Imbolc

Imbolc, Imbolg, Brigantia, Brides day, St Bridget… 1st of February.
stepping aside from the personal journey and what the day means, and means to me this year, forgetting for a moment the way the stars twinkle through the trees in the small hours between the worlds of winter and spring…

Art wise I’m very frustrated as so many paintings cluster to get out but i am under a mass of pressures, from a mass of directions, doing quick digital ‘doodles’ seems to be one way of allowing stuff out whilst not neglecting all the more mundane and administrative real world chores, chasing debts, pushing projects and fighting for paid work. I’m taking the pressure off by calling them doodles, by setting time limits, by not taking it too seriously & fretting about neat lines, lovely textures and nice marks, by doing them sat on computer inbetween doing all that other work, rather than dragging myself away to the easel where i’d get lost for days. They may be ropey, but smothering that creative energy completely, smothering all the real stuff away inside, is no healthy thing for any artist. Something like this below starts to happen!

This was Monday, by Tuesday the Imbolc drawing at the top. These images are all about my personal stuff yet they seem to fit with the significance of the dates, are we so swayed by the cycles without? I wonder what would come out if i did one everyday? setting myself a challenge like that is probably yet another pressure i could do without though!
I’m also chewing over some themes of ‘Freedom’, ironic that i don’t have the freedom to blog / draw those up either….