I’m humming a song as I sit here ready to fire out an epic blog,

“welcome to my world, won’t you come on in, miracles I guess, still happen now and then”.

Where’d that come from! Intrigued as to who sang the song I quickly google. Jim Reeves. Well I’ll be…..Watery memories, dulcet tones and out of focus album covers are flooding the mind. Somewhere in that brain of mine, Jim has been logged, stored, imprinted on my very very impressionable young brain. I have my Dad to thank for that cache. Wish you could check and delete specific browsing history,  say from 1975? I put that to all you cognitive neuroscientists out there. Get cracking.

My world is white. My studio, cold. My hands, stiff, but my enthusiasm is red hot. I’ve been inspired thanks to my lovely artist friend Ann Ruddy who’s taken up the gauntlet with the #100heads challenge on Instagram. At first I thought “you’re mad. 100 heads…one a day, no chance”. I’ve been checking in and every day, there’s a new drawing or painting. I was starting to feel the creative itch unravelling in my gut. Then, Ann out and out challenged me to start drawing and mentioned the group who started the whole thing #404taken. 

So many amazing pieces of work out there, so many inspiring artists. That was exactly the impetus I needed and so I’m going to start drawing and painting and posting heads. I feel so charged right now, I’m aiming for 100 heads today! I can hear a familiar voice in my head “pace yourself Joanne” (pronounced ‘pea-is’ in Belfast).

And back to Jim and his significance in my world this morning. It’s amazing what the brain throws up at you and it’s amazing how the timeline of life seems to exist all at once. As a kid I was always drawing faces, particularly actors from Dynasty, Dallas and Falcon Crest, (we had 3 channels ok). I would see faces in the pleats of curtains, unravelled balls of wool, rough stone walls where I’d go to scrape the toes of my very boyish brogues, and in the bubbles of my Matey Friday night bubble bath. I’m still obsessed with faces and it’s only right that I do  what I say instead of saying what I do.

If you want to check out my heads, follow me here, not here here.