Here’s to a Happy and Healthy 2021…
I can’t quite believe that we will very shortly be entering into a new year. It feels like it was only a week ago that everyone was thinking there was no way that the country would be put on lockdown. ‘Corona Virus 2019’ an epidemic on the other side of the world that would not reach or affect us. Even the word lockdown sounded foreign to us.
I know it seems from the positive, shiny Instagram posts that this year has been one of joy and accomplishment for me, but it started off being one of the hardest years of my life. I suffered an immense amount of grief in a short period of time and had no clue how to cope with it or how I’d get through the next few weeks or months.
Then, the world turned upside down and we were forced to stop and stay safe in our homes. Little did I know at that moment how a long lost hobby would not only help me with my grief, but also completely change my life.
‘Wave crest’
I started off painting a small little wave, when I look at it now it looks soft, timid and almost nervous. I can remember the anxiousness I felt painting it, that it wouldn’t look like a wave and I couldn’t possibly share it with anyone.
Then I painted another, which I felt more confident with and you can see there’s more power and strength in it.
That newly found confidence grew from all the wonderful comments and feedback I started getting from people on social media. I know I have said this multiple times, but I honestly wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for all that support.
I decided to try an aerial view painting next, flexing my new artist muscles. I had never painted anything like that before, but Holywell Shoreline will forever be my turning point painting. It led me into my aerial painting style, fed my obsession for wave watching whilst I couldn’t get to the ocean.
‘Holywell Bay Shoreline’ - on display in St Mawes Gallery, Cornwall.
When I think back to that person who painted that very first shoreline, she feels foreign to me, just like that word ‘lockdown’ was back in February. Unlocking that creativity forced something to click into place for me, something I hadn’t even been aware was broken.
If you had said to that girl that that painting of Holywell Bay would end up in a gallery in Cornwall, have been published in multiple regional and national magazines and fine art prints of it be hanging in so many wonderful customers’ homes, I would have laughed my head off at its absurdity.
My happy face :-)
I am so very grateful for every comment, every like, every purchase of a print or a painting or a facemask. Every time I see an order come through, I still get that rush of excitement and dismay that someone actually wants something I created! I don’t think that feeling will ever go away.
I am incredibly excited for what 2021 may bring, I can’t wait to share some exciting new ventures with you! I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year’s Eve, even though it will be different as everything has been this year. Thank you again (I’m aware that’s about the tenth time I’ve said that now) for all your support over the last 9 months. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2021.
Best Wishes,