Taking stock

During 2014 I signed up for an art degree, a distance learning course with the Open College of the Arts but that has currently gone by the wayside as 2015 has been a bad year for me. Late last year my best very dear friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer and I have spent many weeks with him during 2015, supporting and looking after him until his death on the 8th December. Advice received from another friend is “to try to focus on positives, whilst also being sad.” With this in mind, and remembering how art helped so much after I lost my son in 2003, I am working every day, making art.

Not everything was bad or sad about 2015, I was able to return briefly to the Camino de Santiago in September and walk for three weeks with my friends Jane and Peter, I had a week in Gibraltar with another girl friend and I have been able to visit with my lovely daughters and my parents.

So, I’ve had a sense all year of life being on hold and not too much art has been done, although what I created during the summer – mostly little mixed media works, made into cards and bookmarks – sold very well both here in the studio and at the local craft centre. 2016 is almost upon us and I will be kind and gentle to myself, not too much stress, and allow myself to paint and draw what I want, when I want. I will experiment, have fun and do something creative every day – whether that be painting, drawing, working in my sketchbook, photography or crocheting. With that in mind i’ve signed up for Leah Piken Kolidas’s Creative Every Day Challenge