Best $95 I’ve spent.

Space is important to me, I’m not a fan of clutter. If there is clutter, it’s organised. It’s there for a reason. Serving a purpose. I’ve been struggling slightly to find a space to sit and concentrate on drawing since moving into the apartment. Sofa, chair, bed, at the dinning table even on the floor. I’ve produced work I’m happy with from these places but I’ve felt for a while that I need a space to sit and draw and paint. An area where I can focus and concentrate. A space to serve this purpose. So to start with I bought a desk for $95. Placed it in one of the corners of the apartment, so there’s now a designated space for me to create and produce and funnily enough I feel more professional. Before I would have to tidy up, close my sketchbook, put it away in my bag. It was kind of out of sight, out of mind. Now it sits open on the desk with pencils, brushes, rubbers and reference books. It’s a constant presence seeking my attention. Sketches, ideas and works in progress demand to be looked at, worked on, finished. To this effect I feel more focused, what I was working on yesterday was still there today willing me to continue.

Yesterday was the first time I had picked up my paints this year. I’ve been concentrating a lot on the digitally created stuff of late, so it was a refreshing change. I continued with the painting today in my sketchbook and love the final results. The paintings of a character walking home from school who decides to take a short cut through the woods. Then gets caught in a snow storm. It’s a competition brief from the Society Of Children’s Book Writer’s & Illustrators. The brief is that he takes shelter from the storm in a cave and then discovers? I’m still working on what he might discover. I will post up the final illustrations when I get round to starting and finishing them.

It’s Emma’s last night shift for this month tonight. Hopefully going to go see ‘Brokeback Mountain’ tomorrow if she’s not too tired and then to ‘Brown Sugar’ for our tea. Lovely.

Well it’s Friday so I need to crack on with this weeks ‘Friday Illustration’ topic, which is ‘cats’. Hope to post the results tomorrow or maybe Sunday. Could even be Monday. Whichever day it is. It will be sitting on the desk demanding to be finished.