GOODBYE 2o2o & 2021
Happy New Year, thank goodness 2020 is behind us all!

To brighten your screens with colours of hope and blooms of joy, as we patiently wait for spring and better days, I have adapted my bright and beautiful floral rainbow
​into this month's free desktop wallpaper.  

If you would like to get this FREE desktop wallpaper,
​then here's a link to where to join my mailing list:

JOIN MY MAILING LIST HERE​

What is there to say about 2020 other than good bye at last!

I am under no illusion that 2021 is going to be much different for a while, but I am hopeful that as the year pans out, things will improve greatly.  

 The world of science and medicine has given me great hope.  Thank goodness for all those who have worked tirelessly this year to take care of everyone and search for a safe, effective vaccine.  It's with huge thanks that I dedicate my rainbow blooms to all the NHS, scientists and key workers who have got us all through 2020.

I'd also like to say a notable thank you to everyone at Royal Mail.  Without their hard work and commitment to providing a regular service, my business would not have survived 2020.  I am certain that I am not alone, I know of many other small businesses that have relied on click and drop services to get through this year.  Watching projects get shelved, stockists shops close their doors for months has been tough, but I have been one of the lucky ones, all your online purchases kept me going and I am forever grateful for each and every order this year. 

My heart goes out to all those who have fallen through the cracks.  It's also been hard to watch local businesses that have been at the heart of our community suffer so much this year - especially in hospitality and the arts.  

Adapting to working from home has been easy for me, because I've been doing it for years.  What always made that work was the ability to escape to the coffee shops, restaurants and bars nearby to meet with friends, eat, drink and listen to live music (oh how I have missed live music). To stand shoulder to shoulder, singing at the tops of our voices, dancing, laughing, seeing each others smiles and being able to hug - feeling truly connected to those I hold dear, not just through a little screen on a gadget.  
These are all the things I will relish when we are able to do them all again, never to be taken for granted ever again....

While it's hard to do the usual New Year resolution, goal setting and planning that tends to go with this time of year - these are not normal times.

This year my focus is to keep going with hope and gratitude
​and to try to support others as I go. 

I certainly have plans to support some of my favourite British print companies in January as I restock my Etsy shop and prepare it for the coming spring (more about that in next month's blog post)...

I also have plans to pay my annual donation to Secret World Wildlife Rescue from the donations raised from sales of my 2021 calendar.  Thank you so much for all those orders and enabling me to do this.  Each year your calendar purchases help protect some of our local, endangered wildlife, which in turn helps preserve our beautiful Somerset countryside which greatly inspires my work.  This year charities have struggled, with charity shops closed during lockdowns and donations cut.  To be able to significantly increase my donation from last year is simply wonderful - thank you so, so much!

If you ever need a dose of goodness and wild animal cuteness to escape this harsh world,
I highly recommend following their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/secretworldwildlife

Sending you all love, hope and thanks
for all your continued support and custom. 

Wishing you all a very safe, healthy, peaceful and happy 2021!
Take care

Happy June!

The start of summer...
A summer like no other!

To put something bright and cheery into the world
and to try and keep us all uplifted in spite of everything,
my June desktop wallpaper features a very bright and beautiful
​kingfisher perched near the wildflowers.

If you would like to get this FREE desktop wallpaper,
​then here's a link to where to join my mailing list:

JOIN MY MAILING LIST HERE
​

How have you all been this past month?

Let's talk a bit about May, if only to document it a little for future reference.
This is my experience of the May lockdown...

Like most home based freelancers, daily life has a weird sense of normal for me.  
My husband has been working throughout this whole lockdown. It has been business as usual with homeschooling the only change to our daily routine.  I'm used to working with our two girls home, the annual six week summer holiday has taught me how to do it, so even to some extent that feels normal too.  However, I have found it much harder than before to focus on things, my mind wanders with all the things going on in the world and all the worry, especially with a household member going out to work in this pandemic.  Like so many others, we try to carry on as best we can, but we are very 'alert' to the risks and we all have to carry that worry daily.

Now it is June 1st and the schools are taking in many more children.  I refuse to say they are re-opening as many of my close friends are teachers and work in schools, I know they have been working all the way through, including the Easter and May half term holidays.  
This also makes me very 'alert' to the risks my friends and their families are facing.

I am sure I am not alone, but I have to be honest and say I have 'staying alert' fatigue right now, I can see why people are wanting everything to relax and be over.  However, that won't stop me from being careful as the risks are very real, the virus has not gone away.  Here in the South West of England, the rate of infection has gone up recently and at the end of May we've had a nearby general hospital (Weston General) close to new patients to cope with the COVID-19 cases.  So as we try ease out of our national lockdown, it's important that we carry on being very careful, alert and mindful of others while remembering that we are not all in the same boat.

So, to stay positive and keep going from the safety of home, I have been dipping in and out of lots of creative projects.  Things are slowly getting done or edging forward, but I am aware it's not as productively as before.  That's OK though, things are making progress and that feels good.  By focusing on small chunks of time and working on the project that feels right at that moment is helping me get through.  An hour here and an hour and half there, it all tots up and helps me escape from my worries for a bit....
​

​Some of those projects have been inspired by garden flowers and garden life.
If in doubt, I find it helps to seek inspiration from your surroundings, especially nature.

I also found a warm, fresh colour palette I wanted to try out that had neutral ivory, ochre, burn orange, coral pink and sage green hues in it.  Sometimes just playing with a new set of colours can take you to different places creatively and feel great .  These are great ways to start a new creative project when your mind feels a bit fuzzy and lost for inspiration -
pick an easy to access theme and/or colour scheme and simply begin.

The result has been some new patterns to add to my Society 6 and Redbubble shops...
​

​I also added lots of new illustration wall art prints to my Etsy shop, including this 
'Go Get 'Em Tiger' print.  There's a lot of tiger love going around at the moment, so I thought this would be a bright and sunny image to sign off this month's blog post with...

​ I hope that you all have a great June - we are half way through 2020 already!
​
Stay creative, take inspiration from the beauty of the nature that surrounds us,
but most of all stay safe and take care!

Best wishes