NOVEMBER 6

Landed in Fairyland. Ended up in Dublin rather than Shannon without my luggage or art supplies.. But- what the heck - I am now surrounded by rainbows, a magical landscape and kind, gentle people!

Greeted with warm welcomes at Ballingen Arts Foundation, peeked into a few studios to meet a few working artists and then opened the door to my studio for the next five weeks.

I have two windows this year! And more wall space to fill. This is when you have one of those OMG I am in Ireland again and then immediately - OMG will I be able to fill the walls with something compelling? Some artistic growth from last year? YIKES.

Spent some of the afternoon driving to my favorite spots. Bunatrahir Bay right down the road. Winter storms have changed the shoreline . But those ROCKS are still at the edge of the sea and the floating kelp still looks like wet Pappardelle noodles. Tried my hand at a sketch or two- push-ups for now. Developing a practice of keen observation is my lifetime goal.

Then headed over toward Down Patrick to catch the last light of the day. Too rainy now to sketch and my brain was rather frazzled anyway - no sleep since 7am on Monday.

But of course, I had to have a Guinness before I hit the pillow! Stopped in Healy’s Bar and found Padriag behind the bar. A few of you may remember that he painted a portrait of me last year as a surprise. I responded by giving him a painting of the Bunatrahir Bay. It was hanging on the wall at Healy’s because he bought the pub this year! As he said to me. “I was here every night anyway, so now I am just standing on the other side of the bar.” Saw some old faces and even met a guy from Georgia who is housesitting in town. He came over after hearing me say ya’ll too many times, I am sure. Some chat about the election then off to bed. Already feels like home.