Driven....

It has been such a busy few weeks and it is very frustrating not to be able to share pictures of what I've been up to, but as they are commissions for other people and involve copyright, I don't feel it is my place to display them here.  You can have a look at my desk though - how shameful is that!  Those of you who have their tools of the trade laid out perfectly and materials tidily put in storage that looks like art must be recoiling in horror!  But I have tried tidying and it just doesn't work - for a start, I can never find anything!  This may look like the most awful chaos, but I know exactly where to lay my hands on a particular brush or pencil, and I just have to have my little shelf of personal totems watching over me - they all have meaning.  One day I will have a studio and attempt to instill a bit or order into my working method....but I'm sure it will still end up looking like a larger version of this!

The past few years have seen me change my working methods greatly.  While my children were small, art and crafts were something to do by way of leisure and for nothing more than my own satisfaction.  When I began to sell paintings on a regular basis, it became a bit more business-like but still something I did at my own speed with very little urgency,

However, when I started approaching my half century, suddenly there came a sense of time running out.  An internet friend shared one of her work ethics with me, which was to ensure to create something, no matter how small, every day.  I took this on board and it has become an important part of the way I work - in fact, I feel totally lost if I haven't picked up a pencil or a pair of knitting needles during the course of a day.

Something happened this week which contributed to the sense of urgency I feel over my work.  I went for a regulation eye-test as two years had passed since the last one and it was due.  However, the optician shocked me to the core when he told me he had discovered the beginnings of a cataract in my left eye.  Apparently I am rather young for this to happen (nice to be young for something I suppose!) and it will take many years before it becomes problematic.  I know cataracts are easily treatable these days, but it has always been one of my greatest fears to have something go wrong with either my eyesight or my hands.  So even more than ever I feel the need to create as much as I can, that every moment is precious and should be spent productively - you never know when it might all be taken away from you!