Had a bit of a disaster with my laptop, which, after 10 years of wonderful service has been stood on and I'm currently trying to work round a cracked screen. Less than ideal, and you'll have to forgive any typos because it's very difficult to see what I'm typing. I doubt it's worth replacing the screen on a 10 year old mac book, so I fear I'll have to dig deep and replace it - not great timing, but these things happen - and at least it still works, just hard to see past this giant central blow out and the flickering is quite distracting...

Other than that, it's been quite a productive week - I finished the 2 drawings I was working on. It's a triptych of triptychs - 3 dead hares, 3 dead pigeons and 3 dead squirrels. They've all framed up really nicely but it's very hard to take photos of them - I'm going to put them all up for sale using the Artist Support Pledge on Instagram, but need to get better photos first. They're all done on white A2 paper with 0.05 black pen with some white gel pen detailing.

Think that's all I've got for this week - the screen is really distracting and making it very hard to type. If I don't update any thing next week, that will probably be why! 

It's been a strange and sad couple of weeks, so I'm a little bit behind on making and sharing, but I do have a few things to put up this week. Firstly, though 'The Artist Support Pledge' on instagram (set up by artist Matthew Burrows) I'm selling a few drawings. They're all up on my instagram (@jessicaheywoodart) but I'll post some here as well. All drawings will be flattened, and shipped in protective cardboard - I will cover UK shipping prices. Please drop me a line if you are interested, or have any questions.

'Play with Clay' is still continuing as well - I've ordered more air dry clay (in both white and terracotta) and as soon as I've finished the 2 big drawings that are currently underway, I'll have a bit more messy play. Here is the finished painted maquette I was playing with a few weeks ago, and a silly little clay snake (based on my brother's milk-snake Sally).

Last week I listened to 'The Discomfort of Evening' by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld which was a really fantastic and deeply disturbing book - I use Audible for audio books and would really recommend it - this title is currently only available through that subscription I think, and it's really well read. I found quite a few passages incredibly visceral and difficult to listen to, lots of it made me feel physically sick and really uncomfortable, so it's not an easy listen/read at all, but definitely worth it in my opinion.  It's a semi-autobiographical work about 10 year old Jas whose older brother dies suddenly in a skating accident. Not necessarily one to try out right now if you're struggling with either personal or communal grief due to the current situation, but I found it really interesting to listen to grief through the perspective of a child, and consider the obsessive, concentric rules and rituals we create for ourselves around death. 

Finally, here's a sneak peak of my current drawing - hopefully I'll have this one and it's accompanying piece finished by next Monday...

This week has been one to focus on family and remind myself that life is so much more important than art. I don't have any work to share but have found a great deal of comfort in these 2 poems (posted below this text). If you're also managing grief, I'd also really recommend checking out Nick Cave's 'The Red Hand Files' www.theredhandfiles.com 

​Take good care.