Well, here we are, craft fairs all done for the year, Winter Solstice tomorrow, and thoughts start to turn for planning for next year. Here is the start of the ‘I would like to do’ list (which is different to the ‘Must do’ list):

• Close nuMonday shop - done, unfortunately it was not a platform that worked for me 🙁
• Update Etsy regularly 🎁
• Explore pool noodles for packing ceramics - yes, apparently pool noodles are the way forward so I may be selling ceramics online soon without the trepidation of the postal system doing its worst 🍶
• Etc

Think I’ll sign off now and go an complete the ‘Would like to do’ list... so farewell from me, The Wiltshire Snares, Nimlet the Dragon and the newly created Christmas Badger 🎄🦡🐾

The creatures and their fairy friends are off to Glastonbury on Saturday 19 October and Sunday 20 October for the Karen Kay Glastonbury Fairy Fayre in the Town Hall. This is always a fun event with so much wonderful art on display and some fantastic frocks and wings from the visitors to the fair. This year I will be taking along my husbands work, first picture on the left with cards and prints of his fairy oil paintings.

The Autumn / Winter Craft Fair season is upon us, with the whirl of weekends wizzing by the run up to Yule. I’ve been busy making tree decorations for months and now starting to fire them, the 2020 calendar is now in Made in Bradford on Avon and online on nuMonday and various fairs booked over the next few months. Looking forward to being part of the first Cloth Road Artists Arts Fair this Saturday, 14 September in a new venue - Emmanuel's Yard, Trowbridge - and it will be lovely to finish with two trips to Avebury in December. Let the weekends begin!

After a lot of searching and reading of policies and percentages and postage rates, and some photography from TGH The Fireside Dragon is finally live on nuMonday. Will it be worth the £7 a month, plus listing fee, plus percentage from sales I ask myself? Hmmmm. We will see. Anyhow we are now live. As I type only the 2020 Wildlife Calendar is live, but more will be added over the coming days. You can find us on http://www.numonday.com/shop/the-fireside-dragon/

My Christmas cards are now available for purchase from Love from the Artist.  They can be purchased separately or as packs of five smaller cards.  They are also available for wholesale direct from Love from the Artist.
Card packs
Individual cards
Wholesale

In early March, before the Vernal Equinox, the first sightings of the Wiltshire Snare take place in gardens all over Britain.  This year I was lucky enough to find five handsome specimens coming out to greet me after their overwintering in the herb garden.  A number of these beautiful creatures have now been rehoused and I look forward to hearing of how they settle into their new homes as they start clans of their own in the new locations.

Christmas this year, same as last, was spent in Lyme Regis enjoying the bracing sea air and the wonderful sense of space that I find by the sea.  A world of crashing waves, ammonites and wonderful little galleries full of delicious artisan offerings.

The seascape and shoreline offers a wonderful colour palette that can never quite be captured, soft pinks and greys, watery blues and warm sagey greens, that inspire and take the imagination off to a marine world full of mermaids, sirens and weird sea creatures.  

Lyme Regis itself is steeped in history, if only the walls of the cobb could tell the tales of the scenes that is has seen unfold, the wonderful seafront houses could recount the Yuletide visitors and the sea give up its watery tales.  The imagination has the freedom and space to roam over the possible stories when you are by the sea, now to capture some of them with pen and wash on lovely new gifted water colour paper...

Welcome to the new home of The Fireside Dragon, here we are, Nimlet the Dragon and I, at the start of a new journey. The old site disappears shortly and this has given rise to a clear out, a change in feel and a slight change in direction.

The current social media challenge that has attracted my attention is #badapples12days with some wonderful words to illustrate. The first one was icicle, which I missed, followed by candlestick, turtle dove, angel and fairy lights. I really enjoyed illustrating angel and finding out my own idea of an angel and how it turned out when I put pencil to paper. These challenges give me a chance to play and experiment, with a specific focus and reason for doing so. Today’s challenge is ‘Christmas Carol’ - should I put up an image of one of my designs for this year’s Christmas cards or should I start a new image? Find out on Instagram.

Farewell for the moment from our new home, hope you find your way back here soon.

Rachael and Nimlet