I have some goals for 2019 and one of them is to get my work and thinking out there more using my preferred social media sites. I’m not sure that this blog fits that description but seeing as I have it, i’m going to give it a go. I’ve had this blog for a few years but have failed to maintain it in a disciplined way for any length of time. Maybe this time I will keep to it. I have been inspired in this endeavour by Austin Kleon, of whom I am a huge fan. His own blog is excellent – interesting and well constructed – and he himself is a a very talented and interesting writer and blogger. I read Steal Like an Artist a few years ago when I was a TAFE and was impressed with his take on influence and influencing as related to being a creator. One of my current reads is Show Your Work. Kleon’s books are short, succinct and pleasingly visual and as such are a quick read. But I don’t want to read Show Your Work quickly so I am rationing myself to one chapter a day and then maybe reading it again the next day and taking some notes on stick notes and posting them somewhere that I can see them in my studio.

I have a reading goal too. One of my daughters set a reading goal last year and recorded it on Goodreads. She quite a good reader, fast, accurate and interested, so I was not surprised that she achieved what seemed to me to be a fairly ambitious goal. I found it inspiring too because I love to read and have fallen off the reading habit a bit, mainly because of my love of digital media and its alluring ways. Anyways, my reading goal for this year is 40 books and I too will be recording the books and my progress on Goodreads.

I am currently reading Hunger by Roxane Gay. It is an incredible piece of writing. Memoirs are one of my favourite genres and reading Hunger makes me realise the degree to which many writers frame their memoir to, quite understandably, reflect well or at least kindly on themselves. Hunger seems to me to say ‘here I am’ in a way that I have not encountered before. Great reading.

I have definite plans for the art I want to make this year although I haven’t done much so far because my mum died on the 6th January. She had been unwell for about 20 months and visiting her and my dad had been a big part of my life over that time. I drew her a few times over these last months.

Anyone who knows me also knows that I love to knit. I am a compulsive maker and need to keep my hands busy. Knitting is the perfect activity for me. I love the patterns, the yarn, the colours, the texture, the knitting community, all of it, and when I am knitting I feel engaged with all those things, not just the item in my hands. My most recently completed knit is this divine garment, Nordiska, designed by Caitlyn Hunter, the talent behind Boyland Knitworks. Here is my version of Nordiska.