A lot has happened since I last wrote on this blog. I apologise for going AWOL — I had a difficult period following a sudden, drastic and unexpected change of direction. I won’t go into details here, but between political decisions and the consequences of losing my home in the 2016 earthquake, I had to move back to the UK. For a while it felt like I had to be everywhere and nowhere at once, and I didn’t feel like I could write the blog anymore or even let you know what had happened.
After staying with my parents for a bit in Hampshire and travelling around the UK and Scotland in Bertha, my camper, for a couple of months, I eventually settled in a flat in Bognor Regis on the south coast. I’ve since moved again and I’m now in a house in a lovely, slightly odd suburb of Bognor called Pagham. My two cats finally have a garden to play in again, and I can imagine being here for a good while at least. It’s a sleepy seaside town that time forgot — my particular area is wedged between multi-million-pound houses on one side, shacks made of old railway carriages on the other, and bungalows and a holiday resort in the middle! It has a nature reserve, which is lovely, and there’s a lagoon. I like it a lot — it has the same “awe” factor that I miss in Italy, only now I have to walk a bit to find it instead of just opening my door.
I miss living in Italy and I still feel like it’s where I belong, but life goes on and it’s just a place after all. I’m really grateful that I had the opportunity to live abroad and experience another culture for such a long time, and I do feel incredibly fortunate that all the stars aligned so I had the freedom to do that in the first place. It’s lovely to be closer to family and my UK friends (though now I miss all my Italian friends!) and I’ve met some really great new friends here as well.
Acknowledging that I’ve been lucky, I’ve also had a lot of upheaval over the last few years. I’ve just counted and I’ve moved nine times since 2013 — no wonder I’ve felt a bit all over the place! When I came back to the UK, I was at a loss as to what to do with myself. My living costs had gone up and, at that point, I was still trying to maintain a semblance of life in Italy too. With that in mind, I signed myself up to run a one-day portrait drawing class at a local adult education centre. I was incredibly nervous — my imposter syndrome knows no bounds — but it went well and they asked me to come back and run more classes.
After a while, I started out on my own, on my own terms, finding a venue and students. I had quite a lot of commissions coming through to keep me busy too. The classes went from strength to strength and I started running one-day workshops, evening painting sessions and art retreats to Italy. I love showing my students my favourite places! I’m now up to four retreats this year to keep up with demand and am looking for new venues in other places as we speak.
Though I was only teaching part time, between all of the admin and lesson planning (and what usually feels like a steady stream of dire emergencies needing immediate attention), I decided this year to take a break from regular lessons so I could actually do some of my own artwork. I’d also been talking about running online courses for years and never had the time to do it, so although I miss catching up with my students — many of whom I now consider friends — it’s been really lovely to finally get that off the ground.
I feel like I’m moving in the right direction creatively and I also have a little time to do things that have been on my to-do list for years, like picking up the guitar again.
Life might not be what I had planned, but I do feel like (touch wood) I’ve found a sliver of stillness after what has been a chaotic few years as well as a better appreciation of my levels of resilience!
So, unless there are some radical changes, this will be my last “Italian update”, as many of you knew it. Thank you for accompanying me on my journey and I apologise it has taken me so long to update you all.
If you want to follow along with my new adventures, I’ll be posting (hopefully weekly!) on my Patreon page. It’s free to join. I also have an Instagram page, Facebook page and YouTube Channel if you’d like to see any of my latest artwork or you’re interested in joining a course or learning how to draw/paint. I hope to see some of you over there 🙂
Sue xxx
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