The "easy" life of a freelance artist...

"Yes, that's me, I work from home".

"Oh aren't you lucky!" people generally say, but what they fail to understand is that while yes, I can work around Rosie's school hours and be there to drop her off and pick her up from school, I have no social life, I don't sit down at the end of a long long day and relax in front of the TV. I work the 6 hours Rosie is in school. Then once she's gone to bed, I work until late and collapse into bed, then wake in the night panicking about all the work I still have to do. I can honestly say I work harder now, and much longer hours than when I worked nine to five. There's no sick pay or holiday pay either! But I'd much rather do this than anything else.

And occasionally on a Saturday evening, when I watch Merlin as a treat, or even more rarely, go out for a meal with John or friends, I really appreciate it!

My current projects to be completed before Christmas are a canvas portrait, three family portraits, some new Christmas card designs and a big pile of sketch cards! I'm fairly sure there are one or two other things too...I usually have two or more projects in the go at once.

Bad management? You might say that, but it does keep the adrenaline going; all this hanging on by the skin of your teeth and when each project is completed... it's a great feeling of achievement. I'm a hard taskmaster and a strict boss, but an appreciative one!

A couple of weeks ago, I completed 116 sketch cards for Topps. I'm still waiting to see if they've received them(fingers crossed). It was a long, hard slog and I put a lot of effort into making the cards some of my best work. I'm praying they have arrived and will be approved by LucasFilm. As soon as I get the nod, I'll post them up here.
Meantime, here's a shot of my messy desk to be going along with.