Merry Catmas!

Hi lovely peeps!

Long time no post, I'm so sorry! 

Merry Christmas to all!
Do you all celebrate Christmas? How did it go?
If you don't, what did you do instead, if anything? 

Over here, we had a very simple celebration, with a movie (Bohemian Rhapsody. Twas pretty great.) and some delicious food on the 24th, and a more extensive dinner with some presents and a bit more family, on the 25th.
I got an external harddrive, because I sorely needed one (dem Youtube videos take a bunch of space), some money for art supplies, because obviously, and a tiny chilean good luck ceramic pig, because why not. It was fun, relaxed and uncomplicated. Just what I needed! God knows family can be tricky, but although ours is not exempt from its own problems, we do love each other a bunch, and I'm always glad to see everyone.  

I have been home in France since the 13th, and I took some much needed time to relax, see friends, spend time with family and annoy the cat.
I'm really sorry for not posting anything on here, or replying to messages for the last little while, I was so mentally exhausted after this crazy year that I kind of turned my brain off for a bit.
Plus, the internet connection here is abysmal, and just this one post has taken me 3h just to upload all the pictures!

I was hoping to send all your rewards before I left, but it turned out I managed to finish all the packages, but didn't get the time to go to the post office to drop it all off, so my lovely boyfriend did it for me a few days later. So all you rewards were sent on the 15th of December, I hope they got to you ok! 

I would have liked to do something a little more special for you all for this end of year, but I didn't manage my time as well as I would have liked, and didn't plan ahead enough to put something proper together, so I apologise! 

Here's a shot of my cat being cute to hopefully make-up for it a tiny bit...She's called Chaussette, she's 11, she's the nicest cat ever, and her biggest flaw is to constantly be pining for cuddles. 

I haven't had much time to draw lately, but I'm trying to get back to it, and have been doodling in cafes and on the way to see friends, without reference, and rather loosely. I feel like I haven't done any sketching in a long while, and my brain feels a bit stiff and out of practice.
When I don't draw for a while, the fear to start gets stronger again, and stops me from getting back to it, but I also know that the main cure for it is just to.....draw. So I got to get doing, haven't I!  

I bought myself a new toy, an ink pen with a flat nib from Pilot, called Parallel Pen. It's rather tricky to use, but Oh so much fun!
I also got myself a QoR watercolours starter set, as I only just discovered this new brand, and their claims are exciting, so I'm looking forward to giving those a go. I'll obviously keep you in the loop!
I have a little money left as gift vouchers for our local art shop, so I'll be popping down there soon to go a bit crazy. :) I'll let you know what I find of course. 

I have a few days left before I fly back to London on the 31st, which will mostly be filled with  seeing friends, and celebrating my dad's birthday. I hope to also manage to fit in a walk in the mountains or two, as I sorely miss walking in nature. I am from Grenoble, in France, and the town is in a valley completely surrounded by mountains. It's an absolutely gorgeous region, and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to come back here regularly. 

My family home is in the valley, but I also spent a couple of days at my aunt's who lives in the mountains proper, so here are a couple of shots of their home surroundings.
The silence was complete and beautiful, and it even started snowing heavily on the second day, which was wonderfully cosy and christmassy. 

I have loads of plan and projects for 2019, and I will be sharing all that with you soon in a New Year update, but in the meantime, I hope you are all well, that you all spent some lovely holidays, will have a wonderful new year, and are generally feeling as well as you are amazing. 

Take care lovely, lovely people, 

See you very soon, 

M

PS : I have been having some fun with the app Zoetropic lately, which lets me animate my drawings. How cool does this look! [This GIF might not work on mobile]