And again I've returned to the theme of swimmers (see here & here). Maybe I'm particularly fond of old photos featuring swimmers because they always seem to be such happy photos, with innocence we've clearly lost. No-one in these old photos seems awkward in their own skin, no matter how much, or little, they're wearing. I wish it were possible to unmanipulate one's perception of beauty...

The process of creating an advent calendar has begun so smoothly I'm expecting some truly major problems any moment now. One third, eight boxes, that is, is already finished, but the real problem with creating a series is avoiding repetition. I have a set size for the boxes and a black-and-white photo in each box, so they're necessarily going to be quite similar, and I hardly ever steer away from my not-very-colourful colour scheme (and have absolutely no wish to do that), so each box I make is more work than the previous because I've already used certain techniques/layouts/materials and need to come up with all new combinations. Eight boxes is actually very, very little when you're working on a series of 24 (let alone when making a matchbox calendar year after year while also making art matchboxes not included in the calendars, so that's one more reason why I'm increasing the size this year). Anyway, work in progress photos appear on Twitter, and at some point here in the blog, too.