Back to Work

And making plans...

Happy New Year! For many, today marks the return to work after the Christmas break which perhaps explains the many social media posts I’ve seen about January blues. I get it. You’ve had a long break. Depending on your preference, you’ve either had a diary full of social engagements or you’ve been in full hibernation mode with classic films and a duvet. You’ve had a free pass to eat whatever you want, have a glass of cava with breakfast and lose all sense of what day it might be. Now you find yourself up before the sun trying to remember what it is you do for a living.

But I love January. Perhaps, in part, because I struggle with Christmas. It’s all just a bit too much for me, so there’s a certain pleasure in returning to the routine of a regular week. But I also love that fresh start feeling, not to mention the beautiful low winter sun flooding my desk or the sight of wild geese flying over my house. For me, this first day back to work proper (I didn’t fully stop over Christmas) is about reflecting on last year and setting goals for the one ahead.

Sunlight, ivy and sketchbook on my little desk

Last year’s goal was to move away from the product-selling side of my work and to focus more on picture book illustration. But last year also wasn’t the best I’ve had in terms of my health. I stopped taking my immunosuppressants in order to start a new treatment. Five months and five infusions in, it was apparent the new treatment was doing nothing for me. By that point I was also on high doses of steroids to control my symptoms. Unfortunately steroids bring with them all kinds of horrible side-effects of their own. Between illness and steroids, I had one month in which I didn’t even leave the house and others in which I had such severe brain fog, it took me all day just to write an email.

In many ways, last year also wasn’t great work-wise. I didn’t make as much progress as I’d hoped when it came to overhauling my portfolio and sending my book dummies out (nine months of illness will do that). It also wasn’t great financially. First the EU’s product safety regulations changed, making it impossible to sell there. So a chunk of my Etsy business was lost. A far more significant chunk was lost later in the year when Trump’s tariffs removed the US portion of my sales. It all added up to a big financial hit which has led me to reconsider that side of my art business.

But that was last year. January marks a fresh start, new goals and new plans to reach those goals.

The big clear out

Despite the setbacks, I’m not going to close my Etsy shop. I love seeing my illustrations in print and I love packaging them up and sending them out across the world—well, across those parts of the world I can still access. But I am overhauling the way I do things and the products I sell. The greetings cards and paper dolls in my Etsy shop are based on my old watercolour illustrations and, while I still like them, they’re not reflective of the artwork I create now. So they’re going. So too are the animal prints and sticker packs. With the loss of EU and US customers, I don’t sell as many prints as I used to but those I do sell require paper, inks and all kinds of packaging material. All of which has to be bought in bulk and all of which takes up a lot of space. I’m ready to take a break from that. What this means:

1. Throughout January there’s 50% off the remaining prints in my shop and 40% off greetings cards, stickers and paper dolls. When they’re gone, they’re gone. (There’s also 15% off newer items which will be staying in the shop).

2. My prints will still be available through InPrint. The quality of these prints is really gorgeous and they’re available in the US and EU!

3. New designs will be coming to my Etsy shop soon. They will be available as large postcards, both vinyl and paper stickers, wooden decorations and other things I haven’t fully decided on yet. I know not everyone likes to use Etsy. I don’t currently have a shop section on my website, but if you see something you want, you can always drop me an email.

I did nine art market/craft fairs last year and enjoyed every one of them. So I’m hoping to do even more of them this year. (Dates still TBC.)

A selection of postcards featuring my bird illustrations

Although I’m designing new products and doing more in-person events, overall I am still focusing on picture book illustration. Moving towards more products that are printed for me by a third party will free up lots of time for me to draw more, which I’m so excited about. Hopefully I’ll get lots of new portfolio pieces made. But it also means more affordable ways to buy my illustrations. The postcards I sell are A5—large enough to look great in a frame as an alternative to a print and much cheaper! And postage costs should come down for many customers as I replace the packs of cut-out animal stickers with sheets of peel-off stickers. Overall I’m going to reduce the range of products while increasing the choice of designs and focusing on product quality. (And I am so proud of the quality of the new postcards and stickers.)

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Other goals I’ve set this year, include reading more books than I did last year, which shouldn’t be difficult. I’m starting with The Hidden World of the Fox by Adele Brand.

Current reading

It’s an interesting read about a familiar species. I’m also looking forward to reading the author’s nature blog which you can find here.

I’m currently taking part in the #birbfest challenge on Instagram. I’ll come back to the subject of insta challenges and whether or not they’re a good thing in a later post, but for now I’m really enjoying drawing little birds in coloured pencils. I’ll also have a lot more to say about coloured pencils in a later post.

My A Brush With Nature posts in which I ramble on about an animal I’ve encountered and share a drawing or two of it, will return soon. It’s on my To Do list. My ever-expanding January To-Do list.

And finally, given how much illness limited my plans last year, this year I hope to get out and enjoy nature!

Whatever your plans and goals for the new year, I hope 2026 is a good one for you.