I’m seeing lots of posts about Halloween. Lots of my friends are face and body painters/make-up artists so they’ve been kicking into high gear. Halloween used to be my biggest money making week of the year – I could earn a couple of months worth of mortgage payments in one weekend. Ah well… times moves on. I haven’t done Halloween make-up for anyone since 2018.
Lots of memories showing here…
As a matter of fact, I haven’t done any make-up since February of 2020. We went into lockdown barely a month after my last theatre production closed. I ceased all personal services because of the pandemic and have never started up again. Plus, my vision is now so bad that close up work on people’s faces just isn’t safe for either of us! I still wear masks in public spaces.
But, while I do miss all my great friends/clients and enjoying the creativity involved, I can’t say that I miss the physical stress of the work (on my knees, back and eyes.) Now that I’ve been “dormant” for almost four years I don’t think I’ll ever get back into it, at least not at that scale.
Pursuing my art degree has been filling my time now! Working on my MA Fine Art, which actually was only supposed to be a BA… but hey, when opportunity knocks! I have nine post secondary diplomas/certifications and figured it was time to step it up, academically speaking. I’d always wanted to get a fine art degree, it just didn’t fit into my life until it did.
My latest obsession is creating junk journals. What a load of work and fun! Combines my art (I include my prints in what I make), bookbinding, paper crafts, fibre arts, sewing, etc. I finished my first major one of my own design a week ago and have it up on my socials for sale. I love it myself, but won’t make use of it like someone else would. I say it is finished… but I still keep finding or coming up with things to add to it!
If you’d like to see the journal I posted a flip-through on YouTube:
I’m starting another one in a couple of weeks (*between postgrad assignments and work!) as I’ve had a special request. Won’t be as fat as this one, but should be very elegant.
This week I’m getting ready to head off on a short vacation – leaving Saturday to meet friends in Prague where we’ll spend four nights, then the high speed train to Vienna for four more nights, then I’ll fly back from there. I’ve got Klimt and Caravaggio on my list, and as many others as I can cram in. Our museum schedule is pretty intense.
Tomorrow I’ll be a Student Ambassador for the MA Fine Art program at the University for the Postgrad Open House, then Thursday our MA cohort is heading off on a fieldtrip via train to Exeter to visit three museums there. Friday I have to pack and submit my MA proposal online, do any last minute running around to prep for the trip, pack and Saturday we head up to Bristol so I can catch my flight.
I’ll be in Prague for Halloween.
Shannon Fennell's Blog 
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