Package from Ireland

How sweet is my mother to send me a lovely package here in Spain!

Filled with lots of nice things including a t-shirt for Ciaran and also Barry's Tea Bags as he requested! She also sent me a full outfit (amazing how it all fitted in the below) - a skirt from River Island along with a top and a light cardigan. She also sent me face mask (sign of the times) with a beautiful cherry blossom print on it.

And look at this cute wine glass cloth! It was included in the package - a gift from my aunt. It has print of places in Ireland. She said it was to remind me of Ireland - which it does! It put a smile on my face and I took this pic of it from my  balcony, and sent it to her by What's App to say thanks :-)  

"Phoenix Rising" Enamel Mug

"Phoenix Rising" Art Mug by PIGSY 

Love this!

My PIGSY art mug arrived! Can you tell how much I love it?!

Art Merchandise by PIGSY

As well as working hard in the studio and creating lots of original artwork, PIGSY has been working on an "Art Wear" range of art merchandise which was launched a few days ago.

I immediately ordered a few items from the range including a very cool enamel mug. Printed with an original art work called "Phoenix Rising" which was created by Pigsy during lockdown in Ireland in March 2020.

Enamel Art Mug

The "Phoenix Rising" mug is enamel, kind of hipster and the absolute perfect size.

I've dropped and broken lots of mugs over the years so I really like the fact that that this one is enamel - I reckon it is practically unbreakable and perfect for having a cocktail out in the garden. In fact I think this cup would be the perfect substitute for serving a "Moscow Mule" if you can't lay your hands on a copper mug!! 

Given the hard wearing nature of the material it is made of, it is more environmentally friendly than plastic cups which overtime can degrade or they can shatter. This one can be flung in a bag and aside from getting dinged you don't have to worry about it breaking.

It would have been ideal to take with me on past sailing trips when I travelled to the Caribbean and around the Greek Isles and other places over the last few years. I'm not sure if there are any sailing trip opportunities for me in the near future but if I do get near a yacht anytime soon I will take this mug!!

This mug was actually a limited edition (by special request of me!) so if this is the one you would really like, drop a line to pigsy.art@gmail.com and he should be able to work something out for you!

Oh and given that this would make the perfect gift for any coffee or art lover in your life........remember that Christmas is coming ;-) 

Every day is a school day!

Lots of learning going on here in Malaga between sport and language

I signed up for Padel lessons which is a lot of fun. I'm really enjoying learning this new skill and occasionally I am picking up a new Spanish word or two which is a bonus! (Hello "Saltar") 

In regards to learning Spanish, progress is slow. We started out for the first month doing online tutorials and are are now taking lessons with Speak and Learn which are very helpful. The lessons are stimulating, Clara our teacher is excellent, and they invigorate our self directed online language learning.

However, this morning in Starbucks I felt like I finally knew a little bit of Spanish where I ordered our two coffee and then said they were for drinking at the restaurant when the barista asked if they were for here or to takeaway. And then with Covid there is no sugar out on display so again I found that I could respond when I was asked if I wanted sugar. Job done, 2 coffees en Espanol! 

In the latest PIGSY art news, he was interviewed by Nicole King on her Marbella Now TV show and it broadcast yesterday evening. 

Everything is going swimmingly....

PIGSY Art Merch is now available!

Our day to day routine here in Malaga is generally to get up and go swimming first thing in the morning. Yesterday, however, we had an appointment for the vet and groomer at 6pm with Bones so we decided we would go for our swim later in the day after we dropped the dog to the vet. 

We cycled to the Vet and locked our bikes outside. After leaving Bones in with the vet we then walked to the beach (about 2/3 mins away).

The beach was so quiet and practically deserted. No one was in swimming so we had the water all to ourselves!

It was really pleasant. Although the water was icy cold, the temperature outside the water was warm and the sand was hot underfoot which felt so good. 

The area that we swam in was just in front of the upmarket Gran Hotel Miramar. To me the view of the hotel from the beach is very LA with the palm trees and the stylish looking hotel.

In the morning time we worked on the PIGSY website. Pigsy has been designing a range of "Art Wear" merchandise over the past while and we finally got it added to the merchandise store on his website.

It's a curated collection of lifestyle products printed with Pigsy artworks.

I particularly like the tote bags (the black one is a "Big Shopper") - they will make great stocking stuffers this Christmas! Another idea to be more eco friendly this Christmas is to forgo wrapping paper and instead put gifts straight in to a reusable tote bag like these ones.

Take a look over on the Pigsy website at the "merch" and let me know what you think. Also if you have a favourite Pigsy artwork that you would be interested in buying as a printed t-shirt version, drop a line to pigsy.art@gmail.com and if the demand is there we can introduce it to this new "Art Wear" range!

10 reasons why your own home cinema rocks!

Easy social distancing with an outdoor home cinema

We have set up a projector on our balcony to screen films on at night time. You can read all about how easy it is to set up your own outdoor home cinema over on Ciaran's blog - click here.

Here's my top 10 reasons why a home cinema is awesome:

1. You get to choose what to watch and not have to pick from whatever is showing in the local cinemaplex
2. You can eat whatever snacks you want!
3. You can talk during the movie :-)
   
4. You can have an adult beverage
5. You can switch off and watch something different if you don't like the film
6. You can watch the film under a blanket to get all cozy
7. Your dog can watch the film too - yes Bones likes to do this!
8. You can enjoy looking up at the stars if the film is boring
9. You can binge watch a whole series on Netflix
10. You can press pause when you go visit the bathroom!

Can you think of any other reasons why a home cinema rocks?! Leave a comment below

What I've been working on: PIGSY website

PIGSY Art Website 

The big project that I'm currently working on is PIGSY's website. Ciaran gave it a major overhaul and design upgrade when Ireland went in to lockdown at the start of the pandemic.

The piece of work that I am now doing on it is I am going back over all of the content and optimizing it for search engines (SEO). Along with all of this I am amending and adding to current content. I recently added a new page which shows PIGSY artworks on walls in homes. This is a really great way to showcase the artwork and it also emphasizes how contemporary they are and what a feature they become when hung in a space.  

Importantly the website is both desktop and mobile friendly. From looking at stats I can see that more people visit the website using a mobile device than on a desktop computer. Sign of the times and this really doesn't surprise me. I'm open to suggestions or critique on the website so get in contact with me if you can offer any advice for improvements - particularly if you excel at SEO as I am a newbie to it!

Additionally I would like more backlinks to the PIGSY website so that's probably the next stage of this project. Get in contact with me if you have any helpful suggestions on how this can be done.

The most beautiful bookshop I've ever visited...

Mapas y Compañia
Calle Compañía, 33, 29008 Málaga

I've visited lots of nice bookstores on my travels.... but I think this one is the nicest! 

I was planning on visiting a second hand shop on the same street but it did not open at 5pm as was indicated on the internet. I sat outside the shop for a couple of minutes to see if they were opening a little late but there was no signs of life within so I left. 

As I walked towards home I passed this beautiful independent bookshop and decided to pop in for a visit. I was wowed when I stepped in. It felt like being on a film set. The books and other small items for sale were displayed in the most beautiful cases. It is mainly travel related books that are for sale but other selections too. There was a big collection of Tintin books in different languages along with Tintin merchandise - I wanted to buy it all!

As this was an impromptu visit, I did not stay too long - but I plan to visit again soon to enjoy it's charms. I may also buy a Tintin book in Spanish as it may help with my language study as I can follow along with the story using both the pictures and the text.