How to begin a new post when I have been absent from this website for so long!
Well, I have started by updating how it looks, removing pages and posts, some of which are over 10 years old, and starting afresh – I’ve left a few memories there, so we can look back on my time when I was a creative workshop facilitator, and could walk, oh the bittersweet memories.
My creative practice stalled after the Covid pandemic hit in early 2020, hence the silence from this blog for so long. Sadly the transverse myelitis I live with also took a hit, and my condition has worsened, I no longer facilitate family workshops because of this. I do however still volunteer with Pyramid and have since become a trustee of the charity. It’s not all bad news.
Since Summer 2021 I no longer have a ‘housemate’, and decided to use the extra space to primarily help with my mental health – lots of plants have come to live with me. Setting up my spare room as an art studio has been a dream. I have a gallery of nature inspired illustrative prints, purchased from talented artists across the UK, all adorning the walls around the room, shelves full of art supplies, surfaces to work on, and it is a space that I absolutely love being in. It took a few months to prepare, cleaning and decorating, then with the help of friends to manoeuvre the big stuff, and finally my (probably autistic) obsession with organising everything, I have created storage that is easily accessed and visually stimulating.
I like to sit at my desk, usually with my dog, Mickey, on my lap, and listen to podcasts, drawing, printing, editing – I still photograph now and then, and I can then disappear into my happy place. With the world currently falling apart around us, it’s definitely a distraction that is needed!
I’ve been sharing all the illustrations I have been creating in this space over on Instagram, but will now share here too. Who knows, maybe I can open up shop and sell a print or two (that’s a way off though, fatigue only lets me do the ‘boring stuff’ in a very limited capacity).