The Year of the Rabbit begins...

I need to start this post by saying an enormous 'Thank you' to everyone, blog readers, customers, friends and family, for their help and support over the last three weeks. I have been humbled by your kind words and offers of help, and in grim moments it is incredibly heartwarming to find a lovely email or have a friend call to offer help. Please know just how much I appreciate this. It was a pretty awful Christmas, as I went down with 'flu and a subsequent severe chest infection within 4 days of Steve's accident but everyone rallied around us, and my wonderful mother stepped into the breach ( what would we do without them?) and looked after everyone. My children have been fantastic, especially my eldest, who is eleven. She cooked, and kept the fire lit, and walked the dogs, and was altogether amazing!

As you can see, Steve is home, and well on the mend now.
Beetle is pleased to have a cosy lap to sleep on all day!
Christmas came and went in a bit of a blur - I sent no cards, and we didn't decorate or have a tree, as we were entirely snowed in and barely able to get out of bed. I did however receive one very special gift - it was actually commissioned for my birthday, but was just finished in time for Christmas.
This beautiful pendant was made for me by Jason of England.

I am SO pleased with it, I have barely taken it off since. Jason made our wedding rings for us several years ago, and I have been coveting another piece of his work for years. I requested that the pendant incorporated a silver hare, a piece of gorse wood, and 'vertebrae' bead. This finished design is better than anything I could have imagined!

And now, there are changes afoot for 2011. I am taking the plunge and moving to a larger rented studio, in a central location in the village. This is really exciting, although rather scary. It means I have to be more disciplined about work, though I hope this will be easier by not working from home. It also means that I will have to raise my prices this year. Not for prints, which can remain the same until ink prices rise, but originals are going to have to rise a fair bit. Charging £50 for a piece which takes me 2 days just doesn't make business sense! (But don't worry if you already have work commissioned with me for this year - it wont apply to anyone with whom I have already taken commissions)
Anyway, I'll tell you all the exciting details once we are safely in, hopefully next week!

So, my painting things are packed up, but in the meantime I have started a new quilt for these winter nights. It features hares (again!) and bees and some gorgeous recycled indigo scraps.
Happy New Year!