This past year has been one of change, both in and out of the studio. Before our youngest child had even sat his final A level exam we made the decision it was time to quit our rather snoozy Surrey home after 18 years and head back to our much missed London life, whilst we still had the vim and vigour to get stuck back in. However this also meant downsizing to some degree and with it the loss of my garden studio.
Fast forward a year and a bit, during which we have been fully submerged in the rather extensive renovation of our new home, a somewhat tired and dilapidated victorian semi, and at last I’m able to come up for air and consider how best to move forward with Studio EJM.
That’s not to say the sculpting has been on hold. I continued to attend my regular class in Clapham and make progress on my life sculptures throughout this spell, my kiln taking up temporary residence there, but without a private, dedicated space in which to create my own designs things outside of class ground to a halt. Thankfully our new environment had the bonus effect of spurring me on to try and find a sales outlet for my work that had been languishing in packing boxes since the move.
Late last year I stumbled across a new exhibition space in SW London where I was able to showcase my work throughout November and December and pick up some of those much needed sales. This welcome cash injection along with some wonderful public responses meant I was at last able to cast about for a new studio space and finally ‘go pro’. Now that I’m settled it was a relief to find my creativity had not completely dried up during my year away. I’ve already managed to come up with a number of new pieces, trying out some new directions, and now that they have all emerged from their first firing unscathed I will be moving on to the exciting phase of selecting glazes that will make them truly come to life. I look forward to sharing the finished results with you in the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, I need to apply myself to the more arduous tasks of marketing, promoting and selling my works if I’m going to be able to keep the studio up and running. I’m sure any artist will tell you this is probably the hardest part as it takes us away from what we really love to do. But with every upside there is always a down so time for me to stop jabbering on here and get to it. Have a great week everyone.