Sometimes the best things come in small packages. I had a modest little envelope  arrive in the post last week,  and inside was this beautiful toy theatre designed by Clive Hicks-Jenkins and printed by Dan Bugg of The Penfold Press. The little Toy Town Theatre was produced as a Christmas card for the Penfold Press; it’s adorable and i’ll keep it up for good while longer I think and then pack it away carefully to bring out again next Christmas.

The toy theatre came printed onto card to cut and assemble. It’s been beautifully drawn and designed by Clive and fits together a treat.

Here’s another pic of my theatre next to the witch’s cottage model I made last year, inspired by the Hansel and Gretel story that Clive re-imagined for the new picture book version of the tale published by Random Spectacular in November.

The little duck in the toy theatre also makes an appearance in Clive’s Hansel and Gretel, coming to the rescue to help the two little ones home after their run-in with the witch – what a stunning drawing!

A small parcel going out in the other direction from Whitstable post office this week will be this little painting for writer Steve Hobbs up in Worcestershire which  came back from Andy at Whitstable Framers and is ready to go to its new home:

And still on the small scale, i’ve started working in the very nice little Moleskin watercolour sketchbook I got for Christmas. I do like the format and the paper; you can never have too many Moleskin sketchbooks!

But to finish with, right to the other end of the scale; I’ve bought some large pieces of hardboard today to try painting on a much bigger scale. I’ve been working small, and very small for quite a while now and while I do love small scale and making tiny worlds, I feel ready to try something different and I’m keen to try some big, juicy brushstrokes loaded up with bright colour. I think i’ll need to get some bigger brushes….

Playing with some leftover collage papers to get the creative juices flowing again after a break. I think the simpler the design and the fewer elements I use the more effective it is -#dontoverworkit #leaveitalone!

Domus Mundi, acrylic and collage, 24 x 30cm, 2017

Well, it’s not the first time i’ve ground to a halt, creatively, at this time of year; everything stops for Christmas and New Year, then it’s back to the office, a whirlwind of catching up and the longer I have a break from any artwork the more difficult it seems to get back into. But this year is particularly bad, i haven’t drawn a thing since November really, and that really is not on! I think I get a bit of SAD too, and I go into a kind of semi-hibernation and just want to stay under the duvet for a couple of months. Now it’s time to give myself a shake and get on with it.

So, my fallback when i get stuck is to just get some papers and the scissors out and start snipping and making some collages. It’s quick, you can’t be too precious, and you feel like you’re doing something. And then you’re back making and it starts to flow and become easier. And I need to get going too, there are quite a few interesting projects i want to get my teeth into this year; more 3D work for an exhibition in November, a children’s poetry illustration, some large scale painting and a potentially very exciting project that has to be under wraps for now.

To start with, some five finger exercises to get back into the swing of it. This collage is inspired by the romanesque chapels we’ve seen up in the French Pyrenees on holiday. While I have a very low opinion of the established churches these days, I found the priories and chapels we saw up in the mountains were deeply moving. The thought of people heaving all the stone up these hills to build these beautiful places of worship over a thousand years ago is awe-inspiring.

Here are a few snaps of some of the amazing places we visited over the last couple of years:

And a thumbnail for the collage. This one is based on a Spanish Romanesque church, Santa Maria del Naranco, near Oviedo in the north of Spain:

Ok, now I’ve ‘broken the seal’ on 2017 and posted something I hope it brings with it a bit of momentum to get back to work again…..