Two very good questions!
The last six months have been bit of a blur from my perspective, once Christmas was over and done with a group of artists we are part of managed to obtain an empty shop here in town and hold our first exhibition. It was mainly to prove a point that this town does have culture and if it was only allowed an outlet it could flourish. We weren't a roaring success but we got plenty of attention from the authorities (we weren't arrested, I'm talking about the local council) and lots of positive feedback from the general public.
Off the back of that we got lots of work in the form of creating a catalogue for an end of year degree course show for a local University. Lots of hard work and late nights as we only had a month in which to get it all completed from scratch and in to the printers. This year we are going to be working with the Uni and students from the beginnning, taking professional photos of the art work as we go. On top of all that the flat is being re-decorated in part by my landlord, the hall was done a few weeks ago and the bedroom is next, so lots of shifting things around to be done. A lot of time has also been spent in the backgarden tending our vegetables, the soil is a bit defficient in nutrients though so only really the lettuce and the tomatoes in the greenhouse are doing well.

We also had a short visit to Ireland to see my wife's Grandmother who is in a nursing home and not very well, it's a sad thing as I have only met her the once and think she is an amazing lady and will most probably never see her again. Whilst we are on the sad part of this update my own Grandmother died this week as well so I'm expecting to go to two funerals in too short a space of time this year.

On a brighter note I'm getting more enthusiastic about my photography and want to experiment further with delayed capture and light, I have a few ideas in mind for the future. We have also started a new hobby, traction kiting. Look it up on line if you are interested, it's immense fun and I'll post a few shots from our first lesson in my scraps.

Hope you are all well, take care.