Imagine me, staring nervously at my laptop, wondering what to type.  Blank pages are terrifying, aren’t they?

OK, never mind the terrifying blank page.  Come in, sit down, have a cup of tea.  In fact, why not a glass of wine? Or a hot chocolate with plenty of cream and marshmallows if that’s more your style.  Comfortable? Good.  If you’re comfortable, then I’m a little more comfortable.

So.  Why start writing a blog, you ask? Helpfully, for the progression of this post.

Well.  Several reasons.  For one thing, I’m a writer.  Not a very prolific writer at present, but a writer nonetheless.  It ought to be easy for a writer to blog about her work, her projects, her inspiration (it ought…).  For another thing, I’m an artist and I’m increasingly realising that when people connect with a piece of art they usually want the story.  They want to know more about the artist, the inspiration behind the work and the process of creating it.  So perhaps I can do a little explaining here.  Also, I get a lot out of other people’s blog posts.  There are so many people out there generously sharing their ideas, experiences and expertise…their craft tutorials, their preschooler activities, their free crochet patterns…and I make use of them all the time.  (I read today that Pinterest users spend an average of 98 minutes per month on Pinterest.  Really? I’m sure I chalk up 98 minutes every two or three days…).  I help myself to other people’s freely shared information so liberally that I think I ought sometimes to make a contribution to the general pool.  I’m hoping to share ideas which have worked well for me and maybe attempt a few tutorials.  Perhaps I’ll start with a tutorial for a woodland faerie garland – what do you think??

Ah yes, faeries.  What, you wonder, has any of this to do with faerietales? I do love faerietales.  (Forgive my self-indulgent spelling…)  I love listening to storytellers, I love the beautiful illustrations which often accompany faerietales (I’m thinking of Arthur Rackham, Errol Le Cain and my childhood Treasury of Fairy Tales by Hilda Boswell…anyone else have that?) and I love modern, faerietalelike novels and short stories.  I would dearly love to create the sort of tales produced by the likes of A.S. Byatt or Angela Carter…and my recent writing does seem to be heading a little further into that kind of territory.

Strangely, faeries don’t very often crop up in so-called faerietales…but I’m at least equally drawn to the idea of faeries.  Most of my artwork is faerie or fantasy related and I go into a frenzy of delight (mostly in the privacy of my own head, I have to say) over the faerie and pixie inspired clothing and accessories which abound at the faerie balls and festivals I sometimes attend with my artwork.  ‘Faerietales’ seemed appropriate because the word draws together many of my interests and enthusiasms and also because – not coincidentally – the name of my online art portfolio is ‘The Faerietale Gallery’.

So there you have it.  Have you finished your drink already? Sure you won’t have another one? Well, I hope you’ll drop by again soon and check how I’m doing…and do please leave a comment if anything springs to mind!