2016!

So it's 2016 and I've not been about on here for a bit but I have been working on some bits and bobs and I thought it was high time for an update! I hope everyone had a very lovely Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

2015 brought some great opportunities for me. When you're busy working full time at your day job, it becomes difficult to work on your personal projects but thankfully every now and then you manage and I hope that becomes a more regular occurrence this year. It has certainly been paramount to increasing my confidence in the creative work that I do and also shown me that I can do it.

One of the opportunities that came my way was from Creative Dundee to create the image for the PechaKuchaNight Dundee Volume 13. PechaKucha is a presentation format where 20 images are shown for 20 seconds each and the PechaKucha nights allow creatives from all sorts of disciplines to talk about their work and inspirations. I wanted to highlight something connected to Dundee in my image.  Working in the museum, I see the Tay Whale skeleton everyday I thought I would bring it back to life and incorporate it into the image (along with some whale family).
I was really happy at with the positive response my image received and it was a really great opportunity and experience to work with Creative Dundee. Certainly a big confidence boost.

Another great opportunity arose when I finally plucked up the courage to enter the Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition 2015. I entered two drawings, both inspired by my love of old objects.  I had spent some time in the National Museum of Scotland sketching some of my favourite pieces and this led on to drawing one of them as a final piece to enter into the RSA. The drawing is of some of the small coffins found on Arthur's Seat. In 1836 seventeen miniature coffins were found hidden in a small cave on Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. They were found by a group of boys and those that have survived are now in the National Museum of Scotland. I drew six of them in a row for the final piece.  I love the mystery that surrounds these strange but beautifully made coffins, each with their own carved, dressed figure inside. No one is really sure what they were for, what they represent or why they were hidden on Arthur's Seat.

The second piece I drew was of another museum object but this time from The McManus in Dundee. It is an Inuit doll, probably made by a child to help them learn how to sew. I love the intricate details on the doll from the sewing to the wear from age. The selection process goes through two stages and I was completely over the moon when I found out that both my drawings had been selected to be in the exhibition. The RSA Open exhibition is still on at the moment and is on until February the 14th.

This month I also had a great meeting with Cultural Enterprise Scotland. I was looking for some advice on how to properly set up freelance as it's something I've never really known the details of. They have so much advice and information to give which was incredibly helpful and made me feel a lot more confident about taking the plunge to become self employed. I can't thank them enough for the help they gave me. It's certainly made my plans and goals a lot more accessible for the year the ahead. Exciting times!