But perhaps I’ve cracked it now, it started early last year when I was contacted by a new American website that had found my work on Behance.com (a free and very stylish US portfolio site on which I’d loaded a couple of images and brief description of my work two years ago and then forgot all about……) loved it, and wanted to sell it in America.

The site was very professional; there was no cost to me other than a very fair commission on any work sold, so I got on board. My work went up, and four of my bangles were used in a full page advert to launch the website in the November/December edition of Elle Décor USA. And then my bangles started to sell, and sell! This exposure generated great interest in my paintings and ‘Within Without’ a big pink number was even blogged by American designer Tory Burch, which brought loads of traffic to my own website and (I hope) to others where I show my work. A couple of other American bloggers have written about me, and I think there were even a few tweets…………

The website owner is a huge supporter and has encouraged me to develop a range of tableware, she also recommended me to the organisers of Ecoluxe 2011, (a two day event focussing on the luxury end of sustainable fashion,) held during London Fashion Week over 20/21 February, where I’ll present my work to Buyers and Press. And not only that, the American website will also show my jewellery and paintings and launch my brand new tableware collection at WestWeek LA in March, a huge design exhibition for Trade and Press, America here I come!

(if you live in or near Los Angeles and would like an invitation do get in touch with me).

And now Open Studio is less than three months away and sometimes I feel ripe with possibilities and at others it feels like a complete impossibility that I will make anything worthwhile again. This is an old familiar sensation and I know (hope!) that it will be swept aside once the spark catches. So I’ll be thinking of you all, my Newblood comrades-in-arms as you all go back to your studios after the holiday – and if you are already hard at work – or have in fact never stopped I hope that some of your creative energy finds its way here to me in North London!

But I rushed home afterwards, fired up the pc and got tweeting. Mark gave some very useful advice on how to Tweet, and more importantly how not to and apparently turning up is not enough, it’s all about being content driven and humanising the brand, which may seem a long way from what we as artists want to do. But as Mark says it is all about real people, talking about real stuff, right now – and telling a story – and that’s good enough for me.

I have lots of opinions and ideas and like talking about my work so being able to share them in a short sentence a few times a day seemed ideal, I view it as my mini-blog. And after a few days it is paying off, I already have Followers, and not all of them are my mates, one is even a rather fabulous and fashionable design shop in Shoreditch……….I’ll let you know if anything develops in a concrete way.

It’s really easy to join in, just go to Twitter.com and sign up. I’m there as @AlexandraArtist so give me a tweet when you arrive! I’ll also be interested to know what you all think about Twitter……….and if any of you are already tweeting.??

It’s a job I would rather clean out my studio than do (and that’s saying something), but once I start it doesn’t seem so bad……..and it’s interesting what a good virtual clearout can do. There is something about putting some thought into the marketing that generates a different kind of energy, last time I did this I had several enquiries about the jewellery and sold a painting! So – fingers crossed………

Back to the studio next week to finish a small yellow painting (you’ll see it soon) that’s been lingering for far too long on the easel and to work on my new jewellery collection.

Istanbul has hundreds of galleries and this PV was one of ten happening around the city that evening, but it was well attended and the guests included a number of prominent Istanbul socialites, very exciting to watch papping in operation, I’m looking forward to appearing in Istanbul Hello shortly.

I was delighted to see the socialites loving my work, as despite being blinged up to the eyeballs with their own diamonds and Chanel bijoux they were racking my bangles up their arms, pinning the brooches onto their expensive bosoms and making significant purchases, totally thrilling.

The jewellery has been a bit of an experiment really, I use found materials and 23 carat gold leaf in my paintings and realised a couple of years ago that I could translate my techniques into ‘wearable artwork’. I began with small brooches which have gradually become bigger and bolder and then started making bangles. The jewellery is also a useful calling card for the paintings and gets me into a different market. Later this month I’ll be exporting a collection of bangles to les lucioles, a concept boutique in the heart of Shanghai, it’ll be interesting to see how the Chinese respond……………..

Anyhow, about Istanbul, what a fantastic city, I was overwhelmed with history, I spent yesterday at Topkapi Palace (so big that a day is not long enough to do it justice), we got there early and were able to wander around the almost deserted Harem, how I wish that those walls could talk. The atmosphere and decoration was incredible, here’s a pic of the Sultan’s exquisitely painted private dining room.

Interestingly I also saw Mohammed’s Tooth, the Prophet John’s Arm and the Saucepan of Prophet Abraham!

Visited a selection of other historic sites including Saint Saviour at Chora, a small Byzantine jewel of a church that became a mosque and is now a museum, it was encrusted with the most exquisite mosaics I have ever seen (see pic), utterly inspirational. Istanbul is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit as it is where my grandfather ended up when he fled Russia in the last days of the Revolution…….it didn’t disappoint and I know I’ll be back there soon.

Mosaic ceiling at the Church of St Saviour at Chora, Istanbul