Tuesday January 1st; *&^^%$ New Year's Resolutions

How often do you do this? You make yourself a promise at New Year, and usually it falls by the wayside within a week or two. I wonder how I will fare with this blog? Usually my wish at New Year is a simple one: I want everyone I know and love (and myself) to be happy in the coming year, on the assumption that happiness could/should include a good holiday, financial security, somewhere nice to live, health, enough sleep... you know the sort of thing. This year I decided - after debating the matter with myself for almost the whole of December - that I needed to give myself a kick in the backside as far as work goes. If I actually worked during all of the time that I think about working, feel guilty about not working and generally wibble around, I'd be fine! No guilt, no worry, and probably significantly more income too.

In an effort to make myself WAKE UP to the realities of life, therefore, I decided I needed to start the New Year with a bit more discipline in my working strategies than I achieved last year. So here's one of those strategies, to take up the challenge that art schools apparently set for their students: to do a drawing a day, every day, no excuses. Some will be good, some mediocre, some undoubtedly bad, but they will all contribute in a small way to the continuation and development of my art practice, and help me to overcome the 'artist's block' that frequently stalls my work.

I have subverted the overall ambition slightly by making the size of my drawings quite small, only 7cms by 7cms. Why 7? Well it looked nice when I drew it out, and there are seven days in the week so it isn't a completely random choice of size... but more to the point, I know myself, and I know that I am sometimes paralysed by the size of a piece of white A4 paper and don't want to make a mark on its pristine surface, so I reckon that even I shouldn't be too scared by a piece of paper that's only 7cms square! Mind you, the pile of 366 pieces was quite large!