Season's Greetings!

A little note - you might want to find a comfy place to sit and get a nice warm cuppa (and a biscuit - always a biscuit!) before taking on this blog post....

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, Season's Greetings to those who don't and just a plain old hello, have a wonderful day to those who prefer to bypass the seasonal festivities!

It's that time of year for celebrations, contemplations, reflection and looking forward to the New Year.

2013 has been a year of opportunity, new projects and lots of hard work for me.  I chose to say "Yes" to every opportunity that came along...

...as a result, I have enjoyed being a part of some wonderful experiences...

...I've discovered new skills and directions I'd like my work to go in...

...and I've produced some new pieces that I'm very proud of...

 ...however...

I've also had Laryngitis, Glandular Fever, (a miscarriage), Labyrinthitis and clinical Exhaustion!  Saying yes to everything has been a wonderful experience, but the biggest lesson I've learned this year is that I have limitations which my body will not allow me to exceed, however optimistic and determined I am.

To give you an idea of what I've been doing to cause all this stress; in 2013 I have:

• Worked on: 9 Sculptures

• Finished: 4 Sculptures (counting Albert and Victoria as two as there are two set of details in there)

• Almost finished: 1 Sculpture - I hope to finish him over the holidays, sooooo close!

• Completed: 4 Pet Portraits

• Made: a LOT of moulds!  Honestly, I truly do not know how many moulds I've made this year!

I count around 27 there including the waste moulds, but I've not taken photos of all the Minibust moulds (of which there have been a lot - I've cast a great number of those models now) and can think of two more I don't have photos of too!  I included the photo of Myla's Mules as I have been casting some for her, but haven't taken a pic of that mould either.

• Just an aside, but I disposed of a large number of moulds this year - I recycle them into new waste moulds where I can but eventually you just end up with way too many moulds to be able to deal with.  Included in the "great clear out" were the Union Jack moulds from the 2012 Hullabaloo resin edition - all 12 of them!

• I've cast: 1 bone china claybody custom model (courtesy of Donna Chaney and her team allowing me to use their china mould to produce my own little Unicorn)

•  I've cast a great number of resin models.  Although I have out-sourced some of my white resin casting I still do some of those in-house.  It's the coloured resin which has been the big project this year though, I think I'm around 400+ casts now but that's just a guesstimate, I've not been able to keep track of all of the casts I've made this year!

• I've organised, planned, budgeted and commissioned over 30 custom glazed Union Jack China models with Donna and her team at Animal Artistry.  The edition is still only half-way through, so there will be more of these guys made in 2014 too!  All of these were glazed by Donna's team except for photo number 3 (appaloosa), which was custom glazed by Adelee Hude after Animal Artistry provided the bisque.  This edition has been a great deal of work this year (for both me and Donna!), but it has been a real pleasure to do and I hope to be able to offer more models this way, should Donna be willing of course!

2013 has been a pivotal year for me.  I've pushed things as far as I can and I've found out where my limits lie.  I've worked 60+ hour weeks consistently throughout the year (including my full time "day job" as a Creative 3D Designer) and have discovered that this is not a viable work ethic.

So, what does 2014 hold for Kelly's Studio?  Well, 2013 was all about saying YES, 2014 is going to be all about saying NO.  Only to works that I have not created myself and works that take me away from my vocation as a sculptor and casting artist, mind you.  My husband has been brilliant this year at guiding me to see where I've lost time working on projects that I shouldn't have taken on.  My husband, Adam, is a true linear thinker. I am, however, a creative thinker so together we can make a pretty formidable team, should I just listen to him a bit more!  2013 has been amazing, full on, intense, I'm so glad I did this to myself (I know!) - had I not, I'd not know where my boundaries lay and I'd forever be pushing to do more and more.

I have a few outstanding commitments (both sculptural and pet portraits) taking me into the New Year.  My plan is to complete these commitments and then assess exactly how much capacity I have for new projects and try to develop a more healthy work/life balance.  I'm hoping to be able to slow down in order to feel less pressure and allow my creative juices to flow more readily - the saying goes "you can't force art" and it is very true:  What I have discovered recently is that deadlines bring me stress and stress brings me illness.  So, Jasper and Pickle The Crabbet Mare are coming up my priority list for next year.  They may not be completed, but that's OK as I refuse to set myself a deadline on these pet projects of mine which is why they have been held back so long by other "more pressing" projects.

More commitments will be inevitable in 2014; I hope to join in with the Hullabaloo once more in 2014 which may mean a new sculpture, but Dancing Daisy was a triumph this year for my workload management and I plan to use this format again.  I have a few exiting (secret for now) projects coming up which will likely bring with them pressure and deadlines but with my resolution to take a step back I hope to plan these into my workload much more efficiently than my "do as many hours as possible" attitude of 2013.

So, if you've made it this far though this epic post, well done and THANK YOU!  Thank you for being a part of my creative journey; thank you for your interest in my work; thank you for coming along with me through the ups and downs, the triumphs and disasters and thank you for reading my blog.  I truly couldn't do what I do without your support and interest and the inspiration I draw from this hobby every day; I love that people can see, show, customise, display, paint and judge my work, I know so many members of this hobby have much subtler roles which are just as, if not more important than my role as sculptor.  I have drawn inspiration from other sculptors, preppers, finishwork artists, tackmakers, photographers, business-women and men, real horse owners and riders, other artists and the collectors, without whom all of us "creatives" would be lost!

THANK YOU for an amazing 2013!

See you next year for more fun, creativity, nonsense and pretty ponies!