I know, I know, I have been a terribly disloyal and an uncommitted blogger. A lot has happened since my last entry and to summarise; I got engaged and had a career change.

Quite by accident I began working at a primary school, initially as a visiting artist and then as an education practitioner. I have worked  with people with special needs sporadically for about 15 years and have always loved it, but being a teacher was never a consideration  That is, until I found myself teaching art…and I fell in love with it!

And henceforth I have been on, what feels like, the never-ending path of teacher training. Here I am, still an artist and now also a teacher, hurrah!

I haven’t had much time for my own artwork. I can however share with you this little treat that I did over Christmas as a gift.

]]> http://www.siobhanbromley.co.uk/all-change/feed/ 1 http://www.siobhanbromley.co.uk/power-in-academia/ http://www.siobhanbromley.co.uk/power-in-academia/#comments Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:57:44 +0000 Siobhán Bromley http://www.siobhanbromley.co.uk/?p=645 Hello lovely people and very happy sunshiney wishes to you all!

It has been far too gorgeous with my little world being awash with the soft pinks and whites of blossom trees. I t is fair to say that I have been considerably slack with my website of late and for this I do apologise but I have somewhat preoccupied with other changes in my life. No excuse, I know.

So, what have I been up to exactly? Well, most importantly, I have started doing a bit of teaching and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  I can imagine myself in 15 years time having a lovely little studio from which I run fab art workshops for kiddie-winkles where they can be as creative and crazy and wacky as they like.  There was infact a very interesting article on the BBC News website recently which discussed the need for art education in primary schools to be more creative to appeal to more to boys.  I was delighted to see that Children’s minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry said: “Learning to think creatively and express your ideas and imagination are, in fact, amongst the most important skills to learn and are indeed needed throughout adult life.” Here here!

Ooo, and lastly, I recently had my book cover design for Trentham Books re-printed for anther of their publications in the series:

I was perusing yummy moleskines website the other day and low and behold I stumbled across my own artwork. I got featured! I’m so flattered to find my work on another blog, specially amongst other featured artists of such talent.

Check it out and other moleskine porn at: http://www.moleskinerie.com/2009/01/inspiration-.html.

Happy thursday to you all…not long until the weekend now!!

Well, it would seem that my devious plan for sketchbook domination is working and I am cycling through the pages of my moleskine. It’s only early days but I’m now at the stage where if I have to something normal such as housework or eating, I find myself trying to hurry it along so I can get back to my scribbles. And I know it’s bad but if I’m chatting to someone I find I’m often thinking, ‘I could be listening to you AND doodling…damn those unspoken social etiquette rules!!’.

Here are two recent doodles:

I hope you all had a magical Christmas and New Year. Mine was lovely and busy as ever. I did far too little artwork, ate far too much food and got thoroughly spoilt by my nearest and dearest!

I did managed to do this piece as a wedding present for a very lovely couple who tied the knot over the festive season. Congratulation wishes to them! The wedding photographer was 11th Studio and the stunning images should be appearing on his website very soon.

Anywho, I wish you all the best for this new and exciting year. May it be full of adventures and you realise your dreams.

x

These are two pieces I’ve done to replace the ghastly default thing that looms above the pages of my blog.

I am terribly sorry for being so disgracefully neglectful of late, but I have been busy, honest! I have been spending much time wading through the quagmire that is computer land, learning and perfecting my skills in Illustrator….and it makes me feel funny! Seriously, my eyes go fuzzy, my brain feels like one of those knotted balls of elastic bands and time and space alter in speed, reality and dimension.

On the upside, I have found it very rewarding….eventually. The rare moments when I get to throw my arms in the air and squeal to the still unpacked boxes in my study, ‘I…oh yes, I, Siobhán Bromley…am a freaken’ genious!!!’, are truly priceless.

So here’s something I’ve been doing recently. The colours need tweeking.

A brief feather drawing to be used at a later date. I particularly liked this feather because of the way its tranquil shape has been disrupted on one side. It illustrates the relationship between calm and aggression, action and passivity.

I am quite sure that I shall be working and reworking this painting for a long time to come and I am looking forward to the challenge.

I am back from my week’s break in the beautiful Midi-Pyrenees region of France. I could have spent some serious time there if only I had taken my paints. Mind you, I would have had to come home eventually. So, what did I achieve artistically whilst there (bearing in mind this was meant to be a holiday)? Well, I did a fair amount of preparatory sketches for a pair of paintings I have been desperate to do for years (watch this space). I also did this drawing which I hope will eventually form the basis of a series of Lion and Tree images.

My head seems so full of ideas and pictures forming in the swirling mists of my brain. There just isn’t enough time in the day to get them all on paper even when I can make sense of them. Frustrating indeed but a thousand times better than the creative blindness I have suffered in the past. There’s no doubt, however, that I am having fun with my art and really feel as though it’s starting to grow into something.