We had roast chicken for Sunday lunch and guess what that means, ladies and gentlemen?  Chicken stock.  Yup, the simmering carcass has been perfuming the house all evening.  After another hour, I’ll strain out the bones, add leftover roast potatoes, onions and mushrooms, some haricots verts, a bit of pepper and salt and . . . .  Voila! Chicken soup.

One of the loveliest things about soup (besides eating it) is the process of making it.  Putting everything into a pot and leaving it to simmer for a few hours, stirring it occasionally, sipping the broth, adding a pinch of this and a splash of that, nibbling a vegetable to gauge its doneness.  Is it soup yet?  Not quite .  .  .  .  aah, yes.  Now, it’s time to make a batch of cornbread or crisp up a baguette, ladle it into bowls, pour a glass of wine.  The soups that I love to make are not fast food.  The long, slow making of it nourishes the soul as well as the body.

At times, within my artist-self, I still get caught up in doing rather than being.  Focussing on the goal and not the process. Forgetting that the essence of being an artist is who I am and how I encounter the world, not what I make.   I must admit to feeling slightly lax as an artist these past few months.  Production- wise anyway.

But cut myself a break!  I have moved a couple of times since last October and haven’t had a dedicated studio space for the past nine months.  Since April, Steve and I have been busy, busy, busy as bees setting up home in our flat.   I brought my batterie de cuisine and a couple of pieces of furniture and Steve has been living on his boat for the past three years.  We’ve pretty much set home up from scratch.  Yet there have been shimmerings in the back of my mind of “Why haven’t you  .  .  . You should be .  .  .  Look at what s/he’s done  .  .  . “

But creating a home is like making a work of art.  Steve and I both adhere to the maxim of William Morris – “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” and it truly has grown into an oasis, a peaceful and beautiful retreat from the world.   We’re having a housewarming party this weekend to celebrate our home and it will be the first of many welcomings and gatherings of friends.

And a few days ago I found a box in my studio with some pieces, ideas, beginnings of artwork.  These also have been on the back burner, simmering and bubbling away.  Now that I have the vessel – my studio and time, I can assemble all of the components and see how these beginnings and glimmerings will transform into finished pieces.

Over the past few months, I’ve held them in my mind’s eye, mentally adding ingredients gleaned from here and there.  Precious Metal Clay, gold size and bronze powder, new fonts, feathers and some sheer packaging material from an Argos box – perhaps an inner layer for a transparent quilt?

Ingredients