Herding cats

The logistics of condensing my life into a van and then transporting it across Europe is proving a bit of a nightmare. Like herding cats. Hey, nothing I can't handle though. It seems the easiest way to get from Italy to Malta is by ferry from Salerno, which lies just below Naples. The drive down should be scenic, if there is time to avoid most of the motor ways. The original idea of going all the way down to the toe of Italy was thwarted by the fact you can't get a van across the Strait of Messina. Cars and arctics...but not vans ! Don't quite get the logic in that. Anyway, so the Salerno ferry it is. Only hiccup is the ferry only runs twice a week in the Winter. No worries I thought, can work around that. I spent some time estimating drive time, ferry / sail time, unload and turn around time, return time, drive back to England. Booked the van to fit in with ferries. Booked ferry tickets, all done, sorted phew, one job out of the way. Or so I thought. Phone call last week from ferry company saying they had changed the ferry days due to  cancellations.......NOOOOOOOOOOOOO    grrrrrrrrrrrrr 

Now having to pay an extra 2 days for the van (not cheap) and re arrange everything else that had butted in quite nicely around the original plan. Humph. Is it me, or am I going to have to get used to the Mediterranean blase way of doing things ?

On another note, as I have packed away my paints ready for the off, and am now twiddling my thumbs. I don't like not having a creative outlet. Even if I am not working towards an exhibition, I like to be able to experiment with my art. What this gap has done though, is to really get my brain thinking about the way forward in Gozo. What direction will I pursue? I have a lot of ideas in my head and need to write them down so I don't forget. I bought one of Stefanie's customized sketch books at the sale a few weeks ago and it is the perfect place to start a new Gozo ideas book. 

 Stefanie hand embroidered a sample for the cover. So pretty. I rather wish now I had bought all of her sketch books. Packing away my art books, I couldn't help flicking through them as I went. Song of the Earth is a wonderful book about land art. Very inspiring. Leafing through this has given me lots of ideas to work on. I have always loved words in my art and calligraphy has featured strongly. Richard Long uses words to describe his walking and these words become the art it's self. Pawing over a map of the Islands recently, the sing song sounding place names caught my eye. In particular the names of valleys. 'Wied' means valley in Maltese, I suppose, possibly derived from the Arabic word Wadi- meaning river ? It sounds exotic and mysterious. I wrote down all the valley names in Gozo. Maybe I will use this somehow.

Making pigment from the strong coloured sand and rock may also be something to consider. Anyway, lots to do and think about between the bouts of packing. Onward and upward.