Five years ago I wrote an introduction to this project which now, unsurprisingly, feels very out of date. (If you like, you can read that first, now that you know).

I started Fifty Projects as a way to work through ideas I had planned, and even bought the tools and materials for. And it worked - I have learned, and put new skills in to practice, and have finished pieces to show for it. But last year I felt like I’d lost my way. I hardly took on any new projects and those that I was working on... I'd lost all motivation. 

Years ago I read Barbara Sher’s book ‘Refuse to Choose’ - a book for people who are curious and passionate about many, many different things - and the one paragraph that stuck with me was, of all places, in the epilogue. It reads:

‘You need to do something extraordinary or you will never be satisfied.’ ‘You need to throw yourself heart and soul into something you love and give it your very best effort. You need to push past your boredom barriers and take at least one of your passions to the absolute limit you’re capable of’.

Unwittingly, I’d stumbled on the one thing I wanted to focus all of my attention on. When random projects collided - glass wafers, abstract painting and colour - I realised that I wanted to take this idea and go deeper than before. Investigate, explore and see what I could do with it! 

So, glass wafer abstracts are taking up most of my time but I’ve also realised that side projects still have value - although I am trying to do one at a time! The timescale for getting to fifty is ever changing, but the original idea to use it to push myself to take on new and exciting projects is still there.