Best laid plans....

I truly intended to be here again a lot earlier to say the usual hellos and how are yous after the New Year, I was even going to do a lovely round up post of some of the fabulous responses to Claire Venus's guest post, but best laid plans....

To be honest, I just wanted to chill out and cocooned myself in the respite of holiday as much as possible, not easy when Sod's law dictates that as soon as you start to relax all the run down-ed-ness hits you like a freight train. With that and now the cold spell here in the UK, I find myself channeling my inner Ewok and living in my oversized fluffy hoodie with a plethora of hot water bottles surrounding me, (shout out to Slavoljub Eduard Penkala the inventor of the modern hot water bottle)... needless to say motivation has been left wanting at the start of January.

So what's got me to emerge from my cave of reluctance? Perhaps unsurprisingly to those who know me...art and birds. More specifically, an Instagram art challenge called Birb Fest created by Birdie Tam and hosted by @monkeymintaka. I saw the prompts whilst scrolling and on a whim thought 'hey why not, I love birds, I love drawing' so a-drawing I did go....

....in fact I still am and although I'm slightly out of sync with the main challenge timeline, I'm trying to be ever so strict with myself to take it at my own pace and not run full speed ahead and get burnt out before the year's got into its groove. The work I've been creating as a result continues to take me by surprise...in fact... *whispers*... I think it might be some of my best. The very fact I’m writing that feels like an act of rebellion, ye gods I'm proud of my work and admitting it in a public sphere.

So much of our sense of self is influenced through the various lenses in which others see us, that sometimes we forget to pause and take a good look for ourselves. This is one of the main reasons I started my 'You didn't win this award' series, I needed to remind myself, as much as anyone else, that the work I create has worth beyond what others may think of it. This may seem strange, maybe even counter intuitive when you're trying to make a living as an artist, which to be honest is indeed about hoping your work appeals to others enough for them to spend their hard earned money on it! And I'm not saying we should ignore this aspect, more that it perhaps shouldn't be given as much weight as we sometimes do. What I'm really trying to say is that before anyone else, work has to come from a sincere and honest place within ourselves for it to appeal to an audience beyond the one looking at us in the mirror. Whether it's a painting, or designs for a new range of products, as viewers, potential customers... whatever, we can tell when someone's giving of themselves in their work and even if it may not be our kind of thing, I like to think it resonates and we can respect it.

So after the last few years of negative chaos, that continues unabated for so many of us around the world, I've decided to let in a bit of positive creative chaos to my life this year. I'm embracing the surprise of this project whole heartedly, so much so I've surprised myself further by spontaneously launching a Kickstarter campaign for people to get any of what will be 31 of my Birb Fest illustrations, as prints.

This is the point at which I hope that the love for my new pieces is mutual and you'll all virtually run over to back the campaign on Kickstarter.....but hey, if it's not you're kind of thing, it's fine, I get it. Even so, if you could do a girl a favour and lend a hand sharing the campaign it would be much appreciated, I'd really love not to have to write about this one in 'You didn't win this award'....