Hello friends, and hello February! Here in Scotland there’s still a way to go before we can start thinking of Spring, but I have noticed the days being slightly longer (if it actually gets light in the first place) and a few birds have started their warm-up exercises. I so miss birdsong over the winter, but there does come a point where I’m used to the silence so hearing the occasional Wood Pigeon coo, or Great Tit testing their voice is pretty magical, even if in a few weeks it will become the daily soundtrack to my life.
I could ramble on about the first snowdrops or how madly foggy it’s been recently, but instead let’s take a quick look back at the last three months since that’s the actual point of these quarterly catchups.
Highlights of November included the beautiful colours of the Scottish countryside, my first attempt at making crumpets, being the Good Ship Illustration artist of the month, seal spotting at St.Abb’s, and a trip to Newcastle for the Endless Love Creative winter fair.
Much of the month was spent prepping for Christmas sales, and my camera roll is full of pictures of new prints and stickers I ordered for the season. I also did some branding work for a couple of small businesses for their Christmas events and made the most of my trip to Newcastle by staying a couple of nights and eating all the food.
December brought my second Christmas fair, at my studio complex in the Scottish Borders. The artists organised it with the support of the staff, including doing our own bake sale, providing live music, and a poster by me. It was a lovely community day. After that December brought some snow, a visit from my very good pal, a festive meal with my studio buddies, a preview copy of my next book, a visit to my family down south, Christmas lunch with my partner’s fam, and a trip down to the aforementioned very-good-pal for a Yorkshire New Year.
I was very glad to have a good break over Christmas. My mental health had taken a hammering and I really needed to not think about work for a few days. So I enjoyed spending a few days with people I don’t see often (thanks to me moving 100’s of miles away from everyone I knew, oops).
January, as I spoke about in my previous post, has been a bit like hard work. Though without the literal work, mostly. It was very quiet work-wise, since I haven’t got a book on the go currently, but I have spent most days in my blessedly warm studio (which is only for the next year or so) drawing and dreaming and plotting and panicking. Not necessarily in that order. I’ve also been pumped full of Vitamin B12 and Iron tablets by my GP, and didn’t even entertain the idea of Dry January.
Highlights after ringing in the New Year in a Yorkshire pub, have been some amazing sunrises/sunsets (distressingly close together), some very crunchy walks, a lovely Burn’s Night supper with my artist gang, and a spontaneous trip to the Laing Gallery to a genuinely wonderful and inspiring exhibition.
Miniature Worlds (I was sold just by the name) is a fabulous display of original tiny art by such titans as Thomas Bewick, Turner, Ravillious, Kate Greenaway, and BEATRIX POTTER. It was obviously meant to be.
I’ve left a few photos here, but this kind of thing needs to be seen with your very own eyes if you have the chance. The exhibition is open for the rest of February and if you are also obsessed with all things small and whimsical, it’s definitely worth the trip.
That’s all for this roundup! I have a few fun things coming up in February, with the launch of my little Beatrix book and some promotional events. Stay tuned for pictures of me clambering around in bookshop windows, being generally overwhelmed in London, and live drawing on stage in front of a bunch of children. You’ll hear about that one later.
Please do let me know if anything I talked about resonates with you, or any highlights of your own from the past bit of time, I always love to hear what you’ve been up to.
Bye for now!