Hello, how are YOU? A lot has changed since I was here last.

Who knew what the last few years would bring let alone the past eight months?! We have had to endure this pandemic together in all corners of the world, with differing responsibilities and priorities. Whatever it has meant for you, I hope you, your family, and dear friends, have been doing ok and are keeping well.

With a lot of reflection during this time, more than anticipated, of course, I feel fortunate to have still been able to move slowly forward on some ideas that have been bubbling within me for some time.

When I stopped selling my prints and closed my Facebook business page, I was yearning for simplicity, to have the time to be able to take a step back to gain more of a considered approach to my work and business. The irony of this ask given the past eight months, is not lost on me. However, I soon found that what I was seeking required more from me than I felt comfortable. Compounded by having no other options like typical life distractions, or clients, alongside life ceasing to exist as I knew it, I couldn’t avoid it.

It forced my depression and anxiety that I have wrestled with since my early twenties, to the surface. It made me look inward and question every aspect of my life. Turning things over continually in my mind without any other choice than to begrudgingly sit with it and work through it, naturally, I’m still working through it. Still needing to change the internal dialogue, to relieve myself of some of the internal pressure. But some 20 years since, I was finally able to accept that I will probably always live with some level of anxiety and depression, rather than thinking of it as something I must struggle and fight with to overcome. That might sound simplistic, but for me, it has been a great relief to make that delineation.

All this to say that it has reinforced what’s really important, how I want to live, work, what I want to create and why. What form that creativity takes, is ever-evolving, only by doing does it start to take shape. So I am excited to continue to explore it, to move forward. Unconventionally, inconsistently, but considered. I am choosing to create for purpose, for something bigger than myself, focusing on doing what feels right, rather than what may be determined by others as right - quieting the noise.

So where to from here?

As I’d prefer to communicate more one on one, you can sign up for my email updates at the bottom of this page. They will be infrequent emails; I’ll be telling you more about what I will be producing and why. Additionally, I will be posting here on the blog - I may even do a monthly Things of Note post comprising of inspiring people doing exciting things.

Here’s to continuing to evolve even in the strangest of times.

R Xx