Back online

Well i'm eventually back online. I was very pleased to discover we could get broadband out here as it's in the countryside a bit, so I thought we might be restricted to dial - up. I think I would have gone raving mad putting up with that after years of broadband!! We are sort of settled in the new house, just the usual sort of teething troubles with buying an old house that's been empty for over a year! It's also smaller than the last one so finding room for everything has been fun.

But i'm officially back to work tomorrow with Pebbles' and co's portrait to complete and a graphite Springer Spaniel to start and complete by the end of the month. I will have some updates on Pebbles, Pickles and Arillus tomorrow.

I think i've finally changed my address details and telephone number on everything, including the website, which I did today. I'm having fun with my printer at the moment. It is printing, but very very slowly and the computer is telling me the document hasn't printed when it is actually printing. Hopefully it will survive for a bit longer and not pack up completely!

I am feeling very motivated at the moment, so my year is officially starting in February, not January like everyone elses! 2009 is going to be a year of artwork.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009 to everybody and i hope everyone had a good Christmas.

Looking back at 2008, I haven't really done a lot and certainly came no-where near to fulfilling any of my New Year's Resolutions, so this year i'm not going to make any at all!! I'm just going to go with the flow and maybe by 2010 i'll have reached some of the 2008 goals! The main mission is to find a bit of motivation and inspiration to develop myself a bit.

We are moving house on January 16th, so I will be off-line for a while around that time and am not accepting commissions currently as we will need time to settle in.

Art goals for 2008

I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and voice my goals for the coming year on my blog.

2007 was my busiest year so far and saw the website get to page #1 on Google and me with at least one commission to do every month. I'm pleased with what i've done last year and i've seen an improvement in my artwork, however, as always there are more things I want to do to improve and expand.

#1: Explore new mediums
Graphite is my favourite medium and there's no getting away from that. It's also the medium I am best at. Even though I offer coloured pencil as a choice on the website, i don't particularly enjoy using them and have considered several times stopping offering them. However, I like to offer a colour option. This year I am going to make an effort to learn to paint. I have acrylic paints and also pastels and I need to practice with them and would like to be able to offer one or both of them as an option for pet portraits by the end of the year.

#2: Get organised
I am very good at being 'busy doing nothing'. This year, it has to stop. I need to spend less time on the internet and more time drawing and/or painting. Last year I decided to set aside time from half 12 to 5pm for drawing. I've not really managed this so I think I may reduce the time slightly to keep myself better motivated - perhaps 1pm till 4pm or something. I have bought a calender for the studio and am going to mark deadlines for commissions and my own work on it to hopefully keep me more disciplined.

#3: Painting / drawing for me
I have done hardly any artwork last year that wasn't a commission. This year I am going to try and complete at least two works a month that isn't a commission. This will also help with the new meduim practice.

#4: Try new subjects
I hate to admit this, but I do sometimes get bored of drawing pet portraits. I look at other people's pictures and they are so good and some so different and I think, "I want to do that!" I want to try some local landscapes, particularly the tumbledown croft cottages that we see on our travels as well as local wildlife such as the Deer and Seals. I also want to draw pets but in scenes or doing something, not just 'posed' portraits. I thoroughly enjoyed drawing Ruth and Rosco's portrait, so have some plans for some 'people and pets' drawings.

#5: Develop other products to sell
I have plans for handmade cards with my artwork as the focal point and also prints. This is an area I would like to use the local scenes and wildlife for as I think they may be marketable in local shops. I am also going to look in licensing a bit more after some interest last year that didn't come to anything I'm going to do some research on how it all works and if it's something that would be worth doing some work for.

So, there you have it - the plans for 2008. Hopefully by this time next year i'll be able to tick them all off!!

Hope you all have a happy and healthy 2008.