So there I was, leafing through the pile of letters, still dizzy and groggy from what ended up being an extended hospital stay, and I found that one of my cloudscapes (see the image above) has been accepted into the Oexmann Exhibition at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes next month. What a joy it was to read! I'd submitted several pictures to the exhibition selection committee knowing that the chances of selection were slim, but thought that it's better to have one's work in front of people than not, regardless of whether its a single extra set of eyes or multiple eyes, it's still more than there would be if the pictures stayed in my spare room.

​It just goes to show, no matter how slim one's perceived chances, it's worth taking a shot - you never know what delights might happen!

(for the exhibition details, clickhere or go to my Exhibitions page)

I've been back in Wiltshire and away from Skye inspiration for a little while now - and about to go into hospital - so I need a portable form of being creative. I was lucky enough to receive a book on art journaling for Christmas (No Excuses Art Journaling by Gina Rossi Armfield) and thought this was the ideal opportunity to start to explore it. The suggested exercises include choosing a daily colour and word, creating a pattern (I select two or three zentangles to put together) and do a weather sketch. There are weekly and monthly tasks too which develop one's mind and art skills in various ways.

It's early days but it's simply lovely to experiment and stretch the creative muscles in an accessible structure :)

It's always a delight to see my pictures take up new residence and this week was no exception when I was invited to take my recent work, along with a commission to one of my collectors. The large picture (top left above) was the commissioned piece and the other three were selected from my cloudscapes to match them. They have all been created this year and three of the four were from the '30in30' collection.

​It was a privilege to go to the place where the pictures will be housed but it was an honour to be able to advise on how they would potentially fit in with the interior and feel of the room they were intended for - the pictures selected in-situ were very different to those chosen when we met in another location beforehand. Everyone is different but it made me think of how I could potentially work in the future. I take my colour-intuition for granted and can usually tell what will work with what in a house, room or wardrobe. Other people have intuitions and skills in other areas and do not have this particular strength so it might be something I look to offer in the future, may be with photos of rooms etc. if an on-site visit isn't appropriate. Food for thought...