Bonny Snowdon 00:06
Hello, I'm Bonny Snowdon, ex-corporate person, a mother turned successful artist entrepreneur. It wasn't that long ago though that I lacked the confidence, vision and support network to focus on growing my dream business. Fast forward past many life curveballs, waves of self-doubt and so many lessons learned and you'll see Ignite, my thriving online colour pencil artists community, a community that changes members' lives for the better and gives me freedom to live abundantly whilst doing what I love and spending quality time with my beloved family and dogs, all whilst creating my best artwork with coloured pencils, and mentoring others to do the same. But this life wasn't always how it was for me, it used to only exist in my imagination. I've created the It's a Bonny Old Life podcast to help increase people's confidence, share mine and my community's experience and hope through fascinating personal stories, champion the other amazing humans in my personal, professional and membership community, and create another channel through which I can support others to realize their dreams. If you're a passionate coloured pencil artist, or an aspiring one who's looking to create their best work, and a joyful life you love, you're in the right place. Grab a cuppa and a custard cream, let's get cracking.
So I, I'm here to tell you that this is the end of the month and I've got all sorts of things that we've been working on, which have been fantastic for, to get my notes out here. Anyway, so this month has been busy, as per usual, we've done some fabulous, fabulous things. I had the workshop yesterday, the October workshop yesterday, which I have to say I think was one of the best ones I've ever done. It was a human eye. Oh, I need to go and get it, so I've got it. We did a hopefully be able to see this. We did a, we drew a human eye, a very dramatic human eye. I'll sit there, hopefully you can see, whoops, hopefully done on an enormous piece of paper. I have to say, honestly, what, what possessed me to draw just on the, on the, on the tiny corner. I have no idea. But that is the, that is the human eye that we drew there. And honestly, I, I think it has been the best workshop that we've done so far. There were about 40 of us drawing together. The results are phenomenal. Honestly, I was, I was blown away. Now, this, this isn't, you know, this isn't me saying, oh, it is because of my teaching. I, I, I honestly think you have to be a very, a very confident sort of person to be able to follow a tutorial because it's not, I don't think it's easy to follow a tutorial at all, especially when you go step by step and going, Right, I'm gonna use this pencil now, use this pencil. We weren't going hugely fast, but you still gotta kind of take in what I'm saying and then translate that and put it on the, the paper. So I think there's a, I think, you know, step-by-step tutorials when you are working live, I think are really hard. The, the results are incredible, absolutely incredible. Just honestly blew me away. I got quite emotional. So we had to kind of look at those. So we, we did, we did the workshop yesterday.
What else have we done? I've got a new, a new tutorial coming out, which I've been recording and kind of uploading and all of that kind of thing that's coming out. Oh, it is in, this is in this episode, is in this scribble today is here. It's now. You, you can, you can, if you want get it, you can get it. But basically it's a little robin and I show you how to draw a little robin. And then I also have given you some line arts for Christmas seasons, Greetings, happy holidays, that kind of thing. And then I've given you a whole video, shown you how to have it printed with a website and everything like that, that you can go to.
So I think that's really exciting. I think that's really exciting. I'm just going through my notes here. We had the fabulous podcast this month, so Isan Lewis, who was last week, the astrologer, What a fantastic lady. And I had the most brilliant feedback, fantastic feedback. She is such a lovely, lovely person and so interesting. And actually, I had her do a star chart reading for the Academy for the business, which was really, really interesting. I'm open to all sorts of different things. I've got hairs all over me now. Look, I'm sweating, my hairs are falling out. I'm really open to all sorts of different things. And she come, Well, we, we were looking at all of the different aspects of the academy and we, she kind of helped me tweak a few dates and it was just really interesting. And I know quite a few people, quite a few very, very successful business people who use astrology and moon cycles to, you know, to work with their business. And it's a fascinating subject. Really, really fascinating subjects and something that I want to kind of look more into.
We, and I've got the, the lovely Helen Carter who was on my podcast this morning. I'm recording this on a Monday. Honestly, she is so funny. We had a really lovely chat and I hope, I hope everyone enjoys her podcast. She's the most fantastic artist. I mean a brilliant artist. Her floral work is just like flipping it. And then of course, she and I, so hats off to those coloured pencil artists. She and I then won, She won the Floral, was it floral? Something like that award. And I won the Animal and Wildlife for the International Guild of Realism. We were giving, giving those awards, which is, I mean, it blew my mind, I have to say, because the quality of the work that was submitted is just unbelievable. So Helen and I there, you know, Raining Supreme there, which is really nice for the coloured pencils. It's not a coloured pencil society, you know, so that's awesome, boo. What else? My book is a year old this week, which is brilliant. My Realistic Animals in Colored Pencil.
I can't believe it's been out a year still selling really, really well. You know, it was reprinted, it was amazing to have a book actually created during a period of lockdown and everything like that, which in itself was, was quite a, a feat. But it's been reprinted. I know there was some issues with some of the quality of the imagery that were a bit dark. That's all been sorted now. Again, that was down to kind of, you know, people not having enough people in teams and everything during lockdown, which was really unfortunate, I have to say. But the quality of it now is, is absolutely fantastic. So that's happened this month. What else have we done this month? My studio, my new studio has been built, which is incredibly exciting. I'm actually not going to draw in it, which sounds really strange. The lighting in the studio in the house is, is sort of northeast, so it's a much more consistent lighting. But I've had a beautiful garden studio created. It's not huge. And Lucy, who works with me, is going to be working down there and we have a new startup joining us in November.
She's called Amy and she is going to be a marketing assistant and helping us with all of the marketing bits and pieces, which again is incredibly exciting. We've also started working with a creative agency, somebody who works on all of my Facebook outs and Google and SEO and all of that kind of stuff. And they're actually based in Italy, which is a, a guy that I've been working with sort of on and off for ads coaching. He was taking on new clients and he's got a company and we are now working or they're working with me, which is amazing. So we've had a couple of mind-blowing sessions with them, you know, talking about figures and all of this kind of stuff, which I really don't understand, but that's looking really, really promising, which is fabulous. And of course, talking to Italian people in, you know, in, in meetings is, is, is I never kind of saw myself as sitting with a team of people from another country, you know, working together. It is quite surreal. I think we got a new puppy. We've got a new puppy.
Dora, come here. Hey, this is Dora. Dora the Explorer. So she's come to join the group. Luckily she was in her crate and not eating all of the chocolate with the big dogs. And she's very sweet. She's very good. She's been a good girl, aren't you? Nelly's playing with her beautifully. Nelly's playing with her really, really nicely. Looking after her, playing with her and everything. Slipper and Vinnie. Get a bit, get a bit mad with her at times. But you're a good girl, aren't you? She's obviously good. She's learning the et head of the, of the studio. So she's, she's sleeping when I'm drawing and doing live streams and all of that kind of stuff,
so, So that's all good. I can't think of anything else. It's been a full on month as per usual gardens coming on nearly there. We've got the big planters put in, although one of them looks like it's gonna be a massive swimming pool, like not a swimming pool, but like a big hot tub or a punch pool or something. I think my, I think my neighbours are probably looking at it thinking what on earth is she going to be doing in there anyway? It's just gonna be a big planter and there's just gonna be lots and lots of plants in there, which she gonna be really nice and, And that's about it. I think I've probably missed a load of stuff. No, I think, I think, I think that's all it. I think that's it. I can't remember anything, honestly. I think I probably need to go and get a bath and have a lie down after the day I've had today. So nice to catch up with you all again and I'll see you all very soon.
I really hope you enjoyed listening to this episode of my, It's a Bonnie Odd Life podcast. If you did, I'd be so grateful to you for emailing me or texting a link to the show or sharing it on social media with those you know who might like it to. My mission with this podcast is all about sharing mine and my community's experience and hope by telling your fascinating personal stories, jump in in the other amazing humans in my personal, professional, and membership community, and to create another channel through which I can support you to realize your coloured pencil and life dreams. If you haven't done so yet, please help me on my mission to spread positivity and joy throughout the coloured pencil world by following me on my socials at Bonnie Snowden Academy or by getting on my list at bonnysnowdenacademy.com. And remember, I truly believe if I can live the life of my dreams doing what I love, then you can too. We just need to keep championing and supporting each other along the way in order to make it happen. Till next time.
