Happy New Year

Welcome to the first blog of 2022 and I hope this year sees an improvement in all things for everyone.

I have my revamped workout area set up, with a couple of yoga blocks I got at the weekend from Lidl to help with splits practice, my bike's been serviced and the gears corrected and my lights are charging up as I type, ready for the first day back in the office tomorrow. Oh joy. Sometimes I find my job really tiresome but I'm grateful to have one that gives me flexibility with my life.

I've decided - just in the last five minutes - that I'm going to space out the blogs to alternate Wednesdays for a while. I've got a few things going on which means I won't always have time to do art of any kind. I've just used up my last pre-prepared armature and need to do another batch with separate hands before I can begin any new pieces. Also, setting up a blog post can take a chunk out of a morning to work on a topic and make sure there's a potential piece of work available to photograph so it just seems better to space things out to allow for all that.

But I have finished my latest leap piece, bar the hoop she'll be suspended on. The hoops are on order from Glitterwitch and I got 2 sizes to be on the safe side.

I redid the skin colour by adding splashes of darker red then brushed over a bit of gold here and there. I also used the gold on some of the raised areas of the costume.

This paper has fibres throughout which gives it an interesting texture and a way to add random colour additions. It also makes for a messy torn edge but that also gives a nice choppy look to the skirt and sleeves. I think I'll coat the hoop with paper and maybe paint that gold as well.

I don't know what I'd do without handmade paper. It's so versatile and does half the design job by itself. When I was making books, it covered for the fact my skills in that area are poor, but gorgeous colours and texture takes care of things.

My head is full of too many things I could do and I really need to find some focus and concentrate on just a few of them. And marketing. Really really must make an effort in that area. A lot of work to do this year. Things could get bumpy but you just have to keep your eye on what's under your own control and keep moving forward.