I haven't added a blog post for a while, so I thought it might be apt to take up the baton again in 2014 and ramble for a bit over my hopes for this brand spanking new year. For me, 2013 was a really tricky year. Something to do with unlucky 13 perhaps - I don't know - but what could go wrong, did go wrong, so I am hoping that 2014 (even numbers are much better) is going to be an improvement. It is probably a false hope because a new year is only a change of numbers - all the issues stay the same, but I live in hope. The one high point of 2013 was my painting. I got so much enjoyment out of it and also all the interplay that takes place on the gallery. It was often a life-saver to pull up the gallery on my screen and be greeted by the Snail Brigade - I do hope they continue to thrive in 2014. At the end of 2013, I decided to immerse myself in pen and wash. This medium was actually my first love and the reason I took up watercolour painting in the first place. However, I had a set picture in my head as to what I wanted my work in pen and wash to look like and nothing I produced came even close to it, so in frustration I gave up and went on to do what I call 'proper' paintings. I think the problem was that I kept doing the odd pen and wash and never really got to grips with trying to work out what I was doing. This brings me on to an interesting point. If you wish to explore a change of medium, do you just go for it hell for leather and do nothing else until you feel you have got it cracked, or do you dip in and out as the whim takes you. Which produces the better results and better progress? I know that some people use a variety of mediums and change from one to the other with ease. Does this retain a freshness, or does it hinder real progress? I have no idea what the old masters did in this respect and it would be interesting to find out. I do know that Turner would have several paintings on the go at once but I presume they were all in the one medium. However, I dread to think what would happen if I tried to do several paintings at once - a right mish-mash that might turn out to be. I wonder how people do it. Anyway, enough ramblings. I intend to use 2014 to really try and improve my painting and I know I shall enjoy every minutes of it (well - ok then - not the bit when I chuck work in the bin) and if I manage to turn out the odd decent painting, well that will be a bonus.