Fresh Beginnings

 I am still here!  I had a notification from the Blogger team, (is there a team?) that my account had been inactive for too long and I needed to use it or lose it, basically.

It had been in the back of my mind to write some more on here for some time, but I have been at a loss as to where to start.

Since the end of the anti fracking campaign here in North Yorkshire, I realise I have been in a long and slow recovery.  Exhaustion and resulting ill health, then the need to work hard on reclaiming a very neglected garden and finish some of the remaining work on the house, catch up with immediate family etc, has all taken time and energy.

I slowly began to want to think about making art work again, but could not focus; instead of allowing this to overwhelm me I concentrated on things I felt I could, and wanted to do.  The garden and the house.  Both are gradually recovering too!

I made the decision last year to give up the studio I rented; I had not used it for some years and it just seemed a pointless waste of money to keep it on.  It wasn't ideal anyway; the water supply and toilet facilities left an awful lot to be desired.  It took weeks of organising my studio space at home to make room for everything from the rented studio but we did it.  My husband was such a great help and between us we took lots of stuff to the tip and got everything home.

Now the studio at home feels too full but it is a work in progress and I will eventually get it working more efficiently.  I have managed to make a few small things and have a very small series of post cards underway for the One of Many Postcards initiative by John Pedder on Instagram.  I missed the deadline earlier this year, but will finish them and some others in time for the next one.  It is a wonderful idea, where artists make roughly post card sized pieces of work and offer them up to anyone interested in owning one, for free.  The recipient then donates a sum of money they think the piece is worth/they can afford, to their chosen charity.  I have received several wonderful pieces myself and donated to Trussell Trust and local food banks.

From now on, I will post about the balancing of the three major parts of my daily life: 

• Making work
• The garden
• Finishing work on our home

I will try to make it interesting, and for anyone reading this; I hope you will find it informative and enjoyable.

The butterfly at the top of this post was on the village common outside our house a few summers back, I hope we will have more butterflies in our garden this year, although I've never seen one of these in the garden.