December Musings; Its been nice knowing you 2025!
Goodbye 2025! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and managed to find some time to rest and recharge! I love Christmas but it is also full on and on top of already busy lives it can be exhausting right?!! I always enjoy the busyness of the Christmas period and the savour the downtime that the New Year brings in our house. We’ve seen family, opened presents, ate far too much and had a month of very excited children. But now the toys have found their way to the bedrooms, the chocolate is gone, and the decs will be coming down in the next few days ready for the new year ahead!
This year has gone in a flash and what I usually find myself doing (like most people no doubt) is to look back on the year and ask myself what I have done, what I have achieved, and what I planned to but haven’t! I am a massive planner and I do love that time in between the past year and the new year when you can look back in order to look forward. So this months blog, as its the last one of the year will be looking back over 2025 at what I have achieved (or haven’t!) this year!
A big achievement in April was the publication of the Neuron books series. Written by Marielle Bayliss and illustrated by your truly, they were a big passion project for us both; my son who has Autism and Dyspraxia was my inspiration.
They were a lot of work in a short space of time; 164 coloured illustration in 6months, but they were so much fun to illustrate. I just loved drawing the whimsical characters and I actually missed them when they were complete! Yes, having six books published is a pinch me moment, but I also strongly believe in them and that they can help children to begin to understand neurodiversity.
Creating and publishing books is only the start of the journey. The focus once they are in print is to make people aware of the books and to get them into bookshops, schools and libraries. That’s where the visits and workshops come in.
I have travelled to schools, bookshops and libraries and even painted the neuron characters onto windows! It has been such a big learning curve, I have met some amazing people and had a lot of fun doing it! The aim is to keep this up next year and step it up; we have lots of plans to get these books out there!
This year I went from working at the dinning room table to moving into my own studio, and I felt massively lucky to be able do this!
I love having my own creative space, having all my materials to hand and being able to leave things out without having to pack them all away.
I have also noticed the way I work has changed; I am working on larger pieces, playing with painting brightly coloured frames, and it is inspiring putting art on my walls whether it is my own or postcards of other artists work. My studio has had such a positive impact on my creativity and I’m looking forward to seeing where it takes me in 2026; I have a lot of ideas floating around my head!
As well as getting out and about promoting the neuron series I also exhibited at Art:Surrey at Sandown Racecourse in the spring and Epsom Racecourse in the autumn. I usually learn so much during these weekends both from chatting to existing or potential clients and from other artists exhibiting.
It is also lovely top catch up with artist friends!
The art fair in the spring financially was less successful however, this turned into a positive event when I was asked to collaborate with another artist I met at this fair in a gallery exhibition. It made me understand that these events are as much about selling pieces of work as it is getting your name and work out there and networking . You never know where they might lead!
During the autumn fair I had such positive responses about my work and how well the brightly painted frames worked that it gave me the confidence to develop this line of work further.
And then there is the main focus of my year and the reason why everything else happens; my work! The bird theme this year has continued in full force and so has the ‘series’ theme; I obviously like to explore ideas in different ways. I moved from uk bird minis, to colourful bouquets with birds and butterflies to more colourful bird portraits of Hummingbirds and Tanagers with a bit of attitude! Several of the UK Bird minis have found new homes, the large colourful pieces have received a lot of positive feedback and the bird portraits have as of yet not had an outing! I have been able to build up a solid body of work for the gallery exhibition in January!
On the business side I revamped my website and closed my Etsy shop, something I have been mulling over for a while. I had very few sales through Etsy and feel that although it was a great way to start trying to sell my work it was no longer working for me.
I also changed my Certificates of Authentication. This had been a job on my to-do list for some time and I now feel like they fit my brand and reflect my work. This was a big job done tick!
Looking back at this years January blog my plan was to start my newsletter (Im pretty sure this has been on my to-do list for a couple of years now!) and to sort out prints of my big work which I have researched and found a company but now need to book an appointment to actually do! Although I like to plan and to have targets it’s also important to be flexible as life happens. These two jobs will be a priority next year; I know I need to do them, but I really do now have to do them if you know what I mean?
Overall, I am really happy with what I have achieved this year business-wise especially as I only work during school hours and so time is constantly squeezed. There has been some big changes and bucket list goals ticked as well as some jobs that I have needed to do for a while. I think it’s really important to celebrate the little wins as well as the big; some years will be only little wins but these add up and are achievements in their own right. Its is so important to review your business as this is how you can plan, have focus for the coming year and keep it fresh. It always makes me excited and motivated to keep moving forward with it!
Celebrate your achievements whether big or small, be proud and happy. Here’s to 2026 and whatever it holds!!!
I hope you have had a happy new year. See you in 2026!