Past, present and near future.

What a gorgeous day it is here in Nottingham today - the sun is shining - it feels like it may even be the start of spring. I shall have to go out and take some photo's soon. Bit housebound today as my back is bad (6 weeks time can't come too soon for my injection!!) but I am having a great day just catching up, painting, resting and creating (oh and lots of coffee in there too!)

So the exhibition ended yesterday, all my work is back home and I managed to get some photos of the corset (collaboration with the wonderful stiletto heights) on my mannequin which I think shows off the shape much better. I am tempted to try it on but I think it may even still be a bit too small for me (curvy girl that I am!!) It will however probably be going into my etsy shop tomorrow.

The exhibition website is up and running now and if you go to the exhibitor's page there is a rolling screen of many examples of many of the exhibitors work (it takes a wee while to fully load) and is well worth a look to get a general feel of the whole exhibition.

I have gradually been putting the artwork into my shop today as it was starting to look a wee bit empty after a wonderful successful (for me!!) evening on Saturday where I participated in the Saturday Night Specials in the etsy forums. Unfortunately I won't be in it this saturday as we are away visiting Mark's parents (and I think etsying all night might appear little rude!!) but I can definitely see it being a fairly regular occurence in the future.

So I did a workshop on 'The Role of Costume Design in Film' to a group of rather rowdy but brilliant teenagers last night who are working in a group with an organisation to make a couple of short films tackling teenage issues. It was great fun and I may pop along and watch some of the filming next week for a few hours to see how they are doing and also to see if any of what I said made sense!

I have also been working once a month with a group of woman survivors (of various forms of abuse) and I am teaching them accessory making (bags etc) with a view to them setting up their own social enterprise to sell their work in order to raise funds to keep their group going. They are wonderful and to see them grow in confidence is just great. The work they are producing rocks and they are thinking about selling on etsy soon so I better watch out for the competition!! I hope they go ahead with it as I think it would be the ideal platform for them and their work.

I guess the next 6 weeks I am going to have to take it easy a wee bit, (till pain relief injection and scan) but I shall enjoy the challenge of working from home. I also really need to begin contacting theatres and film companies again - it is so tedious and takes up so much time but I am really going to need to get some work for around then - so CV sending and internet hunting galore!! Fun times ahead!!

Well I think I shall spend the rest of the day painting and making a few new ACEO's as I really want to stock the shop up and get some new artwork in there as well as bags (felted and fabric) and other accessories (cuffs and corsages). Maybe even a corset belt or two? Who knows what I will come up with. Infact I even have a wee idea brewing for a 'new for me' item which I am quite excited about so keep checking back!!

My next planned project is a group exhibition with the arts group I am a member of and that is in May so I shall be updating you on that!!

Have a wonderful day!!!