hello again

I thought it was about time I showed my face around here again. Three months away and I have a very full inbox but it has been a break I needed to gather my thoughts and make some decisions about my art. For the first few weeks I was still floundering, trying to sort out all he stuff that was still whizzing about in my brain. I tidied up, I rearranged my work space, I looked through all my sketchbooks and folders at all the work i've done, I tore up a lot of stuff, I finished a couple of craft projects that had been cluttering up my floor and rearranged my computer files. Anything to avoid actually thinking about the things I was supposed to be thinking about.

For me it's never been a case of 'I don't know what I want to paint' but more a case of 'there are too many things I want to paint, sculpt, draw, stitch and I don't know where to start'. Added to this is the fact that, for the most part, the art I make that other people seem to like best is not necessarily the art I like the best. I suspect it's a choice a lot of artists face at some point - do I paint for myself or for others? Do I paint mice for the rest of my life or do I paint the things that really inspire me? It sounds like a no-brainer when I put it like that, but in my cluttered mind it wasn't so clear at first and it's taken this quiet time away from everything to see it clearly.

I know, I have always known really (but often chosen to ignore), that I do my best work when I'm most inspired. I push myself more, learn more and enjoy more and as a consequence I'm happier with the results. I've heard many people, many artists, say that this will make you successful too. I have my doubts in this time when so much relies on networking and self-promotion (two things that I am utterly, utterly hopeless at). But you know what? I also know that IT.....REALLY.....DOESN'T....MATTER to me now. And that, right there, is the difference between now and 3 months ago.

So I'm working on some new paintings and drawings, and some new ideas that will take my art in a bit of a new direction (if they work, that is) but I'm not quite ready to share them just yet so in the meantime here are a few favourites from my inbox: