A new chapter

So if life is a buffet ... we just moved onto a different course. The seven year Highlands adventure is over. I feel like the cat, a bit like I've been ripped away from something that mattered. Every few days I feel a bit lost and sad. However, also like the cat, its best not to overthink these things. Its natural that there should be a period of adjustment. Being sad for something lost is okay. It doesn't make the move a bad thing. We came back to Suffolk to be closer to family, and there are lots of other good things about being here too. Aside from the emotional adjustment, we have been negotiating some pretty horrendous logistics for a while now. This is not likely to change any time soon as a long project stretches away into the next few years. It might not surprise you to know the number one priority has been the studio and outbuildings. If the planners help me out, these could be arriving as soon as the end of the month. I have permission for the studio, but they made it conditional on approving a landscape plan (for planting of trees etc.). The landscape plan has been submitted - we pretty much had it in place anyway but now I need to wait. The wheels of bureaucracy don't move quickly. But I need them to move this week, or next at the latest....After that the studio will need to be connected to three phase power. After that we need to redesign the house (on which point we have already hit some buffers) ... then build it. Its all very exciting, but also nerve wracking and expensive. It makes me want to crawl under a rock (the sort of rock that has a ceramics studio under it). Anyway, none of this is designed to get any sympathy, its just a description of the current situation - a backdrop of upheaval and change. Through this I mentally packaged away all the creative momentum to keep it safe during the worst of the move. In particular, I had done some preparatory work in Scotland which was designed to give me some ongoing projects - so that when I rebuilt the studio I could get on with those without having to think too much. Interestingly, I didn't end up following the plan. Even on the first day in the temporary space, I had the urge to respond with a new form - one that seems to have been inspired by the bottles I had dug up in the garden down here. Strangely the change and the new surroundings have made me want to step away from the comfort zone, rather than clinging to it. I still don't expect I will be fully on my game, but just maybe great change makes us braver. I'll need to get back to you on that one as we see how the forms develop. Anyway, sorry about the late briefing ... I guess the move never felt solid until it had happened. But here I am, and probably a lot more accessible than I used to be (on the Essex/Suffolk border). So in due course, if you fancy a studio visit, just get in touch.