The Politics of Making

It's a big day for local politics here today - We're voting for our next mayor. I'm quite a political person, although I try and hide it away on here.
I'm an old school socialist who believes in a big welfare state and paying as much tax as you can afford.
I believe in the value of art and culture for the masses and I believe this should be subsidised by the state.
I believe theatres have a duty to fund youth theatres and engage with their communities, and that if funding for these activities is tight then raising money to support them should be a priority.
I believe that making and mending is a political statement about moving away from thoughtless consumerism which does nothing but oil the machinery of capitalism and move the rich and the poor further and further apart.
I therefore am distressed to find myself working for a theatre which has disbanded it's education department, living in a city with a Conservative mayor (though hopefully for not much longer) and a country with an only slightly watered down Conservative government whose lives are totally detached from the majority of the people they serve.
So there you are, I have little money and even less spare time, but I will be running craft club in Pinner library this evening for free because I believe in the power of making and mending, and the importance of those skills being passed on. I charge much less for my toddler art workshop than I could or perhaps should because I believe that everyone should have access to art in their community.
But more than any of this I believe in democracy, and so even if you vote for a party I would never support, please make the time to vote today. It's really important.

Colouring in

Colouring in is terrifying to me.
Colouring with layers of tissue paper, or fabric or thread I can handle, but paints, pens and pencils? No way!
All my drawings so far have been in black/grey pencil or pen. If I'm to progress with my drawing though, I really need to get to grips with colour, so over the past couple of days I've forced myself to colour things in.
I'm starting with some nice colouring pencils, to ease myself into it. Paint is the next step I suppose, but that is too much for the moment.
So I've gone from this -

to this - 

I've got a long way to go before I'm confident in using colour, but I'm on my way there.

The aftermath

I ran my second preschooler art workshop in Ruislip today, a lot of squidging, stamping, sticking and painting went on and this is what was left behind...

We made bugs from paper bowls, drinking straws, paint, tissue paper and of course googly eyes.

Playing with the shaving foam was my favourite activity though!

Selling myself

The worst part of my job is having to be my own marketing department. I find it totally excruciating.
Today I've had to write a blurb explaining that I am utterly wonderful for a grant application, drum up business for my preschool workshops that start tomorrow, and have a meeting about marketing Harrow Open Studios.
Having enough confidence to show people things that I've made, let alone then having enough to tell people that they should pay me money to own those things...well that's a lot more confidence than I possess really.
Once upon a time I'm sure I must have had all the confidence in the world, just like this little girl who happily tells anyone who'll listen that she's 'a very good artist'. Which of course she is.