What a time I’ve been having over the past 2 months!

I’ve been working like a demon towards the show at the Arts Club in November. In fact it has become a bit like a runaway train for the last few weeks between trying to finish work (and get it dry in time for framing!), as well as photographing it, organising invitations, flyers and publicity, (and buttering up LSH to help!).

On top of this we went to London for the opening of the (first) National Original Print Exhibition at the Bankside Gallery in London.

It was a fantastic night and great to meet some other printmakers. The work on show was superb, and it really cheered me up to see such wonderful work. It made me wish we had a similar set up in Ireland, which would showcase the beauty and skill of original print and blow the giclee print out of the water for once and for all! I am really fed up with seeing these being passed off as “original prints”. The only part of the process that employs anything of the “hand of the artist” is with the artist's assistant's pressing of the button on the inkjet printer.
Enough of my rant…

Followed by dinner (a big surprise for LSH!) in the OXO building:

The next thing we did was holiday in my beloved Italy. It was fab! We started in Radicondoli with a “Brazilian Night” at La Pergola Restaurant. I must explain….in autumn and winter when most of the visitors have left, La Pergola put on events every two weeks. The Brazilian was the first. It was fantastic, and I can honestly say that I have never seen the restaurant so packed…..ever! Every Radicondolese male (with a pulse) was there! And the two, very exotic and befeathered dancers were fabulous!No such thing as “Health and Safety” here! The place was hopping! I imagine the the town’s ambulance was on stand by…just in case! It reminded me, once again, exactly why Radicondoli is such a fantastic place.

We then went to Sorrento….well I have been dropping hints for the past ten years. It was everything I dreamt of…. a room with a view, fabulous sunsets, a visit to Pompeii, a boat trip to Capri, driving along the coast to Amalfi…. Perfetto!!!!
After all this we drove to….. NAPLES!!!!! What were we thinking of?

I thought that Mexico City was the “most challenging” place I’d ever been for driving and the lack of rules. It is a genteel garden party compared to Naples. You’ve heard the phrase “See Naples and die”? Well I view this now in a completely different, and quite literal, meaning of the phrase. There are absolutely NO RULES in Naples! No rules and no road markings! It’s a nightmare! We drove in, around cobbled back streets, and out in about an hour. We will go back again, but next time we will stay in the city and not have a car!

We drove straight to Rome and stayed for a night. There we saw one of the exhibitions of my life… Escher. It would be worth flying to Rome to see it. (I am not joking). Not only do they have very early work, drawings of Siena, and photographs, there are rooms which mimic his work, which you can walk around, it’s a mixture of psychedelic, mind-blowing and FAB!

Then back to Radicondoli via the coast road (not much of a view of the coast <sad face>), stopping off for a swim at Castiglioni di Pescaia on the way. we stayed in Radicondoli for a few days, and then home to work. Since then it has been mad trying to get all the invitations printed and out, help hang the show of Jackie Stanley and family, more printing - this last one I have abandoned until after the show - and more running around. Phew!