Hello, I'm Bonny Snowdon, ex-corporate person and 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 curve balls, waves of self-doubt, and so many lessons learned. And you'll see Ignite my thriving online coloured pencil artist 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 are in the right place. Grab a cuppa and a custard cream. Let's get cracking.
Marie and I go way back when we were both in a dressage group, if I recall. It was, I think the British Dressage Dieters Club or something like that. Anyway, creativity caught up with her a few years ago and it's been so lovely chatting to her to see how her work has progressed and how she's building up her commission business. Oh God, I wish you could see her work as it's absolutely amazing. So sit back with your cuppa and listen in as we catch up and have a bit of a giggle.
Hello? Sorry, I'm pressing a billion buttons here. You, thank you. You okay. It's always the way that you go on Zoom and then it's like, need to update. Oh Gosh, don't gimme that. We're having some, we're having some lovely, lovely internet issues today. Poor. Poor, Lucy can't, she's up in my kitchen now rather than the office trying to log in.
'cause I've got two different wifi things and not having it at all. Crazy Kitchen table. Trying to get close to this subject. I Dunno. It's madness. Utter madness. Well, I've just the chiropractor so my posture should be good. Oh, very good. Oh gosh. Lots of cracking. No, it's Mctimmony chiropractor, so it's all very general.
Oh no. And you can't think, well, you sort of think to yourself, are they actually doing anything? And then you get up and you're like, oh actually yeah, it feels like a little bit Like what do the cranial osteopathy, Yes. Obviously Osteopaths different to a chiropractor, but there's a guy that used to do the McTimoney McTimoney stuff to,
for horses. Horses. And I've always been a bit skeptical 'cause you look at it going, paying for them, them just to, to Your horse Not do a lot. And, but actually when it's done to yourself, you're like, mm. Actually, yeah, it does make a difference. So. Oh, interesting. Interesting. Oh gosh.
Well it's really nice, really nice to see you and really nice to chat to you. And we're recording and all of that, you know, know about all your, your treatment, which is, which is exciting. I like to keep it real. Absolutely, absolutely. I dunno. So we've kind of known each other for quite a long time because we were part of the,
the diet group for dress arms. Yeah, Yeah. That went well for me, didn't it? For me too good. Although I think, I think after my, I'm on my last week of my 30 day detox and I think I've, there's definitely something my sister keeps saying, oh, all of your fat, your, your back fat's going.
I'm like, great. Still feel, Do you feel better than after doing it? Yeah, yeah, I do actually. I do because it's been gluten free, sugar free, no caffeine, no soy, no alcohol. What else? No, nothing. But actually majority. So it has been quite, it has been quite strict. Although the,
the, the meal that I've had, so it is two smoothies, so pea protein smoothies that you have, and then you have like a, a, a clean meal at night. But the pea protein smoothies, you put fruit into them Oh. And good fats. So you can have like an avocado or half an avocado or you can have some almond butter or something like that.
So actually they're really, really delicious and they are so flipping full filling. Hmm. Yeah. They just make you so full. So I've not found it difficult at all. 'cause normally if I'm gonna do something like that, I feel starving and then I end Yeah. You feel that you're missing out on something. Yeah, I just end up feeling really ill.
So actually it's been quite easy to do. And then on a night I just have like a big chicken salad or a steak or, you know, something like that. And it's like, it's dead easy. I'm, I'm vegan, so maybe not quite Dark chicken or the steak, the veggies go, you know, but it's not been, it's not been tricky at all really.
It's been, it's been quite good. And I, I have to say my joints feel a awful lot better. That's probably the gluten. A lot of people suffer. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I do suffer with and I've had quite a bad back, but I think that's down to the flipping menopause. Yeah, yeah. Tell me about it.
Yeah, yeah. Joint back and then sometimes brain and mouth not coordinating because of the menopause. Can't, you can't even think of a word. Sometimes it's like, give us a call. Oh gosh. I was doing a, a recording yesterday and I was talking about Harry Potter and that I listened to the audio books and Stephen Fry. I could not remember his name.
The Life of Me. I couldn't remember his name. It's fine, You can see it in your head, but you just can't. Yeah. Strange. It's very strange trying to people. It's, I mean, I've been on H R T since November 21. Oh, right, okay. I've been on it year, but it's okay. It's better,
but yeah. Yeah. Still can't think sometimes It's, no, I think, yeah, I I I I really do my, the other, the other thing I have, and I've, and I've realized this is, I dunno whether it's the thing or not, I tend to live in the present. I don't tend to look at the past very often,
so I don't remember stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I'm like a goldfish. Oh God. In Nemo, isn't it? It's, oh, I dunno, you Can't remember her name. I know, I know. Yeah. What was her name? So this could Just be us going. Do you remember that? No. Yeah,
I know. No, I can't remember. That's Dory. It was Dory. Well, Oh dear. So yeah, so we met on this, on this dressage Facebook foreign thing for losing weight, all dressage. Do you still, have you still got your horses? I've still got a horse. I don't to do dressage. I haven't done dressage for,
oh gosh, eight years. I ride western now. Do you? Yes, yes. Oh, that's Interesting. So my mare had got kissing spines and she'd had, I mean, to be fair, we competed. It's been actually a very long time since I did any competition whatsoever. So she had kissing spines and we did more rehab than we ever did anything else.
But I need, you know, I kept her going and whatnot. And I went, my brother-in-law, she's brother lives in Canada, went over there and then I went trail riding Western. Absolutely loved it. Came back, bought her a western saddle. She loved it. I retired her after a year. And I've, I've got a little conet a little.
So I've literally gone from this dress size diva with everything matchy matchy to a little black and white cove and a western saddle. And we just pl around the lanes. It's so much better for my back. I don't think I could ride in English. Shovel, mate. That sounds like absolute bliss. Getting on is a bit like riding for the disabled,
but, but once I'm on, I'm actually much better than I'm Is that just because of how you sit in a western saddle? Yeah, so much better. So much more comfortable. I still sort of sit using dressage principles, you know, balance Yeah. And whatnot. But yeah, it's so much more. Oh gosh, I, when I,
I worked in York and there was one of the print buyers, Mandy, she was a western rider and, but she went and did all of the, she was part of a western group and she went and did all of the training and you know, they'd do all of the, you know, you'd watch them doing like a lo and all of this sort of stuff and you know it,
and it's all very sort of low, isn't it? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. All I think I'm sort of an in-between because I've, I've had a couple of lessons from a cowboy that came over from America. A lot of it's still very much sort of balanced and biomechanics of dress up. Yeah. We still do shouldering and bits and bobs like that,
but I still, but it's a lot more relaxed. A hell of a lot more relaxed and, yeah. Oh, that sounds lovely. Yeah, he loves it. I love it. Oh, we have a lovely countryside that we can ride around. Although we have to go on the lanes obviously and stuff, and some cars. But yeah, it's good.
Yeah, it's so nice. Yeah, I'm, I'm really, really, really grateful that I've, you know, that I, I can still ride and, and I've got, yeah, because yeah, it is, it's lovely. It's, Do you know, I had the funniest dream the other night 'cause my, my daughter funnily enough was saying,
you know, do you think you're gonna get another horse some sometime, mom? And I was like, I think probably at the moment not 'cause I, I don't have time. Yeah. And I need to lose a substantial amount of weight. I don't even think a shy horse would carry. But I think I, you know, I wouldn't want something,
'cause I had a really big horse and He was, He was, he was ridiculously big. I mean, he was lovely, but he was ridiculously big. And I don't, I would much prefer something that's sort of like about 14, 2 15 ham. Well, he's 15 one. Yeah. Perfect size, perfect size, nice little, you know, although they say bloody cobs,
but a lot of them are a bit like, He's not actually bloody, but yeah. But I had this dream, it was so funny. I, I was in, we were all, we were some, I don't know where we were, Spain or Portugal or somewhere. And I bought this fo Oh right, this Is a dream. I bought this fo and I was standing there and I think I was standing there with my mum and I was like,
oh, it's coming up the road now. And then all of this sort of like, I think there was sheep and cows and, and then these two horses came up and there was this, this fo sort of trotting next to its mum. And I was like, oh, that's it there. And then the next minute I was in this, this is like bizarre dreams that I have next minute.
I was in this stay in, in this sort of stable block and I'm thinking, oh God, the fall's only two months old and I'm here to bring it home, but how can I bring it home? 'cause it won't be weaned. So I was like, so then I went and spoke to the guy and he was like, oh, were you gonna take the mayor as well?
That'll be 35,000 pounds. And I was like, and then in my head, so Louise is my, she acts as my finance director. I was like, how am I gonna tell Louise that I've just spent 35,000 pounds on the horse? It's the most bizarre. It was so funny where it came from. Wow. But yes, Terrified of Louise.
Oh no. So funny. So funny. Anyway, but no, I, my horse went, I think in 2016. What was I doing? Yeah. So when I left the, I left the coaching went into what, like the r business. 'cause I, I went to join, went to work for an art gallery, and then of course I'd started all my drawing and all of that kind of stuff.
So I I, and of course my hip had a replacement hip in 24. That kind of was all a bit were, but yeah, I do miss them. I think sometimes as well. It's the bond. Yeah, It's the bond that you've got and The smell. Yeah. Or smell. Yeah. There's nothing better, isn't it? No,
I know. I'm having spirulina at the minute. It's part of my detox. Yeah. Yeah. And it smells just like horse food. Oh Really? Yeah. So that's all right. I don't mind downing that in. That's what it is. Bit of al alfalfa. Oh God, Dear. I dunno. So talk to me about your drawing,
because your development has been amazing. You know, I look at the, I mean, when you, when you first kind of started, oh, you know, I can't, I can't remember what, when did you first start drawing? Was it when you, September 21? Was it when you joined me or did you Yeah, pretty much. I,
I used to draw when I was a kid. in fact, actually I connected with a cousin of mine recently. And she said all you ever did was draw horses. I was clearly a horseman from, from a child. And she said, you just used to draw all the time. And I can remember my mom saying, I used to draw and everything all the time,
and I wanted to do art. This is when you had to choose options and stuff. And I wanted to do art U C S C, but at the same time I wanted to be a vet so you could only choose so many options. So I had to do all three sciences, so I couldn't do art. And the teacher actually said to me,
well, if you're okay to come in on your lunch break, fair play. I'm surprised that they did it. They probably weren't supposed to. You can come in and do all your coursework on your lunch break. So I did, I remember, I do remember the drawing. My mom says she's got it somewhere and it's a key. I used to,
it was only ever graphite. And she says, oh, it's like, you could pick up this key from the paper. So I was obviously always into drawing what you see. I always think, especially at school, they tried to get us to do different styles. And I can remember, I don't even know who the artist is. She had a picture,
the teacher that she was looking at that we couldn't see. And she described it and then we had to, from her description, draw it. And mine was just very, it's like a, a street scene or something like that. And mine was very sort of correct, if that makes sense. Whereas everybody else is going into different styles. And she's like,
no, no, no, you, you can't just keep drawing realistic things, blah, blah, blah. And I think I was just more into how I wanted to draw. If I see, if I'm drawing a piece of, you know, still life and I'm drawing that pair of glasses there, glasses, I want to make them look like a pair of glasses.
And actually as it turns out, the exam for it clashed with another exam. So I couldn't do the exam in the end anyway. And I didn't become a vet. I like animals too much. I don't think I could, I was, I'm too emotionally touch to animals. So if I'm perfectly honest, other than if you're on the telephone doodling or whatever,
or the odd sketch in 30 years, I never picked up another pencil. Never did any, I've, I've got quite a creative mind and I've got a nonstop mind half the time, actually. Honest, I've got one of those that it's really strange. So if I'm looking at something, I'm thinking, how does it work? How, how or if it is like a commercial,
how did they film that? And rather than actually watching it for what it is, I'm thinking, how did they make that, how did they do that? And sometimes my brain doesn't switch off from that. And it's like, ah. And long story short, I, for the last 28, 30 years, been running pubs with my husband. We're pub managers.
We've moved all around the country and it's a very stressful, long hours, et cetera. And then I think with furlough, because we were open, closed, open, closed, help out to eat out all that malarkey nightmare. And then in 2021, I think as well with the menopause coming on, I might, I, I just needed something because my head was so many just constant thoughts and I just needed something to quieten really.
And actually it's because some kids left some coloured pencils in the pub and I was just messing around. I thought, oh my, I'll go drawing again. And because you'd already done a portrait, which I've actually got over there, to be fair of Molly, I think I was probably one of your first ever commissions. I've got, Show it to me.
Yeah. She fell out the frame. So I need to get her a new frame. Oh yes, Yes, yes. My old dog, she was, gosh, those Colors have stood up Okay. On that black. Yes. Know, it's amazing. Isn't, I think I wasn't using very good pencils back then. So there we go. All Lightfast.
I do When you tell, Yeah. When you tell your story of I used to only charge 40 pounds. You did? Yeah. In Postage. Yes. I know. So, so I looked you up on YouTube and I followed a few videos and I obviously looked at some other artists and stuff on YouTube. But then I joined your Patreon Mm.
And sat in this little room here. And I'm not, because this used to be my dressing room, it's just the little box bedroom. And I sat up the corner and I got a little port alese, which is a tiny little thing, sat on a hard kitchen seat, really uncomfortable, shoved up the corner, surrounded by clothes and drawing and everything.
And really, really, really enjoyed it. So yeah, I decided I missed, I must have missed the fact that, when did you first open the academy? 20 September. 21. Yeah. September 21. Yeah. Yeah. I think I must have missed that. I think I joined your Patreon around September, October-ish, 21. And then joined the academy on Boxing Day.
I couldn't wait. I'd worked obviously all day Christmas Day, and I was at work Boxing Day as well. But obviously I woke up early because I had to get up and, and go to work. Yeah. Hospitality trade. You never have a day off. Yeah, no. Yeah. So I, I joined straight away something like five o'clock in the morning or something.
Yeah. Well it, we, we open them at midnight there. Yeah. I can remember sitting up watching like Christmas film after Christmas when we open it. When we open it. Oh, that's, that's amazing. And now, yeah. And, and what were your, so what, so can you sort of recall the first pieces that you did?
Have you still got your first pieces? I have, yeah. I think the first, well because, oh, I'm trying to sell some originals. I've got far too much work. Far too much work. And actually I've had to buy some more drawers because I can't fit anything in here. Yeah. So before I joined your academy, I did a squirrel and a blue.
And I can't remember the first piece I did with the academy, obviously I went through the foundations and I did the German Shepherd and everything. And then I did art clubs and stuff. But one of my first pieces would've been, that was me just messing around. So, which are Pretty good. So that, so they were your kind of your first pieces.
Yeah. But that was with watching you on YouTube and doing Patreon and then obviously joined the academy and just absolutely loved it. Absolutely loved it. Did I think the Brandy tutorial did quite a few of the tutorials and stuff. A lot of the horses obviously. But yeah, really, really loved it. And then found that I think I find whilst I draw,
I could lose six hours, honestly. I used to say to Stuart, I'm just upstairs for an hour. He is like, yeah, I'll see you tomorrow As, as horses, isn't it going down to the yard three weeks until you come home? Yeah. I'm just pop into the yard. Yeah, right. We're not having dinner are. No.
So, so yeah, I literally could, I just lost myself in it and loved it. And I find that I don't, because my mind just seems to constantly be thinking and overthinking of stuff. I find when I'm drawing I can, I don't, I'm just concentrating on what I'm doing. The only thing I would say is my skill has improved.
And you talked about this conscious Yeah. Oh yeah. Unconsciously competent, something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Because I'm now automatically going to pick up some, a pencil straight away so I don't have to think about it as much. I end up thinking of other stuff and I'm like, no, go away. I don't wanna have to think about what's going on at my Oh,
that's interesting. Yeah. So now I'll have to listen to a podcast or music or something else to try and take my mind off it. That's What, right, that's interesting. Or potentially maybe really starting to step up your development. I mean, I, your development has been amazing. You, I mean, your, the horse pieces you're doing now are Yeah,
they do spectacular. I mean, they really are beautiful. And you are selling them, aren't you? You, your, your commissions. Yeah. Yeah, commissions, yeah. Yeah. I've got a horse, I'm doing a commission. A lot of them at the moment though, they're all surprises, all birthday can't share or anything. I'm doing,
I'm doing one of the, I'm doing a, a black Labrador. That's a, a surprise. Yeah. And that, that's a, that's a problem. And especially for somebody, you know, like you, who is wanting to, you know, you want keep Yeah. You onto Facebook and you want to keep everything relevant and everything. What do you do?
How do you, you know, and it's about trying to, I mean, I put a reel out on Instagram yesterday of my cat. You saw it? I didn't see it actually. I, I, I can't tell you how many comments it's had. Anything cat related though? Oh God. Tell me about it. Honestly, if you want,
if you want likes and follows, just put something about cat On. Yeah, Absolutely. But yeah, your, your work has really developed and in a, in a short space of time. I mean, I know we're sort of, you know, we're halfway through 2023, but you know, your, your work has been consistently good for quite a long time.
We all kind of work and develop in different ways and different speeds. Some people it does take longer. But you were saying you could spend six hours drawing. Yeah, yeah. And if you are regularly spending six hours drawing Yeah. You're putting the hours in and it's all about the hours. It's like riding. It is, It's, it's, it is,
yeah. It's just all about the practice and the muscle memory and everything, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You know, and you get to, I'm guessing you found your own way with your colors. Yeah, I'm, I'm dreadful. See, I dunno how you can look at a piece and go, right, I'll need that, that,
that, and that I'm really awful for just, I'll look at a section and go, Hmm. Yeah. And I'll try that. And I'll try that. I'll try that. On your drawing you take I just sign out. Yeah, I do. Literally It doesn't work. I'm like, yeah, no, this doesn't work. Let's try some.
I mean, do you know? But, but that is like very much a part of quite light being like that because it means I don't have to be spot on and perfect. And it Yeah. And it's very, it's very sort of, my drawing is relaxed. Yes. Yes. And I want it to see, I want it to be that,
and I want it to work out well, but at the same time, I think it's why I also love Coloured Pencil and more realism. I've tried to do some pieces that are more painfully and more relaxed because I feel that I should enjoy that, but I feel at the same time I need control. Does that make sense? Yeah, definitely. I think my heart would love to do.
Oh, I love, do you know h from Steps? Yes. He's, he's actually an artist. Right. And I find him on Instagram and he's just had his first exhibition and he does oils and he does stuff in the Plain Air and everything is he Called h from Steps? Yeah. Ian h Watkins, if you have a look at him on Instagram,
and he, I think it's Ian h Watkins Art on Insta. And he's very loose oil sort. A really expression. I, I love, I love it. And I think, oh, I'd love to do that. And then I'm like, Lovely, Isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. But then I'm like, oh no. 'cause I really wanna control and I wouldn't be able to control that.
And it's just that my heart would love to do that kind of art. My head's like, no, no, no, no, no. It's, but I'd be tight and controlled and I'd try and let go a little bit. It's like, I'd love to do watercolors, but I've never been able to get on with it. No. Been able to get on with it.
In, In your life, are you quite controlled in your life? Or is everything a bit chaotic? Both. I think I'd like to be controlled. Yeah. To a degree. Everything's controlled. I think since doing art, my housework Hass gone down to downhill. But I think that yeah, I've, I, yeah, I think as well,
because the job that I do as well, because things have gotta be a certain way and I don't like it if they aren't done a certain way. Right. So, yeah. I think got very high standards with, But it also sounds like you very much kind of in, is part of you for, because if you were drawing those sorts of things when you were a child.
Yeah. You know, and, and I, and I do think we have something in us that lends us to be, I, I'm, when I say expressive, I don't mean that our work isn't expressive, but you know, you've got those expressive watercolors, those oils where like, like a dash of paint here and a dash of paint there and,
and you've got like a face and you're like, oh, how, How did you do that? Yeah. I love that kind of art. And that's the sort of art that I have on my abstracty. Stuff that I have on my, on my walls. I, I absolutely love it. I've got a, a really chaotic lifestyle. I'm really messy,
terribly messy. I will walk stuff that's on the past stuff that's on the floor. Yeah. And I so will, I actually, I will just walk past it for days. I, you know, and, and like my kitchen table looks like I've got some kind of a production thing going on, you know, packing something. Yeah. Mine.
Ground piles are stuck. And, and I gets to the point where I'm like, I can't stand this. I've got to sort something out and then it, and then everything goes and Yes, me too. Yeah. Yeah. And you have a day where everything looks immaculate. Absolutely. Just like, you look everywhere, it's like a Hoover and I look everywhere and it's like,
oh, brilliant. And I've got two German shepherds and they sneeze and everyone's just covered in dust and hair again. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. At the moment, you know, and, and, and I think that's probably where I get my, the control from, From my drawing Because it's somewhere where I, because People say to me,
how, How can you keep your pastoral mat so clean? And I mean, I've got, there's dust everywhere because I've got all of the dogs in here and it gets really Dusty. Yeah. And I'm like, I, I just, I, I've got a very still hand. Yeah. When I draw, I've, I've kind of drawn sections,
so I'm not kind of all over and, and it is stays clean and I'll make sure that everything's kind of covered up. But I do think that that's where any kind of control I've got comes out because I just, it just doesn't exist in the rest of my life. In your life, I think. Yeah. I think now I, I have to have certain amount of control,
but then it's like an inner battle of, oh, it doesn't matter. So yeah, I'll let certain things go to chaos, but at the same time, there's still an element of control there. I have to, I have to. Yeah. I have a, I have a really big battle around organization. Oh really? Yeah. Oh. So I have to be quite reasonably organized.
I say, oh, see, I say reasonably organized. I know exactly in my head I've got everything. And then I'll sit and look at Instagram and then go, oh crap, I should have done that. Yeah. Last minute.com. So yeah. I've, I've got a battle of I know what I should be doing and I make a list of what I should be doing and then I get distracted.
Yeah. Yeah. I have to be organized with, you know, with the stuff that I have going on. So we've had a team meeting this morning and then got another meeting this afternoon around, what's that? Around, around something important. I can't remember what, of terms and conditions or something, I think, or something. Yeah. And something else,
you know, boring stuff that, yeah. That's really important. And, and, and my diary is always full. Mm. But I don't populate the diary. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes I am quite naughty and I will just go, I'll just block off that there. 'cause I don't want to do anything. If I've done this, I don't wanna do anything else.
But yeah, I, I, I have this urge not to be organized, but then I know that to run a business, I have to be organized and there's this constant kind of battle going on. I guess I quite like routine. Yeah. I think, yeah. It, it is, it is good to be in a routine, but then I think sometimes I'm the same.
I think if I have to do something spontaneously, it's always the, I don't know, I just dunno. Yeah. I have to, I have to have a set sort of, today we do this, today we do that. Yeah. Because if I don't have a routine, like in lockdown, and we were furloughed, it was great for a week,
it was like, oh, this is like a holiday. Oh, now I'm bored. Okay. So I'll do some housework or I'll do some painting, like walls. And then it got really hot in the first lockdown, didn't it? In the May. It was absolutely horrendous and routine just went out the window. It was day drinking and everything,
walk somewhere And one Routine literally went out the window and it was like, I really need to get back to work here. This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. 'cause we've done that trade for nearly 30 years running pubs and, and restaurants. That Must have been really hard, actually. Oh, it was such a strange time. But, But also the,
the, the, the community element of it as well. Yeah. I mean, if I'm perfectly honest, I'm could be a hermit. I think that is because of seeing so many people all day every day. It's tough. It's a really tough job. And you always have to be the happy one. And, and, you know, so it is a tough,
it is a tough job. And if I'm perfectly honest, I could quite happily be a hermit now and not see anybody live on an island and just have Yeah. And allow the husband. But yeah, it's, it is, it is a tough job. So yeah, going from, we closed on the Friday before Mother's Day, and it was literally right,
okay, you get five o'clock, you announce, right, you close in tonight. And it was like, oh my god, emergency teams meeting, this, that, and the other. This is what you've got to do. And then on Mother's Day, it was like, this is really quite strange. And we were in the pub and there's nobody there.
And it was just, I mean, it was such a strange time wasn't, it really was crazy time, like you say, sort of, we couldn't go to visit Jet's parents, and we would sort of stand outside and talk through the window and, and it was just really, really, really strange. And It was bonkers. And then we were back,
and then we had to close again. And then we were back open for a month and then we closed again. So it was a, it was just topsy-turvy time for routines. I think as well. It, for an awful lot of people. I think if you listen to an awful lot of people around that time, it brings home what's important.
Yeah. I think that's definitely that. I think that's a, one of the only good things to come out of. I could talk for ages about. I could talk for ages about lockdown and how it is, it is actually totally ruined my parents' lives. Th they were so terrified. My dad was forced to stop working and he's worked all his life and now he doesn't know what's doing himself.
Oh, That's Awful. He's like, what, 78, 79. Wow. So he can't, he can't go back to work. And you know, when you've been active and that's the thing working and then all of a sudden you're confined to a house. Yeah. And you are used to going out and meeting people and being, and Not spending all day with your spouse.
Well do you know? Yeah. It was like you breathe a bit quieter over in the corner there. I mean, luckily for me, I didn't, it didn't really change anything for me. No. Yeah. Because I, I was working from home. I was doing my drawings and I was, at that point I was teaching online 'cause I was with Paton and everything,
you know, we still got to take the dogs out for a walk and, you know, but I think one of the, the only good things to come out of that is that people really do have started to realize what is important for them. What's important. Yeah, absolutely. I, so I'm part-time now, so after 30 years, I'm now part-time.
Stuart is a sole general manager and I just worked there part-time. I trapped a nerve in my back. I've had spinal surgery before. Anyway, I trapped a nerve in my back in February this year. And it was, oh my god. Literally the worst pain I've ever experienced in my entire life. I'm screaming a and e down in the end.
They gave me some morphine and gas and air to shut me up. But yeah, it was absolute agony. And I was off work for about six or seven weeks. I was like the walking dead, dragging my leg because it wouldn't work. It was horrific. Absolutely horrific. So literally today was, I've got one more appointment today was, was part of my,
my, my back and everything. Yeah. And I think it was at that point I thought, I can't, it's a physical job. I can't just keep doing this. I can't do this all day, every day. And I'm just not physically, you know, I'm just not physically able to do this anymore. Plus obviously I really want to try and,
and eventually I've got a plan, eventually want to go full-time doing the art and stuff. So yeah, I've got a, got a plan to do some craft events and bits and bobs. We did one on Saturday. It's in my comfort zone because it was actually at the pub. Alright. It's in my own comfort zone. I'm quite, pushed myself out of the comfort zone.
Yes. Yeah. And how did it go? It was alright. It was quieter than expected, but it was all right. I did one at Christmas as well and that was good. I've got a couple of commissions out of it though, so I'm happy about that. Yeah. Yeah. And I've sold a couple of original pieces, so. Excellent.
So that's good. So yeah, I've got a plan and hopefully, fingers crossed then it just means I can do that part-time. So to support Stuart running the business and everything, but then I can concentrate on doing my own business, which is what I want to do. Yeah. I really wanna do that. So That's Amazing. How does it feel then from obviously loving art as a child and then re kind of visiting it and refalling in love with it as,
I mean, I dunno how old you are, but you know, probably sort of, maybe you look a lot younger than I am. I'm 21 with experience. Yes. I'm 48. 48. Yeah. Younger than me. But, but that, you know, that 30, how does it feel then to now? What do you feel and think when you look at your work?
Sometimes I look at my work and go, did I do that? I, I honestly, I do. I'm like, wow, how, how did I do that? And I, I am proud. I'm, I'm very, I don't take compliments very easily. Yeah. I am extremely proud of, of what I've done. And then in a way I'm really gutted.
I didn't do it earlier. Does that make sense? Yeah. I'm just like, why didn't, why didn't I do it earlier? Yeah. Because I could have had this joy then instead of working really hard for years and years and years. Yeah. And although, you know, we needed to, because at the end of the day, you,
you need a job. You need to work, you need money. Of course. Of course. And you know, I, and I, I get that, you know, and I know a lot of people say to me, you know, oh God, can you imagine, you know, if you'd have done this, if you'd have carried on from school.
And I was like, I'm not sure that I would be doing what I'm doing now if I'd have carried on from school. Right, yeah. True. Because actually everything that I've done in my life up to now has has, it's all been sort of like a, oh, people talk a bit as a journey when you, you yeah. You want to be sick,
doesn't it? But you know, it is, isn't it? It's all part of that that like, If that experience hadn't have happened, this might not have happened. Yeah. All, you know, it's all connected, isn't it, at the end. Yeah. Yeah. And it's not, you know, looking, looking, hindsight's a brilliant thing,
isn't it? And regrets. I don't think we should ever have re regrets or anything like that. But yeah, I get, I get you because you think, oh, you know, the absolute joy I get when, you know, I'm drawing. And I'll have moments where it just, and I get, I get very goose bumpy. So I,
I try. So, you know, me, with all of the stuff that I do in the academy, I'm very much sort of like law of attraction. I listen to an awful lot of, and I'm not law of attraction where I just sit here and go, I want this, it drops on my lap. That's not what I see. The law of attraction as being the law of attraction.
I see as being your, your living, you, you are giving out what you want to receive. You know, if you, if you manifest something, you actually have to put the work in to, to get it. It's not just gonna drop on your lap. And, you know, I listen to an awful lot of people. My latest one is the Joe Dispenza,
which Susie mentioned as well, actually. And I've been listening to his podcast and he's, he's awesome. He's absolutely awesome. And he's all around the science, behind the law of attraction. So it is not that I'm a sciencey person, I'm, I'm very much the opposite of a sciencey person, but I get a lot of sort of goose bumpy feelings,
and I'm sure, I'm sure that's to do with the, a higher vibration that, that I try to live my life at. So I will look at my drawings sometimes and I, I I will actually cry. It sounds really silly and it's not. And it's just because I'm just so overjoyed with what I'm doing. Yeah, I know. And I'm feeling,
and I just look at them and I'm just like, oh my God, how amazing is this? Not, not how lucky am I to be doing this? 'cause I don't, I don't really believe in luck. I believe in, you know, opportunities and all of that kind of stuff. But how amazing is it that I can do this, I can help other people to do Yeah.
What they want to do. You know, have a, have a very small part in that. And it's just the most incredible feeling and it makes me so happy. And then when I hear other people, you know, overjoyed with what they're doing, it, honestly, it just makes me so happy, so happy. Well that, the one piece that I did,
the German Shepherd, I haven't got a picture. It's not, it's not here. It was a, it was for, you know, fabulous Finn, the police dog. Oh Yes. It was their other dog that passed away. And she's the spitting image of one of my dogs. I cried pretty much the entire time of drawing that dog. And every time now when I look at it,
God, I can't talk about it because I'll start crying. A dog. A dog that is, that you used to have? No, no. It just looks like one of my dogs now. Oh, right. It's not even that. It's just, I look at it and I'm so proud of the piece. Sometimes even just looking at a photo of it,
I'm not, I just get really teary and it's like, my God, what, But, but this is, do you know, that's, it is such a lovely feeling to have. And and half of the time we suppress that feeling, I think half of the time it's like, oh, gonna say, don't be so silly. Or, you know,
oh gosh, you, you shouldn't be feeling this way or whatever. And I'm like, oh my goodness. If you've got feel, feel it. I think I'm, I'm a very emotional person when it comes to animals. Oh God. You watch a, any black beauty on the tell. I'm, I only have to hear the theme too, And Stuart's wrong with you.
I'm, I can't, I'll tell you what I get really. There's a couple of TikTok, a not addicted TikTok. I do like TikTok. There's a couple of tos that I follow. There's one guy that goes and he's got, and he's got like a big ranch and he rescues all sorts of animals in America. And he'll go and he'll visit dogs that may be,
have been there for quite a while, but, you know, maybe not suitable to go into like a Yeah. A normal home if you like. And he'll go and he'll make friends with them and they'll bring them home and then they become part of the pa and I'm at an absolute flood of tears. And then there's another one with a rescue place where they go and they're,
and they've, they've got like a little card and he's like, is it, is it, it's you, you've been adopted and the door's going, yay. And I'm sitting there watching TikTok going Oh yeah. Oh mad. And I've, I've been, been known to be sit Well sitting here at midnight many t is it many ts the one of the rescue centers in the uk?
Yes. Yeah. They rescued, was it 30, 20 or 30 I think probably from a, a puppy mill type thing. And they had some new fees in there. My, my two girls are new for crosses and they couldn't walk and then they showed their I, Oh, oh, that's it. And I was like, Oh my God,
my phone came out. I'm like, right, donate, donate. And, and I, and I donated and I, that's, that's what I, you know, I donate to quite a lot of charities, but I, I'm, oh, honestly. And then I, and then it just gets too much for me and I can't, That's the thing I get very,
yeah. I, I I You just, yeah, I start crying. There's one, there's one TikTok, which is when you get to heaven, this is the site you're gonna see. And as soon as that comes up, I swipe. Can't even, can't Even, God, I'm walking the days away. I'm just crying. But say, saying that I,
I know you were, it's not a, I don't think it's a contentious subject. You are, you are vegan, which, you know, my brother's vegan, my sister's vegetarian. It's always the way of, how do you know something's a vegan? Don't worry. They'll tell you in the first five minutes. I mean, to be honest, I couldn't care less what anybody is,
but you know, oh dear. I'm not, but I do find myself swaying towards, so if I go to a restaurant, so last, last night we went out for Thai, which was really lovely. And actually I, I do like the vegetarian Yeah. The vegetarian options. But I, I mean, I, I, you know, I do like my,
I've always been a meat eater and I do like my steaks and all of that kind of Stuff. Well, I've been, I've been vegetarian since I was 14, so I was vegetarian, well, 13, actually, I think I've been vegetarian for 30 years, and then the last five years I've been vegan. Yeah. And I, oh, I think,
well, I was vegan about 15 years ago for about six months. But then if you wanted to go out and eat, it was a plain jacket, potato, no butter and some lettuce. So, and I, I, and to be fair, I think working and running the pub at that time, we were living in the pub, so it was just all,
every day I think options have now become, yeah. I mean, you can be gluten-free, you can be, you know, absolutely. Stuff, all of that kind of stuff. So, you know, and it's, I, yeah. It's because I have a, a massive love for animals. I suppose I can, I suppose I'm just separate them.
Maybe I, I mean, I grew up on a farm, you know, we, my dad used to sort of, you know, he ran a restaurant, so I grew up Yeah, yeah. In a similar, a similar business to pubs and everything in a restaurant. And we lived above it. So when we had to go and get the,
the milk and stuff in the morning, it was from the massive fridges, you know, the big walkin fridges and Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. It Was, there was a half a cow in there or a pill. Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so you, I suppose you kind of became, yeah. But it is,
yeah. Is it, do you find it a lot easier now? Eat sort of like a vegan diet 'cause of what? Do you have to take supplements and stuff? I Do anyway because, especially because of my age and whatnot. But I do now, because we don't live at the pub. We've, we've, we live out, we've, we bought a house six years ago,
the best thing we ever did. Absolutely. The best thing we ever did. And I do try to cook an awful lot if I've got time. And if I can get myself into the routine, I do try to batch cook. So I'll try and make lots and lots of different things and then chuck it in the freezer so that if you're at work or whatever,
you can come home and just, you know, check it in the microwave, whatever. It's a lot easier. But yeah, there's so many options these days, just fantastic. It, it just makes life a hell of a lot easier to be perfect. And, and if somebody gives me a menu when there's more than one choice, I'm like,
oh my god. I dunno what the hell. I don't, I'm not anymore. Yeah. I dunno what choices are. Oh my. Yeah. Yeah. I, like I say, you, you know, it works for me. My husband eat meat. He doesn't get cooked here. He has to have it when he's out. Yeah. I don't mind.
My dogs are raw fed dogs are raw, fed, fed. I just don't, yeah. I just don't, I just don't wanna, So funny. So, so my dogs are all fed and the cats, it's so funny, the cat, I'll be feeding the dogs in the morning and they have, I use a company called Honeys and it's all like organic British,
I think you can, you know, you know, the farm, where they've come from and all of this sort of stuff. Anyway, I'm un unwrapping and putting them in the, the cat will come and smell it and you know, when they do that sick face and she's like, what? Oh really? Oh my God. She only likes fish.
Oh my God. Yeah. So we, we lost our, we, we only had her for a few months. We rescued her and then sadly on the laying outside, she Oh gosh. But she would stick her face in and we've got two German shepherds. She was this tiny little ginger thing, tiny. And she would stick her face right in the bowl and they'd be like,
excuse me, mine. And they'd just sit there watching her eating away. It's funny. I mean, my Mary now, so she's a house cat, I think because she's main coon. I've always had a house cat. Yeah. We, we live in the middle of the countryside, but we've got sort of quite a fast lane going. We've also got a very keen gamekeeper with,
we've got pheasants and everything in the wood behind us. And he will, he will shoot, shoot the cat with this neighbors of ours. They've lost so many cats and it's so sad. So she's now, but she's got got the, the catio outside. Yeah. And I'm having some like trace work put up and a, like a Paola thing and he's gonna create me a,
a catio outta the window of the kitchen. Oh, brilliant. So I can actually have the window open all the time and she can just pop out and sit outside and, you know, look at the birds and everything. But I think Dora, the little spaniel will probably join her in there. Yeah. Probably just sitting there watching the birds. She's a terror.
Is that little thing. Is she? Oh my goodness. Oh, honestly. So your German shepherds, they'd be quite, they're quite big. Yeah, they're, they're not. Well the bitch echo, she's actually bigger than my dog. He's working lines, so he's smaller, but solid. Yeah, absolutely solid. She's a tall girl. She's very tall.
Yeah. But yeah, I've only really ever had big dogs. Mm. In fact, actually when I, when I was a kid, I grew up with greyhounds. So my mom was actually a amateur racing Greyhound trainer. So, but they used to live in the house, so we'd have five greyhounds, I'd be sat on the floor and the dogs would have the sofa.
So Yeah, I know people say about, you know, greyhound racing and stuff and it come, it come, you know, be contentious subjects as can horse racing and stuff like that. But I was, I grew up with, and they absolutely loved it. They used to constantly go out walking all day. She'd take them out for hours. Absolutely.
Hours upon hours. And they loved it. They absolutely loved it. And like I say, they lived, they lived their life of Riley. They had the sofa, we had the floor. I was talking to, I was talking to the lady who helped me with the interior design of my sitting room. And she's like, oh, you know your beautiful sitting room.
And I was like, I'll tell you a secret. I don't often go in there anymore. This, we've got this beautiful loaf sofa. Yeah. Corner sofa, beautiful sofa. It's, it's just where the dogs sleep. Same as ours. To be fair, you usually have to come in and it's like, come, come on. I forget yours all.
Although the spaniel won't be, will they, they all sort of non shed. The, so the, the deer hound, he sheds like nobody's business. Oh God. The two girls are poodle crosses. They don't shed at all. They Shed That's nice. I mean, Some poodle crosses do, but, but, but mine too don't. And then Dora,
who's also a poodle cross, but she looks like a working spaniel. She sheds Ah, right. Yeah. Ah, it's grown. I life it's honestly, some days you like tumble, you know, how are you not bald? Yeah. How You Eds of hair and you're just like, I just sweat. Where did this come from? They literally,
and they go to the dog groomer, they bath and, you know, spa day and pump a day. Yeah. Come back. And then you look around and you're like, oh my God. There's just, I'm surrounded by hair. But then I do think, I call it my little fibers of joy because I said, the day that they're not there.
Well, exactly. Exactly. See, Then I start to get emotional about that. Oh Yeah. I can't even think, I can't even think my, my slipper is six in August this year. So she's newfie cross standard poodle. I dunno what the life expectancy of them is, but I, I, I can't even, I can't even think.
Did you've got one with hip displays? You haven't. My Riley's got hip dysplasia. So Nelly, who's the, she's three. She has hip dysplasia. She's got a very, very weird gait. Looks like spotty dog. But she's been doing hydrotherapy. Yeah, He did as a, for Two years. I think she's been doing two years. She has got the strongest backend.
I mean, she can jump. She's crazy. It's all going really well. Absolutely. That's Really good. Yeah, because you was saying, oh, you know, you might need to just suppress her exercise and everything. She is the most giddy kipper. And I was like, I Prefer to have, I prefer to have a, a shorter,
happier life and a longer one and be miserable. 'cause she can't go for a walk or she can't run or whatever. He Doesn't go very far. He's eight now. He doesn't go very far. It will run around like crazy with her, but then the next day he'll struggle. So I have to just go, just calm it down a bit.
Stop running around being such an idiot. But no, I I, my God, he's my hot dog. Absolutely. My hard dog. I absolutely adore him. Ugh. And I just, it makes me tear up thinking about I know I can't, I can't, I can't bear it. Yeah. I think it's why I keep on buying more and more and more.
Yeah, Yeah, yeah. You're just gonna be crazy dog lady. My son keeps on saying, get another cat. Get another cat. And I'm like, oh gosh. I'm not sure. This one is nothing like our old, our old lovely ragdoll, Peggy, she, she was just like an ornament. She just sat on the table. She didn't do anything.
She was lovely. She came and gave you a kiss and a cuddle and she was all lovely. Miriam is crazy, Crazy. She was in the dishwasher. She's always opening the bin. Wow. So the bin's always open. She'll stop. I'll put my, my dryer on at night and I come down in the morning. She's paused it. Oh really?
She does it on purpose. Racket, Electricity there. She's, she's nuts. She's absolutely nuts. And then she just go flying around stuff and Wow. She's a kitten though, isn't she? Six months old? Yeah, she's, what is she, nine months? Nine Months, months. Oh, nine months old. Yeah. She'll be a year in October.
Yeah. That age. And they're all sort. Oh, I think she, honestly, she's great. Yeah. Some cats keep that mentality though, don't they? Our old ones are like that. Yeah. Yeah. Cats, when we lived in the pubs and they were 17 when we lost them and they, they, yeah, they'd play fetch.
The one would literally play fetch with a cork. You'd throw, you'd bring it back and drop it. It's, it's great. It's lovely. Oh Gosh. Oh, I love, yeah. No, I love, I love my dog, honestly. But they make such a flipping mess. Every, the, the moment they go in, they're in the garden.
So I've had my garden's all lovely and it's growing and they're just eating all my plants. Yeah. Yeah. Our garden is like a building site at the moment. I'm looking at it going, oh my God. It'll get done this year. Yeah. It'll Get done. Mine was, mine was a building site for 17 years. Oh, wow.
Yeah. Well, we've done gradually The house. Yeah. Just the garden. It's finishing now, but the, the dogs wreck the lawn. Absolutely. Wreck the Lord. Yeah. Well, that's what I've had a, I've had fake grass put in mine. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's not a massive piece of lawn, but it's, yeah.
It's, they just run around and play on it, which then turns the middle to mud. Yeah. And then bring even more mud in the house. And you're like, really? I admit, I didn't, like when, when they, when the gardener said, we're gonna put fake grass in, I was like, no. And then they said,
well, let's try it. So they put it in. I was like, oh my God, that looks amazing. And it looks like real, it looks like real grass. Yeah. And people saying, oh, when it gets really hot, it burns. It doesn't, Doesn't it? No. Oh, okay. I mean, we haven't had really hot here.
I think we had about 27, 28 degrees and they were all, they loved it. 'cause it was, it was warm, but it's not gonna burn you. Because I was like, oh, I need to, can you, can you go on this? Are you gonna burn your toes? The only thing is if it rains and then it's hot. Yeah.
The smell, Ah, is bad. Right. So I have to put disinfectant on it. Yeah. Yeah. A Bit of a pain. But, but it's, you know, it's normally okay. But it looks really, it looks lovely. Oh, good. Your views are amazing. Your views. I look over a vineyard at the front,
because we live in Oh really? Yeah. Yeah. We live in the country and we look over a vineyard. It's only, it's only 10 acres. It's, yeah. So, yeah. They grow, they grow grapes there for wine. Yeah. And then surrounded by farmer's fields. So I always say, oh, it's because we live in the country.
Get loads of dust. Yes. Just because I don't dust. Yeah. Although the other day, I'm not joking, the other day he was harvesting the wheat, which is literally in the field next to us. The, and there was just clouds of dust everywhere. I was like, oh. Literally just, you Get all the little thunder bugs.
The little harvest bugs. Oh, Yes, yes. And they're getting all of your pictures. Yes. The picture breaks get, and you sitting there going, oh my God. And they're everywhere. Scratch skin. Yes. Literally. I see. I used to be a really cold person. And since the menopause, I'm, I'm, I'm not now.
I'm so ch 'cause it's cheaper on heating. Heating. And if I get hot and sweaty and then I get thunder bugs on me, I'm like, oh my God, I need to just, no, I can't. I can't deal with it. Can't deal with it. Get in the shower. Awful. I dunno when they're gonna start harvesting. I think.
'cause the weather's been so bad here. Oh, awful. So my youngest son is very farmery, you know, we'll go, we'll go for a walk and he'll pick it all. Oh, it's ready now. Oh, I'm not sure what they're gonna do. So what will they do? Will it all be rain? No, no, no.
They can do it. They'll just put the dry. So he is very knowledgeable about Oh yeah. They're, they're gonna be starting combining soon. It's gonna be, Yeah. It's like I said, they've just lectured just on this. But the weather recently just, it's Awful. Yeah, Absolutely. It's, it's gone from dry as anything to chucking it down.
I Know. We've two, two days with no rain, which has been quite nice. Oh, wow. So managed to get, I mean, at the End of the day, you know, we should be grateful that we've got reasonably good weather. Yeah. And that's one of the things I, I meant to say, actually, I was listening to one of your earlier podcasts,
and I can't, for the life of me, remember who it was. It was a gentleman. And I do try to live by this now 'cause I can sometimes on the academy, I'm trying to be more positive. Yeah. And it's helping me actually. I'm trying to do an awful lot of work on myself being more positive and stuff. And I can't remember for the life of me whose podcast it was,
and it was the acronym Flag Faith lu Love, acceptance, gratitude. It wasn't Alex, was it Alex Fleming? No, I don't think it was. I can't remember. Oh, no. I'll tell you what it was it, I was talking to, talking about somebody and I was talking about a podcast That was it, Somebody else, and I can't remember his name either.
Yes, yes. I really like that. And having values of, of faith. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I'm not religious. No. And and that's what, that's what he was saying. It's not the faith, not the faith that you've got if you are Yeah. Religious as such, but the faith that everything will work out and be okay.
Exactly. And I've, I've tried to think to myself, it is what it is. It'll be okay. And have the faith and, and also like you say, okay, so it's been raining my washings, I've been out on the line for two days, been getting wet. There's no point in now. It's just like acceptance. It is what it is.
And it'll all be okay. And I have tried to change my mindset for that. Yeah. So, yeah, it, it, it really does. I've been trying to think more positively and change my mindset too. It'll be okay. Everything's will work out. Yeah. And so try and put more sort of positive vibes out. Yeah. The universe.
I Think it's, I think so. What I don't ever want to do is try and shove, you know, things into people's faces and just say, you, you've gotta do this because it No, no. If you are not of that disposition and you see things, maybe people might say, oh, I'm a much more pragmatic, pragmatic person.
I'm, I'm more of a realist. I look at, you know, real life. And I'm like, and this was one of the things when I went to see Esther in Amsterdam, one of the ladies, a lady came on and she asked a question and she said, my son keeps on saying to me, mom, you know, you can't just live your life all all lovely.
You've got to look at all of the horrors that are going on in the world. You've got to live your life in the real world. And what Esther said was, but you can go out of your back door. And that's real life. Yeah. You can spend time with people who you love to spend time with. That's real life. You can choose not to put the news on.
That's real life. Yeah. Why does having to concentrate on all of the horror Absolutely. Mean that's real life and not choosing to concentrate on it. It isn't. Yeah. And that's one of the things that I've, I I think just looking at mindset and look, you know, if you are really happy, if somebody's really happy with their life,
amazing. But if they want things to change and they're not seeing any changes and they not changing, You'll only ever get what you got. Yeah. Yeah. But, and they're not changing, you know, intrinsically with who they are and what they are inside. Yeah. Then how, how can they possibly expect change to happen? So starting to change mindset,
you know? Yeah. Steadily and gently is a, is a, is a really good thing. And it's not about ignoring stuff or, you know, putting your head in the sand or anything like that. It's about actually going out into the world and instead of concentrating on all of the crap Yeah. Look the other way and concentrate on some of the good that's happening.
'cause there is a lot of good that's happening. Yeah, absolutely. I've, it has been said to me in the past, oh, you, you, you, you're quite negative. I'm not, I don't think I am. I think the way my brain works, like I'll look at a situation and I think, oh, well, okay,
what if that happens? What if that happens? What if that happens? What do I do? And I'm sort of forward planning. Does that make sense? Yeah. And, but it can be seen as negativity. So I'm trying to change my mindset instead of automatically thinking, well what if that happened? What would I do think? Well, positive.
What if that happened? Wouldn't that be great? Yeah. And that's what I've been trying to do. And, and actually, so a lot of the sessions in the academy have really helped. It struck a co, I can't remember which one it was. And I literally sat there and I was like, oh my God, that that just so helps.
Yeah. Can you still do it? I still, but I can now, but I can now stop myself and go, no, what are you doing? Think about this way. Instead of just running away with me. Yeah. Because of course We can't predict the future. No. We have, we have no idea what's gonna happen. So why not?
Let's think about something lovely happening. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because like you say, yeah, you can't predict the future. And to be perfectly honest, what's the point if you constantly think not great things or say not great things either about yourself or other people. And I have been, we are all guilty, we're, it just is. But it,
yeah, it can then spiral that you don't realize you are unconsciously doing that. You need to step in. 'cause if somebody, if somebody else was saying that you would step in. So you need to be that person in your head. Does that make sense? Yes. Yeah. No, definitely have a listen to some of the Joe dispenser stuff because he talks about personality and how people say,
oh, you can't, you can't change your personality. But, but actually you, if you want to change you, you have to change who you are inside and you can do that. Yeah. He's really, really interesting, really interesting guy. And him kind of interspersed with all of the other people that I listen to. Yeah, it's good.
It's really good. It's really good. It's got some really good things to say. Oh definitely. I'll look up, I'll look up that. Yeah. I think having more of a positive mindset, just generally in everything, you know, even if the person in front of you cuts you up or anything, it's just like, yes, I accept their indicator.
It's fine. Instead of calling them all the name, the sun, Wind the window down. But there are days when that happens. Absolutely. And that's okay. Unless they stop. Yes. And then you have to go away really quickly. I Just tell what the cyclist wants. I don't, I don't have anything against cyclists, but we were coming up to,
I was just coming outta my mom's village. I'd kind of overtaken this cyclist and he was like on a country road and he was right in the middle, the road. And the road was big enough for two cars to go past. So I was like, I drove past, I, no, did I drive pa Yeah, I think I did drive past eventually.
And then we had to come to a stop at the end because there's a junction and he kind of pulls up and he was like, at me. And I'm like, don't look at him. Don't look at him. Don't look, look forward. Look forward. So I'm all very well driving aggressively fast him, but I can't cope with him if he starts to talk to me.
God. Oh God. Hilarious. Oh, I gosh, we for ages. Oh, it's, so, yeah, I've gotta go and talk about these T's and C's now. T's and C's. Oh hey. Get excited about those. Oh, it's been so nice to talk to you. So nice to talk to you. I'm, you know,
absolutely delighted that you, your art and your business and everything is going well, you know, so well deserved. And your, your drawings are absolutely fabulous. Oh, thanks very Much. It's just brilliant. So yeah, all, all good, all good things. And hopefully soon you'll be full-time and Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. Like I say,
I've got a plan and I, you know, I'm not sort of jumping ship and, and going straight in there, but still, still need to, you know, work part-time and obviously pay some bills. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, fingers crossed. It'll all it I know it will. I know it will. It'll be fine. It'll work,
it'll work out. It'll be good. It Will definitely. Oh, amazing. Well, it's been really, really nice chatting to you, Marie. And yeah, hopefully we'll get to get to do it again. I've just rambled on about, I dunno, what No, well people like, people like just hearing to just, you know, Rumble Stepped in and I,
I'm the biggest rambler going. Fantastic. Alright, Marie, see you soon later. Bye. Bye.
I really hope you enjoyed listening to this episode of my, It's A Bonny Old 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 too. My mission with this podcast is all about sharing mine and my community's experience and hope by telling your fascinating personal stories, championing 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 Snowdon Academy or by getting on my list at bonnie Snowdon academy.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,
