A Soft Day

​"Majella" - mixed media on wood, 18" x 6".  Inquiries.  Available at the Olive Stack Gallery.
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The leaving is so hard...my .sweet guests made their way home yesterday, even as Damian Stack, Mary O'Flaherty, Olive Stack and myself sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane" as they departed from the gallery late in the day.  Two hearts leaving a little piece of themselves here in lovely Listowel.

But life marches on, and Bridget and I spent seven hours (SEVEN HOURS!!!!) painting magical abstracts in the studio. It was ABSTRACT MADNESS, I tell you!  Joy over joy over joy.  There is no greater pleasure than following the muse all day long, tra-la-la, fiddle-dee-dee because life is our oyster and painting is what we do!  It left me feeling quite magnificent, as Bridget (who swears she never painted before) is a natural master of abstracts, and so I also felt like a masterful teacher.  Even though it was fairies making the whole thing work (well, fairies and PURPLE SNACKS, a whole new treat I had never tasted before!)...anyway, magic was made and it softened the sadness of dear ones leaving on a jet plane.

Our darling Carolyn did manage to squeeze in a marathon elfing session at the Lartigue Monorail and Polar Express before she left Listowel.  I know a certain choir was happy for her enthusiastic singing and sincere elfing around.  

​I had a quiet dinner at the Horseshoe Pub, where a holiday meal was on the menu and Christmas merrymakers were all around.  Holiday parties are a serious affair here!  I wondered at the ability of Irish women to wear incredible sparkly high-heels in the cold and rain.
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It is a "soft" day here, with clouds and mist and softly falling drizzle.  The perfect day to mind the gallery, paint and get ready for new guests tomorrow.  

I will leave you with this bit of knowledge, courtesy of the great philosophers at the 6 to 9 Club at John B's - in Ireland a woman is never called a whore, but a man is called a hoor (which can also mean whore, but is a "difficult or unpleasant thing").  And here is John B himself expound on how to properly use the word.