The first definition of ‘home’ in the dictionary says ‘The place where one lives’ which though accurate doesn’t quite tell the whole story.
Landing at Glasgow ten days ago with a big grin on my face at the idea of being home started me thinking about what ‘home’ means to us. Do we have to leave to appreciate it fully? I love travelling especially to Iceland. It plays a large contributing role in my work as a visual artist but after five weeks away the pull of my homeland became almost painful. My homing elastic had reached its full extent of stretch. The strength of these feelings came as a complete surprise.
Shadow of plane landing at Glasgow
The other surprise was seeing lambs in the fields, greening grass and other evidence of Spring in full flow. It seemed too warm for my cranked up sub-Arctic circulation. My personal thermostat has been turned down now as part of re-acclimatising.
Days are being spent in the studio working on the large paintings stored in my imagination while the memories of the residency are fresh. It’s not just about the visuals but about remembering temperature, smells, the wind speed. All of these facets find their way into the paintings and all of the days spent ‘learning mountain’ are proving their worth now.
Mountain painting in progress
Yes, our feelings about home are interesting aren’t they Silvana? I still call the town of my birth ‘home’ and yet I’ve not lived there for decades! Sounds like it was good to be home and that painting is looking wonderful. I do hope you’ll continue with the blog now that the residency is over as I have found it very interesting.I cannot read Facebook pages as they put a screen up to stop us non- facebookers having a look see so this is the best way to see what you’re doing and keep up to speed!
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Thanks for your comments and your interest in the blog since it started. My thoughts are that I’ll continue the blog as although it started out as the documentation of the residency the bigger picture is that it documents my interest in the north and the work resulting from that. Writing it is also clarifying my thought processes which is all to the good.
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Good to hear that you’re back safe. I love going away, but I really love the hills of home, too. There’s nothing like them.
Fabulous mountain painting, Sylvana. Thanks for sharing your experiences, and artistic responses, on the blog. x
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Thanks for your good wishes. I’m really enjoying working with oil paint on a big scale again. It feels like a homecoming too.
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Oh Silvana! So good to hear you’re safely home. I’ve been thinking about you and wondering lots of things….. I love coming home from anywhere! Just the familiarity of everything can be very reassuring. In the weeks you have been away there has been such a change with the arrival of Spring. Birdsong, lambs, flowers, trees in bud, arrival of swallows and martins etc etc. I love your mountain painting, so cold and atmospheric. Please do keep up your blog 🙂 Xxx
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Hi Meg, your Spring sounds even more advanced than Moniaive as we have no Swallows or Martins yet, just never ending twigs on the front path from the jackdaws trying to start nests where they can. Oh well it’s handy kindling. Thanks for your positive comments about the blog and it will be continued as the work is an ongoing project of its own.
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