The Coloured Pencil Chronicles | Chapter Fourteen | February

February has been a busy, busy month, I know I say that a lot, but I have had so many wonderful calls about all sorts of things and with all sorts of incredible people!

This Month’s Art

Towards the start of this month, I finished one of the largest tutorials I have ever done and, my goodness, I loved drawing it! It’s a beautiful big wolf and it’s been so lovely to see my students start to share their progress of, and in some cases finish, this piece.

I have been working on some fabulous commission pieces this month and one of them was a deerhound that was the spitting image of my Vinnie. I really loved drawing it and it enabled me to be a little bit imaginative when it came to drawing the sofa that the dog was lying on. I didn't want it to be too dominant in the piece, but it also wouldn't have looked right to just take it out as the dog was lying on it. In the end, I drew the sofa in a sort of sketchy effect and, honestly, I love the way it turned out. It's so freeing to be able to draw in a different style.

The Importance of Health

I have become more aware of the importance of my health recently and it's something that I am really starting to take into consideration more. As an artist, I sit still a lot and even when I'm not drawing then I'm sitting in front of my computer. It's really hit home this month that I still want to be mobile and active in 20 years and in order for that to be the case, I need to make some changes.

I have mentioned my swimming before, but I've bought some goggles (yes, I look very strange!), so that I can up my game a little bit and really start swimming properly instead of just floating and paddling about. I've also booked some one-to-one Yoga sessions because I used to love Yoga and it’s another way for me to start exercising more.

Improving my Business

I'm so passionate about my art and being able to create tutorials for my students each month as well as commissions. My other big passion is my business, so at the beginning of February, I had my first Mastermind session with the amazing Stu McLaren! I have joined a couple of Masterminds this year and they have already got me buzzing with new ideas and knowledge.

In one of the sessions we talked about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and it honestly blew my mind! AI is one of those things that some people love and others hate but it's definitely something that's up-and-coming and, from a business perspective, it could potentially help with content creation, particularly when it comes to email marketing.

Podcast:

I have met some of the most incredible people through the Mastermind sessions and have been lucky enough to be able to chat with some of them for my podcast. I've recorded so many podcast episodes this month, I can't tell you how fascinating the conversations have been and how wonderful it is to be able to speak to people from all over the world. There are some truly inspirational episodes in the pipeline. If you want to listen to some of the episodes, you can listen to my podcast here.

February has been a fantastic month and I can't wait to keep making new connections and expanding my knowledge!