Well I have been away from my studio for over a week but have still managed to get a bit of art done here and there. I took a trip to Yarrawonga just after Christmas with my partner Tim and our 2 dogs and it was great to get out into nature and just relax. I did a little bit of painting and some drawing in between drinks and nibbles. The drawings were much better than the paintings but at least I got some creative juices flowing. It is amazing how quickly you can loose productivity and creativity with a little time away. Now that I am back in the cool clean landscape of home (my feet were dirty for days, at least we had the river to keep us cool) I am back to it. Well not today it is 35 degrees and the studio is just too hot for painting. Anway I hope everyone reading this has a great new year and that 2012 is prosperous for all.

Well after almost a week of blockages of the artistic kind, I have been cleansed. (Holding back on the toilet humour here). I think sitting back and trying to re-think my intent helped alot, along side a short hiatus and some relaxation.
So what do you think of the two new paintings? I am pretty happy with them, a little more work needed but almost done.

It is hard to get over the hurdle of an artistic block especially when you are trying to create something new. Over the last few days I have been experimenting with a few different ideas. The two main ideas are to somehow re use plastic packaging in my art that is not recyclable via the normal methods and to add an other dimension to my painting style. Needless to say these are just the beginnings and not particularly fruitful. It all came to a head yesterday and I felt very overwhelmed by the fact none of the stuff I was doing was working. So I walked away from it all, had a good hard think and wrote down what it was I wanted to do. This has helped a great deal and now I have a better idea of how to make it all happen. A craniosacral session with Tim Munro also helped settle me down. Sometimes we just need to get away from whatever is frustrating us and think about what we really want.

Well I am very excited, my new website is online and almost finished, just a few minor touches to do. Check it out:  http://www.janickejohansen.com/.
Life has been very busy getting the website up and going and creating an online store on madeit.com: www.madeit.com.au/janickejohansen
I am also going to be at the Rose Street Artist Market in Fitzroy, Melbourne on the following dates in 2012: Jan 15th, Feb 5th & 19th & March 4th.
So why not come by and visit me as well as check out some other great artists.
Anyway I have some art experimentation to do, so signing off for the first time.

Cheers Janicke