I spent this past month working on stairway railings and window frames for clients and before I start on this year's final order, I thought I'd clean up the workplace and get cracking on another small sculpture.
It's looking pretty clean now but it won't be for long.
Expect more sculptures in the near future, as I'm about to go through some important life changes. Some of you may know I have been having back problems for quite some time now. A stupid accident 25 years ago left me with a double hernia which acted up from time to time but which, for the most part, I could live with. These past years however it has gotten worse. Blame it on getting older or the tough job as a blacksmith, but I have come to a point where I can no longer do this work. I've already taken things a bit slower this year, not taking on the really big jobs, but every time I get better, I hurt myself again and it gets worse. I am living on painkillers. There are days I can hardly walk.
So... decision time. Surgery is not an option, so... Continue this job and possibly wreck myself? Quit everything and find a desk job? Or do what I've always wanted to do and become a professional artist? My heart says yes, my brain says no. So I need to find something to keep both of them happy and that means more art and the occasional small odd job to have some financial security. Basically the opposite of what I do now, which is 90% blacksmithing and 10% art.
So I will be on the lookout for exhibition opportunities. The Naïa Museum in France is taking my work to a tattoo convention in Vannes in January. I'm planning on doing an art fair in Denmark in April and we're doing something in Poland next year.
In short, I am open for business. Exhibitions, collaborations, artist services (we cast bronze!), art fairs, commissions...
Get in touch!
I'll give this a shot in 2019 and if it doesn't work as planned, well then I guess I'll go looking for a real job. It's now or never.
So stick with me, kids. This should be interesting.