It’s been a difficult year and I didn’t get much artwork done in 2022.
I managed only 3 finished photographic pieces - two Untitled “Moss” pieces (here and here) and Spirit of the Orchard in May, and I have one large scale Court of Queen Mab pastel drawing nearly finished - I’m going to try to finish that drawing during my time off over Christmas and New Year, so it might just make it!
I did manage to do several successful life-drawing sessions, and I have two half-completed masks/headdresses that I’m planning to use for some photographic work in 2023.
A variety of things conspired to make 2022 less productive than normal, some actually positive such as my Children of Mab exhibition at Treadwell’s Bookshop in London over August and September, which took up a lot of time in planning and logistics that would otherwise be spent making actual artwork. Absolutely worth it, though!
Other drains on my time and energy were a rather hectic project (still ongoing) in my day job, a bout of Covid followed by two weeks of fatigue, mood troughs and depressions, overbearing heat in the summer, freezing temperatures in the winter…
I do have big plans for 2023 - I want to finish off my Acid Renaissance series in a flurry of creativity, which will include photographs of models in the two masks mentioned above as well as more drawings, and also creating some short video pieces to stitch together into a visual collage.
There will also be at least one more piece from the Court of Queen Mab mini-arc from Acid Renaissance, although I’m unsure whether it will be drawing, photography, or video. I’ve got numerous other half-formed ideas in my sketchbook that may or may not end up being realised in 2023.
And then I’ve got to put the whole Acid Renaissance series into a book and publish it. While I’m going to start work on that in 2023 I have no idea whether it’ll actually get published next year or whether it will slip into 2024. Based on this year I think probably the latter.
I did manage to keep blogging here fairly regularly, and I revamped and rethought my Email Newsletter into something much more regular and (I hope) interesting. Those two will continue in 2023.
I’ve got a list of models I’ve worked with before that I’d like to work with again, and some models I haven’t worked with before that I’m planning to work with next year, and obviously new people may volunteer to model for my artwork over the course of the year - just reply to this email if you’re interested in modelling for me and in travelling distance of Brighton & Hove, or message me on Twitter or Mastodon or Instagram.
So much artwork to do, so little spare time.