So after my hesitant first attempt at blogging I now move on, and with my first image too.

This small mixed media piece is called Dreams Like Trailing Ivy
and is for sale in my Etsy Shop. The description reads

A depiction of the dreams we often have of the past and of the future which can be emotionally stimulating, a necessary outpouring of emotions or thoughts from which we can never free ourselves. This could illustrate many times in my life.

Life has been a little up and down in my household recently. The stresses and strains of creating 'Gilfling's Designs' have been very apparent and as a consequence I have been feeling 'the fear'. This 'fear' - of failure, of not being able to contribute enough financially, of not being able to express myself had unfortunately taken hold a little bit, but I am tryng my best to get it under control.

Why do artists and creative people go through this?! Unfortunatley it always means life is a little hard for those close to us. I guess I am making a bit of a presumption that I am not the only one, It would be comforting to know that I am not.

I have been getting so bogged down in trying to wade through the stuff which I find really hard work, the paperwork, the constantly looking for new work, meetings, networking, (none of this very successfully it has to be said) that I had forgotten how much I love to have new ideas, to research, to design, to get excited about the kind of work that should and does normally come very naturally to me. As a consequence I have missed out on a couple of chances to have new work in new venues.

Typically now, I am full of ideas, I cannot wait to start working on them, I am really loving sketching, and getting all these images out on paper and eventually into 3d form. So the time comes to put the daily grind stuff aside (although it still has to be done unfortunately) and get back to the real reason why I went to art college, why I completed my degree, and the reason why I have decided to take the not so easy route of trying to be a designer.

I am off to Scotland next week and amongst the visiting of family members and helping house moves etc, I am really going to focus on drawing, dreaming, thinking and seeing so that come the new year the forms will take shape. And that....I find very exciting.