For yesterday's book group reading I found a passage in A C Grayling's The Challenge of Things under the heading Darkness which covered, briefly, the history of winter celebrations. This point was one I had not really considered before....

And paradoxical as it might seem, winter darkness was traditionally a time of plenty - the harvest had long been gathered and stored, the pigs slaughtered and their flesh salted - and the austerities of spring, when supplies were used up and the year's hard work had to begin were far off. The dark part of the year was therefore a welcome season of holiday.

..that are my downfall!

Christmas lunch for the book group was fun, with readings before and berween courses on the theme of the solstice.

..is the generosity and talent of all the hospital staff and friends who for 40 years have been holding a beautiful carol service to raise funds for the care of children with cancer and their families.

An uplifting annual event I wouldn't miss - meeting up with old friends, staying over with my friends who sing in the choir and joining in singing all the old favourites. It is the only time in the year that I actually sing come to think of it...

Do you sing in or attend a carol service?

Friends from York have just been to a Scandinavian Sankta Lucia service in York Minster which they said was wonderful.

i did once go to Stockholm for Sankta Lucia Dag - a magical memory.

i love these winter celebrations.

We can send spaceships to Mars but we can't have Christmas lights that last from one year to the next!!

Plugged in. switched on - nothing. I summoned all my patience and read the instructions for changing the bulbs - they assumed that some were working so didn't quite make sense..

Brought them downstairs and put on some music expecting this to be a long process, plugged in, switched on and Lo!

Are your lights working?

..that a few drops of grapefruit seed extract in water two or three times a day takes away cravings for sugar?

At least it does for me.

So useful, especially at this time of year.

The freedom of being able to take it or leave it is amazing to me.

Yay!

This Jubilee jug by Pat Culpin was the first thing I ever bought from an art gallery, and I can't help but compare the experience with my most recent purchase which was online. (Click on photos for full view.)

It was at a private view in a little gallery in the Ochil Hills near Stirling. I had a painting in the show and was thrilled to be showing in the same gallery as the artist Bet Low. The atmosphere was friendly and chatty, there was wine, there was a buzz about the place as the red dots were going up, and I thought this handsome jug would look very fine in our old cottage and we agreed to splash out.

I was very excited by it all and when we went back at the end of the show to collect it we were told that the Duke of Buccleugh had wanted it, but we were in front of him in the queue!

Buying from eBay was a very different experience. (See this post.)

I was confident I would like the print because I know the artist's work so well, and it was quite exciting to wait and watch then make my offer, but I did feel I had to jump through hoops - open an account, create passwords, navigate the site, and communicate with the seller only through eBay for security reasons. Part way through eBay decided that my email and password didn't match. I tried a new password. Still no success. Apparently it was the email address which was the problem (although they were still sending me emails - lots of them). To use the helpline I had to log in - which required my email and password. I was at the same time getting quotes from Shiply for carriage which ranged from £93 to £364 and meant lots more emails.

Thanks to the patience of the seller with whom I finally found a way to communicate directly all ended well, but the security aspects - and I fully appreciate the necessity for them - removed the pleasure of the face to face personal communication, the social side, of the gallery experience.

I have just sold the jug to a potter friend who came to the house to see it. We had coffee and a great chat about our favourite potters, being an artist and buying and selling our art.

I love this video of slipware maker Clive Bowen (20 mins).

..today on the Sound of Shuna

and on the way home, on a brisk cold walk between buses, a shot of the leaning Christmas Tree out on the end of the Coal Pier. It is so exposed. I wonder if it will stay upright till Christmas....

Therej's something thrilling about oranges with their leaves on.

..early on a weekday morning when it is very very quiet is really nice.

I couldn't resist this light.

I am reading a bit most days of A Year To Clear by Stephanie Bennet Vogt and finding it often chimes with what I am thinking about or doing. (Although that could be, as with horoscopes, just because most of what she talks about is relevant to most people much of the time!)

I've been paying attention to my instincts lately and found what she has to say about 'inner knowing' quite interesting. She also calls it intuition or sixth sense and says this about deciding whether or not to do something...

If it feels right do it.
If it doesn't feel right don't do it.
If you don't know wait until you know.
and
You can decide not to decide.

..or more poetically, my heart.

In her charming book My Heart Wanders Pia Jane Bijkerk asks What would happen if one day you decided to follow your heart?

My Artist Date was a day in the city, wandering and wondering my way along Glasgow's West End. Following a whim to look in some shops I'd not even noticed before, browsing the bookshops, escaping the rain by having a leisurely lunch at Kember and Jones, fantasising about furniture and decorations I wouldn't usually consider, ditto clothes. I found the perfect birthday card for my daughter and some Christmas cards i love, stocked up on a shampoo I like which is about to  be discontinued, and had a gentle meandering time.

Delightful.

There's a case to be made for letting go of being efficient for a time, of being goal-driven and focussed and organised - just following your instincts and giving yourself a break from yourself for a few hours.

Simply live. Letting your heart wander...

..on a dark winter morning with the sound of rain lashing against the bedroom window.

Loving what is..

..at dawn and at dusk of late takes my breath away..

Yesterday saw the first snow on the hills this winter, and today around dusk I went for a winter paddle.  After the initial shock my feet felt wonderful! They are still tingling almost an hour later.

The little walk back up my path was gorgeous.

I love living here.

Glasgow Print Studio have an excellent feature on different kinds of prints (see here) and it was where my print was created by artist Elizabeth Blackadder in 1988.

I've always loved her work for it's vitality and honesty. Here is a video of her working. No pretiensions here, just brilliant observation, skill honed over many years of consistent work, and that 'je ne sais quoi' which makes the magic!

Have you bought any original art?

As I often say, there's nothing like the real thing....

The parcel arrived this afternoon..

Bigger than I expected...

Very well packed! Will I really like it?

YES! I do.

And I quickly found the right place....
I can't stop looking at it.
And smiling.

Still Life With Iris by Elizabeth Blackadder.

...or a Happening as they used to be called?

I stepped into a crowded large room in Edinburgh's Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and found that, oddly, no-one was moving. Or talking. All that could be heard was a faint buzz from the headphones that everyone without exception it seemed, was listening to...it was surreal and I hesitated to go in, wondering if this was in fact the 'exhibit' a staged event perhaps?  Someone moved and the spell was broken. I laughed out loud and went in to see the paintings. The Scottish Colourists if I remember rightly..


i am awaiting delivery of an Elizabeth Blackadder print i bought on eBay.

Exciting.

I am loving your comments about visiting art galleries.

I adore art galleries. I know some people find them intimidating, but for some reason they embolden me. I strike up conversations with strangers. I ask the staff what they like. I open my mind. If I don't like something I think about why. I look before I read anything and I turn down the offer of headphones - I don't want someone else's interpretation before I have made my own.   I go at my own pace. I can't stand the blockbusters where you have to move along at the pace of the crowd. I'd rather see a couple of things well than just glance at everything so my first quick pass is to decide what I will go back and  look closely at. In huge museums like the British Museum the postcard rack can help narrow down the options.,,.

Have you had an Artist Date with yourself lately?

The point about doing it alone is an interesting one.

Barry and I loved to visit art galleries together, but it was our habit to go around separately and agree to meet at a certain time then take each other to see our favourite thing or things then discuss them over coffee.

Alone and together worked for us.

I'm still planning this week's Date....

..to Christmas!  Once the weather turns cold I don't mind beginning to plan.

From FlyLady I learned how helpful it can be to start thinking about it all in advance and doing some things in plenty of of time to make the holiday relaxing and fun with no last minute rushing around.

I start with a list in my notebook and have my calendar to hand -

Advent calendar - needed first. Along with the spare cards I put it in a more accessible place last year, separate from the main decorations boxes which are in a cupboard under the eaves.
Travel- dates need to be confirmed
Cards and stamps - I need more cards and like time to find ones I love
Decorations  - culled last year, but lights will need checked in good time
Gifts - write the list
Wrapping paper - check if I need more, and look for some I really like while out and about
Food, baking ingredients - two main menus to plan and a little batch baking now to put in the freezer will be good
Clothes - will I have something new?
Guest room - check the warm bed linen is ready and bring out the thick blankets from the linen cupboard and have an extra heater on hand in case....and I need a new lamp.

Since I reached this last phase of clearing

 I have some paintings in galleries, am coaching a small group of artists, have arranged for the muddy drive to be skimmed and gravelled, and made some exciting new travel plans....

I always suspected Marie Kondo would be right about this aspect.

The point is not to have a tidy house. The point is to make space for new ideas and things which rather than take up my energy, really give me energy.


Has this been your experience too?

Before I had made any Artist Date plans an offer came of a lift to the city and I said yes.  I arrived  in the Merchant City area which I don't know very well without my usual plans and lists, and realised this was the perfect opportunity for an Artist Date - just to wander and look, without a purpose, but with my camera.....

I also popped into some posh shops (a bit outside my comfort zone). Gorgeous fabrics - tweeds with a twist. Not really my style, but I did enjoy looking.

This was too far outside my comfort zone though! So I stayed outside it.

..with your creative self.

I'm reviving a habit I picked up many years ago from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, and that is the Artist's Date.  Essentially time out, once a week,on your own, doing things that spark joy.

It says a lot about my current habits that I am having to think quite hard about what they might be, and I have to be careful not to let it become just another thing on my to-do list! Not that I don't have fun (this blog is fun) but I need and like something different now and then. It's purpose is to delight and enchant you'says Cameron and to take you out of your comfort zone.

(Gulp. I can get very fond of my comfort zone., especially in winter.)

If you Google Artist's Date and/or Julia Cameron, check out YouTube, or click on See Inside on the book on Amazon you will get lots more detail if this concept is new to you.

This will be part of my Winter Plan, and I'll be checking in once a week with my friend M.

Will you join us? We are going for the widest possible interpretation of Artist and of Date by the way...