there was always someone I could ask "Would you like a cup of tea?" or answer 'Yes please!". Now it's just me and the cats again and they don't drink tea. It's OK really - I wouldn't get any work done if I was distracted by tea drinking. 

    It's not an easy path, trying to make a living by selling paintings and private tutoring, but it's probably no easier anywhere else in the world. I have been living in Malta for a long time now (I am British) and have been adopted as a 'Local Maltese Artist' so I have all my networks, contacts and friends here. It dawned on me recently that what it does take is a large dose of determination and discipline.
   In the lull between coming back from holiday and actually starting up classes and advertising my next First Friday Gallery, nothing happens until I make it happen. So here I am, busy stirring up the pot, sorting through the chores and making my own tea! 

  
... so here I am, all fattened up after spending Christmas and New Year in the UK with my family. It's been great, doing nothing much but being with the Ones I Love.

     I did spend a day wandering around London seeing as many exhibitions and galleries as I possibly could, trying to take mental snapshots and store all the images for future reference. I find that's better than taking actual photos sometimes (I had forgotten to pack my camera anyway!) - memories are often better to paint from, and you can't be accused of copying! Having said that, I am reading a brilliant little book called "Steal Like An Artist" which says that we should all be 'stealing' (i.e. keeping a record of) everything that appeals to us, so that we can feed it into our own work later. We should keep a 'Swipe File' in a scrapbook or on our pc's to refer to whenever we need a bit of inspiration.This isn't about copying images, but the ideas and thoughts behind them, so our own images are original creations based on whatever we have experienced along the way. I'll be bringing this idea to my students in future!

    Which reminds me of all the things I have to do when I get home to Malta tomorrow - start organising my next First Friday Gallery (Feb 1st), advertise the Japanese Drawing workshop in my studio (Feb 3rd), think about having a Birthday Party (hoorah!), set up some new painting and drawing courses, confirm the dates of my landscape exhibition, which has been postponed because of the election in March, chase somebody that owes me some money :-), cuddle my cats until they squeak (yes I'll do that first!) and then see how my studio has fared without me.....  oh, and try to lose some of this weight!

    So tomorrow it will be farewell to the grey skies of London and HELLO!! to the blue skies of Malta.
From home to home.....