Approved! (continued. Part 5 of 6)

...and finally, these are the new panoramic double cards, which have already got sketch card collectors stirred up, and divided in opinion! I should receive one of these back.

Christmas is a coming...

I have three new Christmas card designs this year. Would have liked to do more, but time is pressing on.

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.

Kasterborous

I've been interviewed! Does that constitute my 15 minutes of fame???

Anyway, the nice guys over at Kasterborous had some spare time and space on their website, and last year hunted me down and thrust a list of questions at me.

Now it's up in all its glory, ahem!

Go and have a look, if only to check out a very informative and entertaining website!

http://www.kasterborous.com/news.asp

Deviant Artist

I've finally organised myself a page over at Deviant Art.

Still finding my way around. I've only just scratched the surface, but there's some amazing artwork up there!

Bit by bit, I'm putting together a gallery of my favourite artwork, so wander over and take a peek...if you so wish. :)

http://timedancer.deviantart.com/

Big Screen Doctor Who

70 Big Screen Doctor Who sketch cards completed for Strictly Ink.

100 cards now to do for Topps. I've been included in the Indiana Jones Masterpieces set. Yay!

2000AD

30 cards just completed for Strictly Ink's 2000AD series.

Portrait Artist

Here's a portrait just completed of Rosie's best friend Alice, and her little sister Millie.
All the time I'm working small and close, Jon Hall's words are echoing through my mind, "Work big, paint from the shoulder, forget the finer details!"

I will Jon, I promise. Lots of close work to complete first tho. ;)

Daleks ahoy!

Aah, twas a lovely weekend down in Somerset, at the Yeovilton Fleet Air Arm Museum, and the Dalek Day II event.

Finally met Alistair Pearson, an artist whose work inspired me to start painting Doctor Who portraits, long ago!

Caught up with Colin Baker and snuck lots of hugs!

The stall was a great success, thanks to a wonderful roadie - you know who you are!

Spent time with wonderful friends, had lots of laughs, good food, and relaxing times. Revisited old haunts Glastonbury and Aldbourne on the way home.

Never stop learning...

Last week, I enjoyed an impromptue art lesson with travelling artist Jon Hall, while staying in Runswick Bay. His wonderful canvas is the big colourful one above, which will shortly be auctioned for charity. My little sketch is now at home, where it reminds me every time I look at it, of how much I learnt that day.

Go check out Jon's amazing work at:

http://web.mac.com/suncage/Site/Suncage.html