My dears, I am taking some time off to hibernate. I have been pushing myself beyond my limits for months: I can’t even remember the last time I took a full weekend off, let alone worked normal hours.

I need to eat good food; play in my art journal; have long lazy baths; read a big pile of books; watch some dumb films; hang out with my much-neglected family and generally recharge my batteries for the coming year.

Kirsty Hall: Snow Pub Blackboard, Dec 2010

If you’re celebrating, I wish you a joyous and stress-free holiday season. And if you’re not celebrating, I wish you a joyful and stress-free time anyway because I love you – look on the bright side, you’ll get to buy discounted biscuit selections and cheap cheese soon.

I will be back at work on Mon 3rd January 2011. If you’re waiting for completed work from me, don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you. Your work is scheduled (I made a database!) and I expect to be fully caught up by the second week of January. If you need to speak to me, I won’t be answering any email until the 3rd but I will be on Twitter intermittently.

My dears, I am taking some time off to hibernate. I have been pushing myself beyond my limits for months: I can’t even remember the last time I took a...

A little 3 minute video about the role drawing plays in my practice. First in a series of me banging on about drawing. While drawing.

Drawing Story No. 1 from Kirsty Hall on Vimeo.

See if you can spot the deliberate art joke.

Oh, and if you want any art before Christmas, you should order now.

A little 3 minute video about the role drawing plays in my practice. First in a series of me banging on about drawing. While drawing. Drawing Story No. 1 from...

When we moved into our house 13 years ago, the garden was so neglected that I thought I’d have to dig up the lawn just to have a few flowers. Then I started cutting back the hedge and discovered to my surprise that I already had large flowerbeds. They were just completely hidden by a ridiculously overgrown hedge and swathes of ivy, brambles and ground elder.

Kirsty Hall: Garden after the hedge butchery but still full of brambles & ivy, May 2003

If I wanted to reclaim my flowerbeds, I had to get serious.

One of the first things I did in my garden was to completely remove three enormous leylandii trees that were shading the entire space. It was obvious that nothing very interesting would grow in such deep shade. Most flowers and vegetables need light.

Your art or business is the same. You’ve got to make space in your life for Your Wonderful Thing or nothing will grow.

If your life is full of crap, there will be no room for Your Wonderful Thing. It will be strangled to death by other people’s needs and shaded out by all those sneers and subtle little put-downs.

You’ve got to clear the ground. Get rid of that clinging, stifling ivy and those spreading brambles.

Oh, you know what I’m talking about. That friend who’s oh-so-entertaining but only talks about their stuff and is mysteriously absent when you need help. That family member who pours scorn on Your Wonderful Thing and tells you to Get A Real Job. That clinging person who just won’t let go and insinuates herself into every space in your life.

Sometimes those people can be contained. There is still ivy in my garden – it’s good for wildlife & I am happy to have it on walls, trees and in the hedges – but when it starts to rampage through the flowerbeds, I know I have to pull it up or it will smother everything else.

Some people need firm boundaries or they’ll choke out Your Wonderful Thing. They won’t even mean to but they will, so you need to protect your flowerbeds. Arrange to have a pressing appointment so you can cut short that person who goes on too long. Graciously go into a conversation with that self-absorbed friend accepting that you’ll be in listening mode for an hour. Phone a different friend when you need help.

Kirsty Hall: New shrubbery and path, May 2009

Unfortunately there are some people and situations that you simply cannot afford in your life. Not if you’re committed to Your Wonderful Thing.

After three years of pulling up ground elder, I finally realised that all I was doing was spreading the damn stuff around. It is virulent as all hell and will spread from the tiniest bit of root that’s left in the ground. And it makes a lot of roots. I’m not quite sure what the Romans were thinking when they introduced it to Britain. I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Eventually I guiltily resorted to weed killer and I’m now ground elder free. Similarly I have at least one person that I cannot let back into my life even the tiniest amount because they absolutely will not accept boundaries.

I’ve dropped friends who were such drama queens that they sucked the life out of me. Sometimes I’ve been the person who’s been dropped. It is Not Fun to be on either side of that situation but sometimes it’s needful.

If boundaries won’t work & they’re killing Your Wonderful Thing, well, you have a hard choice to make.

Do you want flowers or not?

When we moved into our house 13 years ago, the garden was so neglected that I thought I’d have to dig up the lawn just to have a few flowers....

Ooh, categories vs tags, it’s like The Sharks vs The Jets. Except not.

Other ways I could describe them. Categories are like tags on steroids. Categories are like your troop carriers and tags are the specialist troops that live inside them. Tags are little goblins but categories are orcs.

Look, I’ve been up all night, I stopped making sense quite some time ago…

Watch this 7 minute video that I made to launch my fantabulous Artist’s Eyeball service and you’ll see that both categories and tags have their place.

Huge thanks to my second brave volunteer, Julie Shackson for being a guinea pig: you’ll be receiving your free Artist’s Eyeball soon, Julie.

What’s so great about Artist’s Eyeballs?

Remember Carol Nunan, who featured in our first video? Well, Carol got her free Artist’s Eyeball on Wednesday and promptly impressed the hell out of me by staying up to midnight to revamp her sidebar. If you visit her site, you’ll see she’s also got rid of the problematic ‘Monotypes’ button that I objected to.

Here’s what she wrote on her blog:

Well I won myself a free ‘Artist’s Eyeball’ from Kirsty Hall and I received her much anticipated report today. Veeery useful. Nothing like getting an objective view point from someone who obviously knows what they are talking about and who is prepared to be brutally honest. I like that.

So… hard on the heels of her report I’ve been doing some serious tidying up for my blog. I’ve done the easy stuff first. I hope you approve Kirsty. It’s still a work in progress but I have some direction now.

Damn right, I approve – way to go, Carol!

These are the kind of results that people get from The Artist’s Eyeballs. They can really light a fire under you. In a good inspirational way, not in a ‘call the Fire Brigade’ way. Because that would be bad.

What do I get?

A highly detailed, written report that will in no way cause your house to burn down but that will tell you what you need to fix on your website to stop people wandering around uselessly like drunken chickens.

You get a lot of eye and brain for your money: Full Eyeballs tend to be between 5 and 10 pages long, sometimes even longer. It’s a big old to-do list with a fairly large amount of to-don’t's thrown in. I don’t just say ‘do this’, I also tell you why you should do stuff.

And if I can’t find anything to say about your site or you don’t find the report useful, I’ll give you a full refund.

What if my site isn’t ready yet?

There is no expiry date: you can buy an Artist’s Eyeball now and use it later. Just make sure that you tell me on the order that you want to wait. It would also be helpful if you can give me a rough idea when you’re likely to need it, so that I can make a note to follow up with you.

You could even treat someone to one for Christmas & I promise to wear tinsel when I write it. Although it might be a bit like giving someone a diet book for Christmas; ‘Hi honey, your website sucks, Happy Holidays!’

Last chance for cheap Eyeballs

And let’s face it, who doesn’t want cheap eyeballs?

Blog Eyeball (including up to 3 static pages) – £50, now only £35
The Blog Eyeball is down to £35, which is £15 off – a truly delightful bargain, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Full Artist’s Eyeball – £100, now only £50
A Full Artist’s Eyeball normally retails at £100 but during this sale I’m offering it at £50, which is a rather splendid half price.

Full Eyeball with consulting – £160, now only £100
The Full Artist’s Eyeball with an extra brains consulting session is currently going for £100 instead of £160. That’s a full written website analysis plus 45 minutes of follow-up on Skype where you can delve deeper into what I’ve recommended. It’s the dinner and a date version.

Deadline

This offer closes at 5pm GMT on Friday 3rd December 2010. That’s today, people! If you’re going to buy one, you should do it now.

If you know you need an Artist’s Eyeball but find yourself temporarily low on funds, please email me and we’ll organise a payment plan that suits you. I am more than happy to do this – I’ve been where you are and I know what it’s like (it sucks!) – all you have to do is ask.

P.S. I am going to bed now: do not panic if you email me & I don’t get back to you instantly. As long as I get your email before 5pm today, we’re good.

Please note:
If there’s a high demand during this sale, it will take me longer than the usual 7 days to do your Eyeball.

Honeys, please do me a huge favour and pass this on by clicking on one of the share buttons below…

Ooh, categories vs tags, it’s like The Sharks vs The Jets. Except not. Other ways I could describe them. Categories are like tags on steroids. Categories are like your troop...