It's time to clear the decks and make some changes!

Last week, I talked about the importance of letting go. This week, I'm taking action to make that a reality. I'm letting go of the old and ringing in the new.

That means I'm having my first-ever studio clear-out sale and I'm also releasing some new paintings. This week, I want to share how that came about, because I think there's an important message there.

But first, if you want to jump right to the sales page and grab yourself a holiday gift, HERE'S THE LINK. You will find sale items, but also 6 new paintings that I am really excited about.

So, what's the important message?

When I first started making art, I held on to everything I liked. If I made a good drawing or a halfway-decent painting, I stored it away. I think this was a way of proving to myself that I could do it; a kind of reassurance. But I also think it was about my lack of self-belief. "Good" paintings felt like accidents and I wasn't sure I'd ever have another happy accident, so I was reluctant to let them go.

As time has gone by and I have gained more experience, I've been less 'clingy' about the things I make. I don't feel the same need to prove myself and I know that my creativity isn't limited. So I tend to discard most of my studies and experiments, unless they are inside a sketchbook. But there are always a few things that I hang on to. Something about these pieces touches me and I feel I need to keep them - maybe for reassurance, but probably more for inspiration.

And so, after a period of exploration, I may discard 90-95% of what I made, but there will be 5-10% that I hold on to. That doesn't sound much, except that I do a lot of exploration! So over time, things start to pile up and just recently I began to feel the weight of the past in my studio.

I have been feeling a pull to make some different work - not landscape-based, but purely abstract. The ideas are swirling around in my head, but I have been struggling to pin them down and find words for them. And that's where the past has been bogging me down.

How can we make a fresh start when we're surrounded by what we did before? It feels like trying to start a new relationship without ending any of your past ones.

That's why I decided to have a proper clear-out. I would keep my sketchbooks, but everything else had to go.

So I started emptying drawers and clearing tables and I made two piles on my studio floor. As I looked at each piece, I decided whether I had any feeling for it anymore. In most cases, the answer was 'no.' In most cases, I just didn't feel the connection anymore. Often I couldn't even remember what it had been. Those ones went on the 'bonfire' pile.

But there were a select few that still touched me. These included landscape studies, abstract compositions, and some portraits of Tracey Emin. I didn't want to burn them, but I knew that keeping them around would hold me back. That's when the idea of a 'bits & bobs' sale came up. I'm going to New York after Christmas and it would be nice to have some spending money, plus I'd love to know these pieces have found the home they deserve.

You can find the sale HERE.

And this is where it gets exciting. Having removed the past from my studio, I was now free to look at the present and I realised that six of my newest works were almost done. I spent a happy few days adding final touches, and I have now added those paintings to my site too. You can see those HERE.

These paintings have sparked a whole new creative surge for me. I am excited to move forward. There's some more studio tidying to be done because I now see that this new work deserves a complete clean slate. It deserves space to breathe, so it can expand and grow into whatever happens next.

I am so keen to get started!

So my question to you this week is this: Is there anywhere in your art practice where the past is holding you back? Could you benefit from clearing a path to your future work? This could be as simple as tidying up a painting table or as large as finding a new studio space. Whatever it is, I hope it gives you as much creative energy as this sale has given me.

PS: All the bits and bobs must go by next Saturday, so if you want one, now's the time to grab it!