Let’s Start at the Very Beginning

Children deposited safely at school for their first day back and I find myself sitting in the “ground zero” of the summer holidays contemplating all we have done.

I have had the children running through the woods, climbing waterfalls in welly boots, finding secret places. I have taken them to all of my favourite places that my grandad took me to when I was growing up. 

When I look back on my own childhood, I do see a lot that would horrify but I now see as I didn’t then ; the really good parts that I appreciate so much now.

John taking us on loooong walks every weekend despite the hate of it and the chore of it, we laughed and we learned. Looking back some of these walks are the most precious memories of him I have.

Grandad Sundays. Learning the name of the wind. The songs of the plants. Their secrets. Their names. Their powers. Old skills. Gaining country eyes. Finding the nests. Knowing what the rustle is. 

All of these things I have shown my own babies this summer. 

On a personal level I have learned how to metalsmith in new ways in a bid to make the”proper” jewellery my brain wants to produce. I have fathomed many a new thing in the quiet moments. 

A pilgrimage of sorts to my late grandads home struck me in the half light when I realised that his walls are covered with my artwork. The best things I made always went his way. Saying to the children “mammy painted that” were some of my proudest moments. 

When I say lets start at the very beginning, thats also brings me to my now. I am a painter. I am a sculptor. Before all this. Before jewellery and beads. I am an artist. I always have been. 

I have always loved nature. I have always loved animals. I think my grandad was a druid priest and never even knew it. As time turns to Autumn and I come up to the anniversary of his loss I feel I am being guided to come to a still point. Contemplate the next thing. The next idea. 

I dance fluidly between mediums and get bored and try another and go back and forth always. 

Autumn is my time. My favourite time. The best time. I have made autumny doofs. I want to make silver leaves with copper berries and all manner of madness. 

As I do come to this dreaded anniversary. I have so many wonderful friends who encourage me and keep me sane. I love each and every one of you. You get me. You understand me. And you see me. 

Always light. Never dark. 

And you are my lights ever shining