You know the old adage - time flies when you are having fun? I’ve been caught up in that old time warp again. Christmas Eve has just parked itself in my driveway and I’m not yet ready to deal with it all. Ho Ho Ho - can you believe that a santa was sacked for refusing to say Hi Hi Hi so as not to offend anybody. Says quite a lot about the person who did the sacking.

Oops sorry, pontificating again - though seriously Christmas has lost much of the magic because of penny pinching and political correctness. You don’t hear people saying “Merry Christmas” much in shops any more in case they step on cultural toes.

Study wise this year was pretty good, I have completed my first year studies and begun some second year ones. Next year I plan on doing more drawing because I need a structured environment to make sure I actually do draw regularly. Like exercise and diet it tends to languish in favour of my present infatuation. Yes, I’ve been spending considerable time on the net (too much time some would say) looking at images, downloading tutorials and the like, not actually doing any work, but it has been fun.

I still think I am making progress, slow but steady though and I have gone from drawing stick figures to drawing reasonably respectable sketches and it gives me considerable pleasure to see the changes. I have included a copy of one of the last pieces I did for assessment for the visual literacy unit this year.

I want to start concentrating on volume and shadow - my attempts in that area so far have been less than successful - still that is why I am attending classes after all.

This year I’ve met some great people and renewed some old friendships, listened to many hours of terrific music and read some good books, drunk more cups of coffee than are good for me and have made a start to getting my cholesterol level down, conserved water and succeeded in killing some perfectly innocent plants in the process. All in all it has been a rollercoaster ride in many ways.

So until 2008, I’d like to wish my readers a very joyous and safe Christmas, a happy holiday season and a New Year full of adventure and bounty. I hope that 2008 brings us all peace, health and prosperity.

Logging off, Jools