In my space

Maybe it's due to the change in weather (20 degrees yesterday!) or my newfound energy, but whatever the reason, my mind is overflowing with ideas and plans and enthusiasm. I am looking forward to every day in a way I never have before. Spending this weekend at home, painting, and while I don't have the discipline to do more than a few hours, it is going surprisingly well. I love being in the FLOW.
Ukrainian artist Alina Maksimenko's statement resonates with me these days (the link takes you to the website of a beautiful gallery in Connemara):

"I love this life, this reality around me, which reassures me and has rescued me from my fear of death. My paintings are the synthesis of my childhood wishes and my adult dreams, they are my happy refuge".

I am also reorganising my space (tiny studio). I got a drawer unit with thin-ish drawers that are perfect for storing drawings, etc. I am surrounded by beautiful things and inspirational quotes. The most encouraging one is this:
"To practise any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make the soul grow. So do it." -Kurt Vonnegut

 Lately I've been listening to music while painting -Goldfrapp's Seventh Tree, Fleet Foxes, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Bat for Lashes.

 Hegel and John Cage quotes from Keri Smith's blog, cat drawing by my older sister

 meditative painting a friend gave me, in one of my favourite colours

paperweight and charcoal

Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils