New beginnings

Welcome, new year! I feel like 2021 was a year of putting a lot of things into place, and 2022 is the year they can start to come alive. First, starting with this new site! As someone who last built websites 15 years ago, this whole process is much smoother today. So here we are, a home for my art online.

Another thing that has been coming together is creating a physical space to make art in. My studio is now mostly set up in the large north facing bedroom in my house. I’ve covered one wall with 6 square meters of cork, and found some flat upholstry tacks and tiny rare earth magnets that easily hold paper up non-destructively. The cork wall works really well to put up pieces that I’ve finished, or that I’m still working on, and to see them develop as a series. I’ve also installed some versitile slatwall to hold shelves and hooks, half of which is devoted to my pigment collection. The pigment collection really deserves its own post, stay tuned for that.

In addition to getting the space ready, I’ve also done a couple of courses online this last year. One through the botanic garden with Karin Eklund that was a nice opportunity to do some timed drawings on Thursday evenings focusing on different aspects of drawing. I’ve also been working through some of the self directed tracks on Art Prof. I completed the Art Prof painting track in December, with a series of 6 images focusing on different textures and techniques. The the feedback and encouragement I got from the Art Prof community has really helped me develop my work. One of the last images I made for the painting track was a jelly fish, and I really enjoyed playing with the transparency of it. Transparency is something I’m definitely going to be exploring more of in the future.

As of the end of January, my contract with the University of Cambridge will have ended and I’m officially self employed. Going forward, I’ll have the time to really start using the space I’ve created and the ideas I’ve been incubating. It’s going to be an exciting year to make art!

Lastly, thank you so much to those who have commissioned art from me in the last year. Thanks to Saul and Anja for the website framework that helped get me going.

I hope you’ll stay with me as I create and continue to grow through 2022. There’s a link below where you can sign up to get updates like this in your inbox every so often.