Not finished yet…
You’d be forgiven for thinking I was, but I’m not finished yet!
I’ve been away from this blog for more than six months, and so if you’re still reading thank you for your loyalty and your patience. I’ve been busy starting an MA at The School of Art, Aberystwyth, feeling rather lost and a little overwhelmed with the newness of it all. It very much felt like there was little time for much more than the course, as I was suddenly catapulted into a much faster and more demanding pace of life than I’ve been used to for years. Some things have been very good for me, some less so. It’s been wonderful being around people again, feeling part of something, being encouraged and pushed. I’ve missed terribly having time to myself, time to contemplate, time to plan (and time to blog).
The pace of things caught up with me after Christmas and I spent a couple of weeks feeling ill, doing little more than sitting on the sofa watching the world go by (and watching the television) and being just a little bit scared that I’d overdone things so much that I was going to be ill and unable to do much of anything for months again. Luckily I’ve bounced back and am feeling quite well again, but I think I’ve learnt a lesson. I so much enjoyed having time to sit again, to go for a daily walk when I started to feel better, to not feel rushed and panicked about the next thing I “had” to do, to not be drinking cup after cup of coffee just to feel I could keep up. In short I’d briefly revisited my old life and realised I missed a lot of it.
I’m not keen to go back wholesale to the way things were. I love the fact that I’m studying again, feeling like life is progressing and full of possibilities, but I do want to remember to take things at a sustainable pace, something I had most certainly forgotten. So, I’m finally back making a post to put up on my blog. I’ve been working on a redesign of the site for a few months and it feels appropriate to launch the new site along with my first post in months. Let me know what you think. Over the next few weeks I’ll do my best to catch you all up with what I’ve been up to, what I’m doing now, and what my plans are for the future.
It’s good to be back.
February 1st, 2007 at 12:35 pm
It’s so good to find that you have resurfaced. No wonder you have ben quiet for a while! I do hope you find a manageable balance between activity and the rest you need. It’s a constant koan, isn’t it? Hoping all will go well for you.
Love, Sujatin
February 1st, 2007 at 12:36 pm
P.S. The site looks great!
February 1st, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Hey Michael!
Great to see you back - was wondering how the course was going. I’ve been following someone who is doing Foundation in London, she’s been posting the briefs and her drawings - she does some fantastic work. Her name is Mithi, and you can find here here:
http://planetmithi.blogspot.com/
Best wishes from Liverpool
February 1st, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Really good to hear and see from you again Michael. The design is great. I found that a three column look, wide left with narrow right, has helped my blog immensely.
It’s wonderful to hear how you have enjoyed being a school boy again, good on you. It’s also good to sort it all out and to know what is “you” and what is not. I’ve been doing that as well over the past while. I have a job again, part time in a bookstore but the part time is almost full time - four days a week with a 9, 9, 10, and 8 hour day set up. The first several months I’ve been to exhausted on my days off to accomplish much in the way of art. Only in the past couple of week has it been balancing out.
Finally, I understand tea now. Since the age of 17 I’ve been a coffee drinker and for twenty of those twenty nine years I’ve taken it black no sugar. I was ill this past summer and went off coffee, that’s normal. What wasn’t normal was to stay of it. I lost all desire for it but I found loose tea and now I drink more tea than I ever did coffee.
That’ll do. Greetings and best wishes from Canada.
::thrive!
Owen
February 1st, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Hurrah ! You’re back — I’ve kept on checking.
Glad you are over the Xmas hiccough and feel well enough to integrate the odd post into your life again. It takes time to adjust to a new way of being but just take it slowly and then tread boldly.
Enjoy the course
J
February 1st, 2007 at 8:06 pm
hello michael
glad to see you posting again! Balancing the doing with the stillness is a real art.
love
mary
purrs from frida and diego
February 1st, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Hi Michael.
It’s great to hear from you again. I’ve been missing your colourful illustrations.
The blog design works very well. Perhaps it’s time for me to dust down the old blog and get going again.
Take it easy,
Stephen.
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Glad you’re back. Site looks great.
All the best.
February 2nd, 2007 at 5:51 pm
I’m very glad you’re back!
-Joy
February 2nd, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Hi, Michael. Welcome back to the blogging world. Sounds like you have had, and are continuing to have, a wonderful experience. Good for you. It is good to have you back in touch!!
February 5th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Hooray, you are back!
February 6th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Welcome back, Michael! Your site is GORGEOUS!
February 13th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Hi Michael. It is so nice to see you back and working again. Congrats on beginning your MA. I am sure that you are enjoying your return to the student life very much. Well done, you! I look very much to hearing what you are doing in your cause. I am pleased to see more of your drawings. They always make me feel happy. I have the one you kindly sent to me in a frame by my my chair to cheer me up when things get hard.