After avery very sleepless night dreaming of sledding—why for heaven sake at my age!!! I awoke to the sound of verocious winds and a good storm  as you can see from my kitchen window I can see very little and nothing is standing upright outside for long .

It is coming straight down the valley at about 50mph and I am the first thing it meets Thank goodness they knew how to build in those far off days.

T oday on my work table I have had some of the beautiful fibres from Rod and Karalina the colours all natural are so beautiful and am making anew eye case as I am always losing my glasses do not in reality think it will stop that but my eyes are much more likely to look for a beautiful piece of felt.

Today I have had about 6 emails from people looking for the new book on Blurb –sorry due to myself deciding to move to the North permanently after Christmas and Nicolas’s Mother being ill we are behind.But we are not panicking and rushing things we are simply re forming  and planning for a Spring  launch .

The whole world is in recession and it will not be improving this year I fear, so as Artists we have to find ways to sustain ourselves whilst this is happening.Look very carefully at pricing structures and also what you are paying for goods everyone has to lower their sights and the profit margin and that includes our own suppliers.Do not be afraid to ask for loyalty bonus if they cannot lower costs after all your business keeps them in business.

Look at your sales and decide what you would honestly pay for an item not what you hope to get or feel you are worth, in these times our own self esteem has to be high but our expectations realistic.I have brought down the cost of all my goods  to the galleries and shops but only leaving things for a1 month turn around or asking for payment (a tad lower) upfront .

I am also not making the jackets this year unless commissioned for one and paid 50% upfront which I feel is fair.With only 2 in my order book I fear a lean year in that area.

But we must keep developing and looking forward  I am going to use extra time I have to develop a new body of work ready for a gallery showing and also plan ago write a murder book all based around forensics (well Nigel has studied Forensics)and toxicology  or good old fashioned poisoning,all within the fibre related world.

Be prepared to email galleries outside your area and include imagery of your things  often sales can go very well in another part of the country as fresh ideas hit the shops.

When buying anything for yourself please look at your fellow artists wares first before looking elsewhere.

The hills now look so pretty I am going to try and get some images by opening the back doors a tad. I dare not go out too far I will be blown over.

Just managed to talk to Nicola on Skype thank goodness for technology.