Well folks, here I am. I think it is an ‘artists’ thing to retreat or go into hibernation every now and again. I do assure you though, I have not been asleep. The truth is I climbed through the vista of  my canvas and entered the place I love most where I can lose myself in my fantasy world of painting and creating characters, choosing colours, stances and gaits and simply imagining what is going on in the minds of the people who emerge from my canvases.
I very very reluctantly climbed out of the painting (yes there is such a thing as over working your canvas) but am already primed and ready to climb into my next one. This time I hope to take my blog pad with me so I can continue to send you messages from my other world.
Whilst I’ve been on my retreat (I am actually preferring that word to hibernation), I’ve have actually been researching material I need for my future life as a full time artist; galleries, shows, exhbitions I could possibly attend and marketing (I’d rather be in the studio but needs must et al).

So whilst I have been putting it all out there, I’ve had some wonderful hints and tips come back to me. Last night my dear friend Seiwa and I discussed printing my business cards on canvas of which I have plenty.  I was really excited about this as I’ve already created the designs but was waiting for a small windfall to enable me to send it off to a printer (duh!).

This morning I got a message from a very dear friend Lisa who lives in South Africa. Lisa has beeen a source of inspiration and great encouragement to me. ‘For you today…’ the message said with three words like music to my ears rolled into one ‘…www.artmoneyguide.com’ and within it a mine of information that has got my thinking juices going as I consider a slight shift away from my old way of thinking to a fresher more dynamic unconventional way. Keep posted and keep encouraging me with your words of wisdom and support.

Here is the world in which I absorbed myself; the market at Northampton from a photographic sketch I did one sunny Saturday morning during the summer. The fair had come to the town centre square and I persuaded the very obliging man to let me climb to the top of his helter-skelter.