April 2, 2016

1 year and 1 day


It's one year and one day since me and Gabriel left our home in London. It's been sold. and Toy died.




Here are some pictures of our London home, with us, Toy, my mom, some of my paintings, and things I was making, family photo's, some space...
 ... and , well, see for yourself... [it doesn't include London itself, or England, of course..]
You can also see Toy! Gabriel loved Toy...  . 



Autumn time.. collecting leaves and things and arranging on our table, which I had bought from a lovely lady who had used it for 2 generations of family, for eating and making, so it had lots of lovely richness of creativity to it. It was a lovely grainy wood, with chairs that were a bit rickety but full of life.
lots of healthy veggies at our colouring table!



In the background you can see some of my paintings. They are gone now.
I had taken quite a few things down before Gabriel got born because I wanted to create a fresh new space, that we could grow into together, where there would be space for his personality, and so that it wouldn't be overpowered by 40 something years of mine! I even painted nearly my whole flat myself, in lovely fresh bright-ish colours.
 I was so excited about this creative journey we would go on, collecting and deciding and creating our space together,  and adding nice photo's as we went along.


To me, having a space that is personal and sacred is vital to life and to me. Perhaps that's why it was always so important to me to offer that to Gabriel and give him the freedom to create his space and make his mark, starting at home!


I believe children need a voice [and their voice to be heard] from a young age. They need their voice in whatever form that may come through, to be respected and treated with dignity.
Children are not pets or hobbies, or less important or vital than adults.


Gabriel had a great tent in our lounge. It was an indian TP and he used to keep a lot of teddies in it, and he would invite you into his tent. Here he is with his Granny, visiting him! A very cool granny indeed!

This is Gabriel in our passageway. I made all the space nice and clear and easy to maintain and keep clean, for a small person to crawl and toddle around. Here he is with his 'tuddy' from Dindsy. Tuddy has now been superceded by Orso the Russian bear, who is a tad bigger!! and is from his Papi. 
[given on the Italian day of the dead, a favourite holiday in Italy, especially Sicily, where you'll see people going and having big family day long picnics next to grave stones of the dead]

We used to make things and arrangements in our lounge. I used to have a wooden giraffe all the way from South Africa, from my mom! I thought it would be nice for Gabriel to have a bit of South Africa around him as that's where I am from. but obviously not toooo much, as the space is also Gabriel's space and he has a LOT Of growing to do!

Here was my couch and coffee table, where I loved to sit with Gabriel and before Gabriel where I spent many hours reading, or drawing or making things with my hands.  And you can see some of my mosaics that I made, and drawings and sculptures ...There was a lot of light from all the big windows, and fresh air from the balcony. In winter, we had lovely sun coming through which made your skin feel nice, even though we had heating which I had no qualms about keeping on as much as needed, as I hate being cold, especially in my own home!

a nice place to have a little nap and still be in my family space!
What I loved about having my own home, was that I didnt have to stay in my room [as you often do when you stay in shared accomodation or you're a lodger or a visitor in someone else's house].  After many years of this type of living, and finally having my own home, I realised how vitally important my space and my home is to me.  Its not about how many things or how expensive or anything like that, its about the energy and security and just peace of having your own space and being in control of your own environment.

Maybe the reason why I have found leaving London a million times harder than leaving SA, is partly because in London for the first time, I had a proper home of my own.. and of course there is the small matter of:
South African to London : 3rd world to 1st world.
London to Sicily: 1st world to semi-3rd world.

My easil! That has travelled around the UK with me for many years, but now it is gone.
It was part of what made my home feel creative and I always had paper or a canvas on it. It created a sort of feeling of creative anticipation and encouragement to draw and create. It reminded me what I am about and what makes my soul tick.
I did actually got to art school for 4 years!!!
What was also lovely about it was that it had wheels  and was quite heavy, so I could move it around. I usually placed it so that it was quite a distance from my main place to be, but very visible, so that it was part of the gestalt, but not too looming.  

Gabriel when he was very little, just before he could walk freely, on the balcony. How cute!! There's my hand.

Eating again!

 
No problem finding and tidying up lego and such like in our home. Everything had it's home. Luckily we never had too much stuff around. For me its important, firstly  to not overwhelm the senses with clutter, and secondly, its a value thing. Why have far more than you would ever need or use. In Britain we have a great system and tradition of charity shops and giving. I think its a great philosophy and way to live.
Also, at least for me, if I have a piece of art or a photo or something special, then I like it to have it's own space and be allowed to have a presence of it's own.
If it's competing with a hundred other objects then it's like a visual cacophony and just exhausting and infuriating to have to look at day in and day out. [made worse if the objects hold little or no meaning]

Granny's last visit...

Best of buddies, Gabriel and his Granny. - my mom Now Gabriel thinks Granny is some foreign concept or film character who lives in my phone.
This granny is his only living grandparent



This is my 'littlest' brother - Bruce [aka Bruce Moose]. He lived just near by.
We haven't seen him for a year, because we havent visited London once since we left.
And on the subject of  family - this is my little sister and her 2 kids, in South Africa, about  a week ago. They were at Sabi Sabi Game Park, visiting the Elephant Whisperer! Gabriel met his cousins once, when he was about 5 months old. He also thinks they live in phone video's.
Here is a picture from that time, in SA! [below]
I suppose one good thing is that he's a global citizen already, without even trying!

Gabriel with his Granny, Dindsy, Kaelin and Kyle.


We used to have a family space in London. I always wanted to arrange making and creating playdates for Gabriel, when he got bigger,  and invite kids round and there would always be crayons and drawing tables and clay and things for making and  music and SPACE for dancing.
and I would collect everything Gabriel made and sometimes put them on the walls, or do collaborative art, him and me!
and we would dance and play in his tent and watch movies together [sometimes] but the table would be for eating and family time and drawing and making.
Toy was also part of the whole thing... I wanted to make Gabriel a boy doll of his very own made with my hands. I've blogged enough on that. ... I hoped to carry on making them and start a little assembly of hand made boy dolls and see what happens.





anyway... there we go... dreams....