Birthdays, birds and bleurgh

It's been what could mildly be termed as hectic over here at Loadofolbobbins HQ the last few weeks and much like I mentioned in my last piece, I had fully intended to present you with some more of my salient thoughts on various subjects, but as the title of this post suggests, I've been busy with birthdays, birds and bleurgh. We shall now proceed to take each of these points one by one and break them down...

Birthdays

It's been a delightful twofer in birthdays over the last week or so, I and my business have turned 38 and 10 respectively, another year on this beautiful planet seems increasingly miraculous of late. But made it we both did and surrounded by loved ones I went striding out into the woods...

Nature as always put on a spectacular display, I tell you there is nothing like being surrounded by bird song, trees and wonderfully a trio of fallow deer to reaffirm why this is such a fantastic place to be. That, combined with cake and presents, is quite a heady combination for a gal's birthday.

Having a business that has been pootling along for 10 years is also quite the trip, emphasis is definitely on the word pootling here, I'm no slick well oiled machine, raking it in, still very much a 'oh yay I got more tissue paper in something I ordered, I can reuse that to pack my orders' kinda gal, good for the planet and my pocket! But in the current climate, to have reached such a landmark feels special and definitely deserves a moment to look myself in the mirror and say, 'wow, go you, look what you did'. So in the spirit of celebration I have thrown caution to the wind and decided in my huge originality to do my biggest ever giveaway, over on, yes, Instagram, because to be honest all that cake really does sap the brain cells. Anyhoo, if you fancy a punt at winning a £50 voucher from me to treat yourself to some of me wares or, if you're a lovely indie shop, have £50 off a wholesale order, head over to this instagram post to enter. Closes at 12pm (UK time) on 11th February 2024. Good luck!

Birds

You may recall in my last post that it's been quite the bird filled year already, as I decided on the spur of the moment to take part in an online art challenge called Birb Fest, drawing 31 birds from a spectacular list of feathered friends. I then once again threw that there caution to the wind, (at this point caution and the wind are becoming the best of pals), and launch a Kickstarter campaign to turn them into prints and would you believe it, I've reached my funding goal and then some with 5 days still to go! No one is more surprised than me at this, to have people from all over the world see my work and go 'ooh yeah I'll have one of those' is never not magic. Inevitably there have been a couple of pledge cancellations recently and predictably I start thinking 'oh god is my work really rubbish', completely ignoring the majority of wonderful backers who are still with me on this birdy adventure....dagnammit imposter syndrome go sit in the corner and think about what you've done!

Enough of that, here's some of the 20 birds I have now completed...

So if you should happen to have a bird shaped space on your wall you can back the kickstarter here. While you're at it any good drawing vibes you throw out in my direction are much appreciated as I tackle the last 11.... I can do this right?!

Bleurgh

Now we come to the bleurghness of it all, yes in spite of cake and birds, the bleurghness has been creeping in and is very much responsible for my brain saying na ah to anything more in depth than this post. To be honest, I have gone rather full pelt at the year and my brain is probably experiencing a bit of whiplash, this combined with the prevailing damp gloom and the inevitable run down niggles that come with said weather it's no surprise that I'm feeling less than chipper. It's very strange to be creating what I think is some of my best work alongside feeling the bleurgh of it all and this is something I definitely want to chat more about, I've already been scribbling some notes for what I hope will be a good read for you all in the hopefully not too distant bleurghless future!