This week's plan was, "I will get the plan chest emptied and moved, temporarily, over to the house."

Only take a day - what a crazy idea that was.

Over the 7 months I hadn't used the old studio, a family of mice had made a colourful nest under the plan chest with small pieces of card and paper, so much that was left had to be thrown out.

And while doing emptying and cleaning it - why not replace the wooden runners I didn't get around to last time it was emptied.  And having done that - now 3 drawers dont want to go back onto their allotted replaced runners..

soon - soon I will be able to sink into painting......

Prozac Pup has one first prize in the exhibition organised by Karen Bethel.

How brilliant is that.
I was really keen to take part in this exhibition, my stepson Mark is bipolar so mental illness is something we, like many others, have experience of as a family.

Mark was a world class acrobat and performer - as he would say " I've been round the work 7 times"
this was either with Ra Ra Zoo or with his then partner Ali and their 2 children.
He could juggle, back-flip for England, trapeze, diabolo, make balloon animals, swords and flowers....  he just loved to perform.
He and Ali choreographed a surreal double act that was one of the top acts on the Physical Theatre charts.

Somewhere in the combination of traveling, permanently high adrenaline levels and some tablets he was given and didn't question, his personality began to change.

He became more and more manic,  at first the gradual change seemed like him just being a more outrageous performer but eventually we realised something serious was happening and then he was arrested in London with the possibility of being sectioned unless he self referred.

He self referred -
his life has changed immeasurably.

He is now a alcohol and nicotine dependent and amongst other changes doesn't take a bath without putting up a lot of verbal resistance often to the point of a bath being abandoned.
Better to have a smelly hug than no hug.

Mark is a very loving, wonderful man who is so good hearted. He is also a man who became proficient in at least 3 martial arts (I have never known him to be violent) and Japanese "No" theatre.

Mark is one of those that have been  lucky - he now has a flat, with entry system and caring help and support from Julian Housing. They are an amazing charity.  What is being done to the NHS now especially in Mental Health will set standards of help and support back many years.

This week is being spent working on a painting, and emptying out my old studio. It is about to collapse and I don't want to be in it when it does.

Its in the perfect place away from the house and looking north so the new studio will go up in the same place and with any luck will be up by the end of September.

I intend to attract less "STUFF" in the future, throwing out things when their usefulness is over rather than imagining some impossible future use.
I just know that sorting out the 8 drawer plan chest, is going to take some time.
I have been putting it off for years, though I am cheered by the thought that it will be de-cluttered.

 

 I do really love my imac, never had a PC - I shudder at the thought - I have used them but hated sullying my fingers on the keyboard, they felt awkward and cumbersome.

I work with a wacom tablet and Photoshop to pull together roughs for paintings and to create digital pieces.  It is very quick to change the whole composition and colours used in minutes, once you know the software.  I've been using Photoshop since Version 2.5 when layers first appeared but still only know only a fraction of the latest CS6 software. I feel very different at the end of a day painting compared to the end of a day working on the computer.

Image on the screen is "ensure that your life stays in flux" it may become a painting..