What another strange year…. started out teaching on-line for the London Film School, then moved into the classroom at Pinewood Studios and the Creative Media Skills team. That rolled into a combined course working with students at Bucks College on the diploma course for Art Department and Prop Making.
A wonderful opportunity then arose that literally took me ‘back to the drawing board’ to join the team working on a huge theme park project for Universal… can’t say much about it except that I realised how much I’d been missing the creative aspect of my job. Art directing can be very logistics based, I’m not really a digital person and have been finding the computer heavy world we’re currently in a bit much… great to be back on the board with T-square and pencil in my hand!
Another great job followed on from that: designing the final series of the BBC Alba series ‘Bannan’, a Gaelic language drama set on the Isle of Skye. Two big sets to create plus all the fun of working in one of the most beautiful places on earth. And with a bunch of lovely people! It’s screening last week of December 2021 – check it out!
The year came to a close with a brief stint on the pick-ups for a movie designed by Maria Djurkovic. Maybe a job too far, I certainly felt a bit out of my depth and realised just how much I still need to learn…. every day is a school day! But a positive experience in the end and I think the film will be rather good…
What’s in store for 2022… hopefully less Covid, that’s for sure! I’m keen to get back in the classroom as teaching on-line has its limitations. A nice little project would be good, Grenville is looking for something interesting to get his teeth into. I think I’m going to pursue more draughting opportunities, less stress and more creative.