Spent a busy week researching various art show and art fair opportunities, writing proposals and sending off applications for commissions, exhibitions and other events. This is quite a time consuming part of being an artist - unless you are well-known and established, artist opportunities don't come knocking on your door, you have to go out and knock on those doors yourself, and that does not always come easy.

You first have to spend hours searching through various websites, listings, magazine and resources to find some to shortlist. Then its time to go through them all carefully, deciding which ones are worth pursuing, which you want to pursue and which you think you might have a shot at.

Once you have a shortlist, then its time to start writing the proposals and submissions. You must read carefully to find out exactly what is wanted as sometimes it is not always clear and every single opportunity will be different, with different requirements and criteria. Also, take careful note of the closing dates as they have a habit of creeping up on you.

One of the benefits of doing the MA and then the BIPP Fellowship, is that it makes you focus on what you've done, what you've achieved and where you want to go. So I already had spent time on preparing a full CV and several versions of an artist statements, so it was just a question of refining them further and tailoring them for each individual opportunity. This is what takes the time.

Then of course, you need to devise a system to track all the applications you make, record which images and other documents you've sent and the closing dates for each one. If all the submissions I made this week came off, I'd have a real problem but that is not likely - you have to apply for many more in the hopes that one or two might come to something.

So, its fingers crossed time again. Watch this space.