And a Happy New Year!

Christmas ends here for me - the decorations will come down tomorrow morning and the tree will be crackling in the fireplace in the evening. Needless to say, these chocolates hadn't a hope of making it to New Year's Day anyway! I did plenty of indulging, now it's time to get back into (some sort of) shape!




















I must say, I really enjoyed this Christmas. Probably because I'd just had the 'flu and was feeling really good just to be back to normal and healthy again. Christmas is a time to indulge in all things tacky but I went for some tasteful decorations this year and Poinsettias were my main feature. I bought one large one that has some wonderful shades of deep, deep red and green but I haven't managed to take any photos that do it justice. I started a new habit this year of putting flowers and leaves in the back of my sketchbooks and pressing them. Anything that caught my eye, I'd put in and forget about so that they'd make a nice surprise when I re-discover them. I found some maple leaves I'd put in there months ago and was delighted that they'd kept a lot of their colour so I'm trying the same with the Poinsettias.




















Every year, at this time, I look forward to reading the plans and resolutions that art bloggers make. I'm not normally one for making resolutions myself, but as this year was most notable for a lack of inspiration I'm resolving to allow myself more freedom - to make mistakes, to enjoy, and not worry if what I draw is 'good enough'.

I took this photo in my garden this afternoon, of the buds on a Magnolia, and in a way it represents my resolution. We're told that spring begins around March or April but there is evidence, if we open our eyes, of spring in winter and of autumn in summer. There aren't really four distinct seasons, just one continuous cycle. It reminds me of the danger of letting what you hear override what you see or feel. This year my cutting back on blogging reinforced why I blog, and while so many art bloggers are turning to Facebook and Twitter to get noticed, I realised that that wasn't my motivation. I realised too, when I was looking for the old Christmas drawings, that I'd been blogging more than 4 years, not, as I vaguely thought, about 3! So I guess I'm one of those 'in it for the long term', and if I'm not looking for fame, fortune and high rankings I may as well relax and enjoy drawing for myself! 2009 turned out much better than it promised at the start and 2010, I know, is going to give me at least a couple of big challenges so I think I can allow myself to relax as far as my art is concerned!

Happy New Year all!