Busy times! There always seems so much to do, and yet most of my projects are spread over quite long time frames, during which I prefer not to give too much away in the form of sneak previews, so it becomes hard to keep a blog current.
I did today receive the first hint of what the cover to my Welsh myths and legends book might look like...hopefully in the very near future I will be able to show that, once it is finalised, but meanwhile apart from the work-in-progress pics I have shown as sneak previews I feel duty bound not to publish any of the images in full....it's almost harder to be patient about that than with the endless hours of painting each picture took. Anyway, at least things are moving along - I must enquire as to the publishing date, but I assume it will be later on in the summer. Really looking forward to it, I think the pictures are better than for the previous sister title about Welsh heroes.
As usual while I am busy working on commissioned images I have had a flood of ideas for paintings and digital images I would like to work on for myself. I think the creative juices, once they are forced out for the commercial work, just keep oozing and I end up frustrated at not having the time to make images of my own....and then, when the commercial work dries up I usually have a bike to work on, or some other project in need of attention directly, so that once I re-apply myself to my art either the ideas seem daft or stale, or there is more paying work to do. And don't get me wrong, I will never complain about that! But what I am doing is trying to fit in smaller pieces of my own to keep me happy, and that is taking a special kind of working resolve to see through.
One such piece was this image in scraperboard (scratchboard) of Titania, Queen of the Fairies, which was great fun to do, and hopefully not the last image on the theme. After it was seen on my facebook page and at the request of a good friend, it has now been made into a print. I am also thinking of sorting out Little Queenie as a print - she continues to roar around the world on her old Norton, meeting lots of friends along the way! What I really must do is get around to sorting out an etsy shop for these things - it's on the 'to do' list somewhere! Meanwhile people can still contact me through my website to enquire about prints.
http://www.brettbreckon.com
Anyway, that's all for now. Just sticking a post-it to my screen to remind me to do more prints, and an etsy shop........TTFN
I too stick post-its to my screen - mine say 'put more cards on Etsy' and 'do fabric designs' and 'get more cards printed' and 'plant potatoes'.
Titania is fabulous! Do you know the work of June Crisfield Chapman? I picked up a couple of her wood engraving illustrations of Canterbury Tales, at an auction last year.
Hi Celia! - no I don't know June Crisfield Chapman, just googled to see if I knew her work but not her name (would be typical of me!), looks good and interesting work, I shall browse more.
Thanks for the comments! It is wonderful seeing your amazing woodcuts etc on here and fb....I keep thinking it would be great to talk nicely to my bike and see if she could make it across country one of these summer days to one of your stalls...you never know!
:-)