When I started work on my upcoming exhibition 11 days ago, it had been 347 days since I last did any physical work on my ‘art’. 347 days. Even though I knew about the exhibition at the end of last year. Even though my head has been full of ideas and plans. 347 days.

A solo exhibition in a venue like Salford Art Museum and Gallery is a dream and I know in my heart that I’m not going to be producing my best work because I haven’t been able to start work earlier.

The reason …..well the same reason many working artists don’t get any time to actually create art ….. money. We are blessed to live in a big house with a big studio in the garden. But we still have a mortgage and the energy bills / running costs are frightening meaning I have to earn a certain amount to balance the books. Not a problem when workshop take up is good and 80% of my ‘profit’ comes from teaching. But take up hasn’t been good since last summer and so I have had to run some workshops with just two students, to write another book, to sell more stuff through my online shop and to print and dye lots and lots of fabric to sell at shows etc. Long, long hours without the same level of ‘profit’. Don’t get me wrong, I love every part of my studio life but 347 days? And the prospect that, realistically, there will be no time for art once this exhibition is hung?

Something has to change. After a lot of discussion me and hubby have decided to pull forward our plans to downsize and move to Scotland. Small house + no mortgage = lower income needed = Leah can make some art + spend more time with hubby. We were always going to move in 3 - 4 years, we just can’t see any ‘benefit’ from waiting until then.

So 2024 will be the last year I teach in my studio in Manchester. We will start the move in January 2025 and expect it to take a year (mostly because we need a small house with a suitable studio attached). Not sure exactly what I’ll be able to offer in 2025 but I do intend teaching 4 times a year from 2026 onwards. This maybe in my own studio or in a space that I rent or I may teach in other peoples studios. Time will tell. And I will still be writing books - the next one will be a new edition of my breakdown printing book - and offering online workshops. And I’ll still be doing the Glasgow show in March and Festival of Quilts in August. I’m not retiring but I am taking the pressure off and actively shifting the focus of my life back onto making art.

However that’s for 2025, there’s a lot to keep me busy before then!