Pulling my socks up
Time to get started on new things!
Well hello there! Although it’s a bit late to be wishing you a happy new year, I hope 2024 has been kind to you so far. As I’m writing this there is rain pelting against the windows and the wind is howling outside. Despite the dreary weather there are snowdrops popping up everywhere, and fresh new shoots are appearing out of the soil, soon to become daffodils and crocuses. Inside, it’s nice and cosy at my desk, and Jeffers has curled up behind my chair in his favourite spot on the rug. This is the first time I’ve sat at my desk to work in a couple of weeks. Having had a pretty gentle start to the year, giving in to the need for rest and extra sleep, it’s time to pull my socks up and get started on new ideas I have in mind for the coming months.
I am very aware that I spent a lot of last year saying ‘new things coming soon!’, full of good intentions, but with little motivation to actually do very much to make it happen, or feeling a bit lost and not quite sure where to start. I’m drawing a line under this, and embarking on a brand new phase of personal work and starting from scratch. I’ll share more details about this very soon, but in short I am going to be looking to my number one source of inspiration: nature. I plan to dive right in to my sketchbooks - drawing outside regularly, or from memory, and experimenting with mark-making, colour and textures - and I’m going to allow ideas to develop organically from there. I’m not quite sure what the final outcome will be, but that’s all part of the fun!
I’m also going to document all of this here on Substack, sharing in-depth posts all about what I’ve been doing as things progress. I would also like to write a bit more about my practice in general too; about my favourite pencils & paints, my favourite paintings & illustrations, things I’ve learned over the years… I’m not completely sure how it’ll take shape but I’m excited to figure it out as I go. If there’s anything you’d like to see from me, let me know in the comments or drop me an email!
The most important thing I should mention is that I plan to launch a paid subscription option, to help make all of the above happen! There will always be content available for free (at the moment I’m planning for that to be a monthly thing), but the more in-depth stuff will be for paid subscribers. Over the next month I’ll be doing a bit of a trial run and keeping everything I share free, so you can get a taste for the type of thing I’ll be writing about, before launching a paid option in March. Exciting!
In other news
I’ve got a new studio set-up! Same space, different layout. I used to share the room with my husband, but he has moved his workspace down to the summerhouse in the garden (it sounds much fancier than it actually is!). I’ve now got two desks, one for painting and computer-based stuff, and one for cutting paper & packing orders (which I can keep paint-free, hopefully!). My desk is closer to the window so I’ve got lots more natural light. I am loving this new set up, and I just need to get some new prints for the walls and maybe some more plants…
The last months of 2023 were spent pretty much working non-stop on Pet Portraits - it was full-on, but it is always lovely to be painting beautiful pets. I’ve been slowly sharing the recent portraits on instagram, and here are a few of my favourites…
My diary is very much open for commissions so do get in touch if you’d like me to paint something for you.
Finally, I also have a bunch of prints available in my shop and some with 50% off! I was supposed to have discontinued these… but long story short I have some stock leftover from a market I did in December and would love for them to go to new homes. I know I previously said the A-Z range wouldn’t be available any more, but this time I mean it! Once this lot is gone, they really are gone!!
OK, that’s all from me today. I’m excited for the new chapter that lies ahead, and I will be in touch again very soon to tell you even more about my ideas for what’s to come!
