I arrived at Shannon Airport on Tuesday morning. While I didn't get my bags until Thursday, I believe I'm finally settled and can reflect upon my first week here.
The Burren is an incredible place. Ecologically, it is quite unique. There are flowers and plants that grow and live and grow only here, and others that are only else found in the arctic or the south of France. The village of Ballyvaughn, which is just outside the Burren, has a population of about 280...that's people, not thousand. Life is very quiet here. There are a few lights in the village, but when I leave the pub to walk 30 minutes back to my rented flat, most of my walk is in darkness. On clear nights, I am able to walk home in starlight. The moon is so bright for the lack city lights, that when it is full, it actually casts a shadow on the path I walk.
This quiet walk I take to the studios and to town is my meditation and my prayer. It is in that time I feel the potential in myself and the waiting wisdom in the earth below my feet. I am surrounded and coated in the Spirit at these times. It is so close, I can feel that holy breath in my own heartbeat, in my own rhythmic footsteps.
I live, work, and eat simply. I find I very much like the lifestyle. The freedom from many distractions has allowed me space to clear my head and opened me to subtler nuances in the land and in myself. The songs of Ben Taylor have been repeating themselves in my mind:
"Love, surround me with all your reach
Now while we're here alone
Now our bodies are ocean and beach
Blessings of waves and stones
Floating a lonely sound
You found me
And now that the tide is finally down
Surround me
Surround me
Surround me."
The college is a very small community of undergraduate students, MFA students, administative folks, a few resident artists, and professors. The studios are quiet, and though all the artists here seem to thrive on communal discussion and an open workspace, they are all individual workers, and contribute to an environment that encourages focus and creativity. There is an air of both production and freedom here... It is a combination that in my experience, is hard to find. I was less productive in the studio than I would have been, due to my delayed luggage, but I was able to finally begin work on a few paintings, and also complete a few sketches.
Yesterday, I was able to go into Galway with a few of the MFA students and did a watercolor study at the Bay. It was wondeful to be back at some of my old favorite spots again. It was perhaps painfully nostalgic too, but also romantic to sit down at the dock once again.
I have much to do this next week, and find myself with a very Irish attitude towards it all: I am neither anxious nor excited. Rather, I am content, and open, and present. I am home with every step I take, whether it be in my studio or through the Burren wild. I feel the Spirit, the great wisdom and creator heart pulsing in every act.
