Gillian Lee Smith

Hello, hello!! Wow where did the first two and a half months of this year go? A while ago I promised myself I would not keep harping on about how quickly time passes but on this occasion I will go easy on myself. I have spent the best part of the year so far struggling with a viral infection of the inner ear which caused dizziness and vertigo at every turn so it has been difficult to get going but now things have taken a turn for the better and I am calling this a fresh start. I am now ready to get on with all of the things I have been struggling to do and make the most of all the plans I have for this year. Exciting times.

The biggest news I have is that I am (as of 30th March) a full time artist and tutor. As many of you know I have been working with older people for the last six or so years, first as a Reminiscence project worker and then once the funding for that project ended, more recently as a support worker. This job has been such a wonderful one and I have gained so much from that role both personally and professionally. But last year saw a larger commitment from me to my artwork and teaching with my first solo exhibition, the launch of the e-course and real life teaching and I spent much of that year juggling far too many plates trying to fit too much into the time I had around work. Every holiday from work was actually to work on my art or teaching and I barely had any time off.

So with the holidays I still had to take, I am now finished from my part time job and as sad as it is (and terrifying) the time feels right. So onwards to tackling the projects I have planned for the rest of the year! The first one on my list was to completely re-do my website and I have spent the last week doing just that. It might not look hugely different from the last one but behind the scenes, just about everything has changed from the foundations up and I am so glad to have it finally re-launched and back up again so that I can get back to the blog. I feel it looks more professional and clean and has at last been updated with all the work and info for my show. It still needs a bit of tinkering but that can happen over time now that the vast part of the work is done. I have a few more things up my sleeve which need a lot more work but those will come in time.

So this post is really just a ‘hello again and glad to have you here’. Now that I will have a better work/life balance I hope to update here more regularly with things that will be interesting and useful to you as I continue on in this new (ad)venture.

To celebrate the launch of the website, my new ‘full-time artist’ status and as a thank you for sticking with me up till now I wanted to do a prize draw. I will be giving away a copy of the Collectors Edition of the We all Cast Shadows book. There are only less than a handful left at this time and I am not sure when I will be getting more in! If you have purchased the book you can still enter – you will instead be able to choose a print as your prize (only available if you have the book already).

So to enter the rules are very simple.

1) Browse through my website and then go to the contact page and leave a comment – you can either say something about my work, let me know how you first found my work or if you notice any glaring mistakes in the website let me know so that I can fix them!

2) You will only be entered into the draw if you leave a comment.

3) Closing date is Friday 20th March when I will draw a name at random

4) I will then contact you for your details if you are the winner.

Thanks so much for your ongoing support so far – it is so very much appreciated.

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