It comes to the end of the year and I honestly can't think of a single thing I've done...which is why it's so helpful to record my work in these journals! Chill, Ailsa, you've made literally hundreds of paintings and drawings this year. Here, they're all laid out on your website so you can't convince yourself that you've done nothing. Get evidenced, idiot!

Starting with my final round of monthly postcard landscapes, collected below or here in their own wee gallery.

I've loved building up my collection of these A6 landscapes over 2024 and now they live in a satisfyingly heavy folder together. I've also stitched them in to this big digital collage, ta da!

I finished up this casual watercolour sketch book and you can check out the whole thing here in it's own gallery. I've got a nice pile of different watercolour papers waiting for 2025 as I'm hankering to make more watercolour paintings....I've actually set up a new palette and cooked up some new mixes to try that are drying in the art oven as I type.

I pulled out these, the four sketchbooks that I completed this year and I do like them...but more sketchbooking in 2025! I've got a project planned that will involve a lot of experimentation and I cannae wait.

I ended the studio year with this final A3 portrait, this time of Heinrix from the video game Rogue Trader. Unfortunately Rogue Trader, Space Marine 2 and the Eisenhorn omnibus have finally levelled up my nerd-dom and I now like Warhammer 40k. I am currently researching how to use my artist paints and tools to build and paint minis, pray to the God-Emperor for my soul and bank balance please.

Before changing in to my pajamas for the last of the year I did coax myself out in to the December cold to attend Gather, an end of year celebration of creativity in the area by Creative Arts Business Network. Attendees received a piece of the Remembering Together Tartan which I actually have a wee project in mind for for 2025. There was also live music by Katy Forbes and Ayliffe Rose and this was my first time watching a live performance since tentatively starting to learn guitar myself so I had a new layer of respect for the skill on display.

Gather also had a call to bring something you'd made this past year and something for the swap shop so I brought that CHONKY folder of my mini landscapes and some tiles for lino cut. Definitely worth leaving the house after 6pm for and I don't say that about just anything!

That's your lot for 2024! Come back for the first 2025 journal to hear about the big project I'm wanting to work on over the year, I'll link it below when it's up. In the mean time I have a Witcher 3 replay to crack on with, bye! Happy New Year etc etc etc