July has been a quiet month creativity wise, I started a new job that although is only part time takes up most of my day while the kids are at school, so that huge chunk of 'me' time has now been quashed. I've struggled to get into a good routine to fit everything in, so I'll be working on that when the kids back to school in September.
I have done a few bits though, mainly some new prints which are aimed at children with a 'story telling' theme. I'm always coming up with characters, so instead of trying to publish a million books about them, I thought I'd try and sell some as story prints. Once framed and hung in child spaces, they can then decide what their names are, what their story is etc. I have no idea if these will be popular, but for now at least it's an outlet for some of my more unusual illustrations instead of them all being sat in sketch books or on computer files. Here's a few so you can see what I'm harping on about...
As well as these, I have been looking into some new arts and crafts like lino printing which I got a kit for my birthday to do. The main problem I have is finding the time and also the motivation to just do things for me, for fun instead of always feeling the end result has to make me money or something. I gets that's what comes from spending the best part of 20 years feeling skint, that if I can make money from something I should, especially with a family to support. I'm also wondering if Etsy is worth the bother, when it's so saturated with amazing artists, so I may look into selling via Instagram or something a little easier, not to mention free to run.
I am going to work on some new arts and crafts though with the kids over summer. We have air dry clay and heaps of craft supplies and they are always begging for craft time too. Also, I still have my whopping 40 inch canvas to paint for my bedroom, so I hope to get started on that this week as I always feel inspired after a week by the sea.
What arts and crafts did you get up to in July?
