Creative life, creative hands

This blog straddles two distinct but intertwined aspects of my life - being a creative parent, mother and home maker and being a "Creative" - someone who has chosen a career shift which for me is into the world of mosaic art. On the whole, my posts reflect where my energy is going in a given week - family, children, mosaics and sometimes children and mosaics together!

The last few weeks have been given over to holidays, celebrations, Christmas and birthdays. Isabella's birthday days have been very happy - her "little friends" party was lots of fun and the 7 princesses and one prince went away with their butterfly wings and butterfly placemats! Her "favourite big people" birthday tea was just glorious as this little one glows when all her favourite people are gathered in one place. The highlight was Isabella and Toby doing puppet shows with the new (from the charity shop!) puppet theatre she got for her birthday - a big hit and very, very funny for the grown-ups to watch.

Now that my "big little one" has enjoyed her birthday, my focus has shifted back to the mosaics and it has felt sooo good to get back in the studio (which, despite the weather, is snug and warm).  Last night, my 'outgoing' mosaic class was together and I cannot tell you how impressed I am with the participants -beginners in mosaics who have jumped straight into complex designs and techniques. Wow! I will post pictures of the work next week. I also have 3 new students starting next week - all very exciting!

2010 has kick-started nicely with two new commissions and I am having fun, playing with a mosaic design for a tree that has been in my sketchbook for a long while. I thought I would share here the start of these works so you can see things evolve as the weeks pass.

I am also working on some new, exciting projects, including helping to set up a Community Arts project in Furzedown (the local neighbourhood in the town I live) and running Family Mosaic Workshops - more on these next week!

Its invigorating starting new things and I am glad that these new projects have started before January has finished. What new ideas, projects or initiatives are you starting 2010 with?