That there is a picture of me holding a very important painting for consideration by The National Portrait Gallery. The competition is massive, the odds huge, but I have done good work and entered anyway. My metaphorical balls are large.

The work is of my mother as she lay in bed dying. I was able to detach myself from the subject as I painted it, but I must admit that I don’t think I could’ve painted this closer to her death. This one had to wait a spell, but I’m pleased with the results.

If I am not selected by the hanging committee, I will return to Bristol to retrieve my work. In Girl Scout terms, I think I’ve still earned a badge for trying, and that feels pretty damn good.

The terrifying part, for clarification, has nothing to do with the competition; I had to leave my work unprotected with a shipping company, who will then transport my work to London. That was unsettling. At least I’m insured…

Secondhand filing cabinets may not look exciting, but believe me, they are.

Now, to find time to file.

My life drawing classes at Wooda are a massive success every week (numbers maxing out often, new students all the time) but alas, the still life classes at Brockhill haven’t hit the mark yet so I’m putting them on hold till warmer weather and tourism picks up around here.

Am I still optimistic that still life classes have legs here, but getting my timing right seems to be the challenge. I’m a good teacher, the lessons are good, and the space is lovely, so it’s just a matter of getting the other pieces in place.

Springtime will bring new life to the area and I’m ready to give it another go then. In the meantime, I have much to occupy my time, including several illustrated books to complete, more work, a commission, and my very popular life drawing classes on Wednesdays.

Takes more than a slow starter course to knock me.

Just draw!

2011 was the year of getting my art career off the ground. I began teaching local classes, got my online shop up and running, have been making new friends and contacts. I also got business banking sorted, specialist insurance, social media rolling, and proper storage for my work purchased. 2012 is the year I take all that to the next level- I am getting stock/inventory, reports, customer details, and the rest of my business organised with the help of artist/maker application, Organise Pro.

Written by an artist/maker, the app is doing just what I need all in one place. I’ve got my customers, companies, items, stock numbers, orders, reports, and invoicing all together, all connected. I’d been looking at creating a solution in Bento, or even in a really unfriendly spreadsheet, but Organise does what I need in a familiar application environment. It’s also a mature app, currently a few updates into version 5. It’s pretty intuitive, has a lot of documentation, and is built with UK taxes as default (which can be hard to find in many apps).

I still have a long way to go with organising my work (I need a spreadsheet to list item storage location, flat or roll ship, etc.) but Organise is putting my mind at ease with a huge chunk of the nasty admin part of being an artist. The more I can cut through the admin jungle, the more time I can spend in the studio. All good.

Just finished this yesterday.

I figured it’s about time I do a proper, traditional vase of flowers still life painting, so here it is. Oil on canvas paper.
(Reference photo is my own, shot in the living room.)

What looks like a couple of folding tables – perhaps for a wedding or banquet – are actually two new, 6′ heavy-duty, folding tables which I can take anywhere I am teaching art.

Mobile art classes.

This is very exciting to me.

Twelve students packed into my regular Wednesday morning life drawing class today.
It’s time to grow!

Starting in January, I’ll be teaching a still life drawing class at Brockhill Methodist Church, Crackington Haven and in the spring I’ll be adding evening classes to the Wooda Life Drawing sessions. Very exciting!

In future, I’ll also add a few all-day intensive classes here and there. More details on those long sessions (as well as the life and still life classes) as I work them out.

I’m working on a triptych of portraits; this is one of the faces I’m learning about in charcoal and pencil before I commit to paint.

Not sure how many times I’ll draw him (or the others in the work) but I’ll know when I’m done.