Tag Archives: art

What ever happened to that idea?!

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I was reviewing some of my older blog posts and came across an enthusiastic entry where I’d waffled on about ‘potentially’ illustrating a children’s book that my friend was ‘potentially’ going to write.  Oh how naive I was to think it might ever make it past the ‘what an excellent idea, let’s do it’ discussion.  The furthest we got was this drawing – the premise was a child who watched too much television.

 

 

Artist’s block and little rewards

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It’s hard work keeping a blog.  Sometimes I wonder what it’s all for. Is it for me or is it for them (the inhabitants of the blogosphere)? If it’s for me, then do I really need a blog? I could carry on doodling in my sketchbooks and half-heartedly patting myself on the back if the drawing is passable.

I suffer from chronic self-deprecation which is probably why I never made it on the creative front – I was never confident enough in my own ability and knowing how many extremely talented people there are out there, I found it difficult to find my own little patch.  But on further reflection,  I enjoy drawing and there’s a little part of me that hopes my cartoons bring a teeny tiny smile to someone’s day.    Talent shared (average or not) is happiness gained…I think.  Ooh did I just give myself a compliment?

It wasn’t until this week that I was given a little ego boost when I discovered that people do actually enjoy my work. When someone other than your family and friends says “I like your cartoons”, it makes it all worth it!  And so I must extend my gratitude to the blogger, Michelle who writes for her own blog, the Green Study.  She kindly nominated me for a Beautiful Blog Award – Thank you!  I must now bestow this kindness on someone else, but it will take time, I need to do my research…

Following the slight head inflation, I immediately sat down to draw only to find I had no inspiration. It happens to all of us no doubt.  So what better way to tackle the situation than to draw it.

Londinium

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A rather frenetic three days in London have come to an end.  I have skirted around the city on various work visits or on the occasional get-together with friends, but I’ve never really had the opportunity to soak in the atmosphere and visit the top tourist attractions.  My mother, keen to reinforce the maternal / filial bonds, saw this as an opportunity for us to spend some quality time together. So, with a little bit of planning an a lot of luck we left the quiet solitude of our respective houses in the ‘north of England’ and in the Jura Mountains (France) to tussle and jostle with some of the millions of tourists that visit London annually.

Every hour of our three day tour was packed with interest, culture, art, music, heritage, gastronomic delights and shopping.  So much so that I need a few days holiday to recover.  We visited the Houses of Parliament (a real highlight); the London Eye where mum was reunited with her fear of heights; Harrods, where for the first time I felt my bank account was completely inadequate; we took in two shows, Jumpy and Singing in the Rain (ponchos are requirement); we were perplexed by contemporary performance art at the Haywood Gallery; intrigued by the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition, ‘Bronze‘; enlightened by the Royal Ballet’s performance of Swan Lake; moved by the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition; felt patriotic watching the changing of the Horse Guards and were calmed by our saunter through St James’ Park.

If you felt tired reading that, imagine how we felt at the end of our stay?!  Enjoyable and draining in equal measures, there has been talk of making this an annual event…

On my return home, I doodled on the train:

 

Performing monkeys and job interviews

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I’ve done it!  I have found myself a new job and gleefully handed in my resignation! I leaped through rings of fire at my job interview, presenting the biggest, boldest, most articulate and inspiring side of myself – I was a true performing monkey for 2 whole hours!

So now, after three long years of working from home, I will bathe myself in colleagues and office gossip.  I will go to the office parties and invite people for drinks after work. I will speak to an IT person if my computer is broken and talk to people about my workload before making a coffee for the person sitting opposite me.  I will commute with a solemn look on my face and groan when I miss the bus.  I will clock watch on a Monday then kick my heels up with that Friday feeling at the end of the week.  I will clear my bedroom of mountains of paperwork and liberate my shelf space to join the millions of you out there who call yourself an OFFICE WORKER!