The week before last I had the chance to visit some close personal friends in the north of England for a week of rest and contemplation. I had been severely limited by one and all to only two hours a day of work, which for me offered a real challenge of what would I do while I was there.
They had all insisted that I spend some real and meaningful time with the people that I love and care about and I have to admit they did have a point as I invariably soon find myself getting absorbed by what ever it is that I'm doing at the time and as a result don't spend the sort of time I should with my kids or friends.
Chilling out, reading, walking on the beach, chatting, seeing a live rock band, driving in the beautiful North Yorkshire moors and visiting local attractions all did me a good deal of help after the recent period of intensive work and the resulting stress and pressure's that come into our daily lives reducing our time and energy to be truly creative and adventurous in the endeavours we take on.
Resting and relaxing as did I had the chance for the first time in what felt like an life time to really find the time to think and explore ideas in a refreshed manor, free from the restraints that I had forced upon myself I was able to make a number of important decisions that I knew needed to be made but had avoided for the most part for the wrong reasons.
Despite buzzing with all the new images, ideas and excitement that are struggling to free themselves onto the canvas that is constantly in my minds eye I realised that my web-site was in desperate need of improvement and a new lease of life which is long overdue and is one of the decisions that I had the chance to make during that wonderful restful week away.
After a few days of planing and thought I have finally started to create a temporary web-site while the new pages and layout are being constructed and fully developed making it essayer and more interesting for my visitor's to get the most from the contemporary art and modern abstract painting that characterise my painting style and I will be making regular posts so that every one will have the chance to be kept fully up to date with my progress.
I gave two friend a lift to London the other night, so that they could go and see Moby playing at the Palace theater. On the way home we soon all got chatting about Art and Barcelona as it is a place we have all visited at one time or another. I spent 5 wonderful days in this city with my girlfriend a couple of years ago. While I was there I managed to visit a number of art galleries and exhibitions that where going on at the time which was brilliant. Although the Picasso Museum was fabulous and is so well known I am however always surprised that the museum of modern art in Barcelona MACBA is hardly talked about. Not only is the building a brilliant example of modern architecture, the collection of painting, art and sculpture is stunning and well worth the time spent immersing your self in for an hour or two....
I have added links and uploaded pictures to places like My Space, Local artists, Digg, and Devaint art to list just a few I have also put together a new free website on snappages as an experiment both to test the simplicity and applications of the platform, as a number of people have asked me for different ways to develop a web presence that is free and easy to use. Clearly this is not the only place you can get a Free website but many sell advertising space or have banner advertising which in my opinion down values any site. This Snap Pages site took me an afternoon to put together and I have to say that it is simple and effective, although it lacked the flexibility that I have become accustomed too...Anyway give it a look and let me know what you think. 
