MAMA

Love
Coloured pencil on Stonehenge 9 x 12
Copyright Jeanette Jobson

I have come to the end of the commission and the final image is shown here. Now I have a couple of demos to do for classes in January and a lot of organizing to complete.

Tomorrow I will tackle a personal review of 2007 and share some plans for 2008. I just need to put them all on paper first. I like the reality of words on paper sometimes over typed words. There is something comforting about putting pen to paper, no spell check, no delete button. A quiet corner by the fire, a glass a wine and some reflections of the year past and the year to come.

Katherine Tyrrell of Making A Mark blog has awarded her 'Make Me Think' Gong jointly to me and Tracy Helgeson. I'm thrilled to receive recognition from Katherine and honoured to share this with Tracy whose work is energetic and writing always brings me straight into her life.

Katherine says:

Strong contenders in this category - which means people whose blogs I enjoy reading for the narrative as much as the images - are:

• one of last year’s winners Robert Genn (The Painter’s Keys) and his twice-weekly newsletter
  
• Tracy Helgeson (Works by Tracy Helgeson)
  
• Jeanette Jobson (Illustrated Life

All three frequently refer to the wider aspects of how we live our lives, difficulties we have to deal with and approaches which seem to produce good results. They all speak about both everyday matters and bigger concepts in an everyday way. They often make me step back and think about what I'm doing and how I relate to what they are talking about. In other words they take my perspective out for a spin!

Of course no pressure now to write something thought provoking!

On top of that, Katherine also offered the wonderful Tripod up as a contender for "The Moose" Award - Best Animal in an Illustrated Blog. Tripod, my cat, is the character that captured attention both in photographs and drawings in 2007 and earned me a Best of Show as well for this drawing. Contenders for "The Moose" were varied and all excellent artists. Gayle Mason of Fur in the Paint was the winner of this year's award and so well deserved. Her animal drawings are superb.

Recognition from your peers is something that does several things. It provides confirmation that you're heading in the right direction. It provides an ego boost. It makes the hard work worthwhile and it makes the friendships forged in this unnatural environment real. It also removes geographic barriers and allows sharing of thoughts, resources and lives.

Thank you Katherine and to everyone who reads my blog, shares their thoughts and helps me learn. Perhaps we all need to start these end of year awards, based on personal criteria and input from other artists. Lots of creative little banners could pop up on blogs full of 'feel good' emotion and support.