So, anyway...

...it's been quite a year really.

Unfortunately, time for personal art and blogging has taken a distant back seat to the frantic craziness that is my family life, these past few months.

Earlier in the year, my little boy turned one year old, and the day before his birthday, we got some pretty upsetting medical news about him – news that's going to have a continuing impact on him throughout his life. Initially this sent us into something of a tail-spin... it took some time to absorb the enormity of the information, and really, I guess we're still in that process.

At about the same time, a rather large freelance illustration job came my way, which has kept me pretty busy for a few months. While my amazing partner has taken on the lion's share of attending the many therapist's and doctor's visits related to my son's condition, still there has been little time left for anything other than hunkering down and concentrating all of our energies on the small but engrossing circle that is our family.

While thoughts of my graphic novel surface every now and then – proof that perhaps there is some spare creativity bubbling quietly away in the depths of my subconscious – I have had little chance to get anything down on paper, or in pixels. In truth, I guess the importance of the project has faded in comparison to the other aspects of my life, for the time being at least.

Hopefully I will be able to show you some work from the aforementioned freelance job in the next few months. In the meantime, here's a picture of one of the biggest projects of them all:

My beautiful son, and in the background my equally beautiful daughter with their granddad Barkie on a warm April evening on the shore of Lake Taupo.