Drawing and Pausing

I enjoy drawing directly on my glass, it helps me to react as the piece develops. I ordered a bunch of white powders to continue playing with this, they arrived while I was away this weekend, so I'm looking forward to playing a bit this week. It should be pretty quiet in the studio for the next little bit, since it's the spring teaching vacation until the end of next week, which should be nice, I enjoy quiet.

I went on a meditation retreat in the borders at Wiston Lodge this weekend, it was an interesting experience for me. It was lead by two wonderful monks from Plum Village in France. Having spent the better part of my spiritual upbringing in new-age versions of Sikh and Buddhist practices, it was a strong reminder of my childhood, and brought up a lot of memories that I had not thought about for quite some time. I'm still not attracted to the religious aspects of practice, and could really do without the songs that remind me of scout camp, but I've been meaning to meditate more often for a while, so I think it's possible that it will be a good kick start for that. It was a good opportunity to re-ground and focus for a while. I feel like the next couple weeks are going to be quite benefited by slowing down for a bit, and I need to remember to practice to maintain that sense of calm and direction and not let stress scatter me.