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.
September's been an incredibly busy month. We opened the doors to the Ignite membership again and welcomed around about 800 new members, which is absolutely amazing. And done some fabulous drawings, finished bits and pieces and, and started new pieces as well. So yeah, sit back, relax, grab a cup of tea, piece of cake, custard cream, whatever you fancy and have, have a listen to what I've been getting up to this month.
So another, another month gone. I honestly, that's September. It's just going, it'll be Christmas very soon. So exciting month this month. Really, really crazy busy, all sorts of stuff going on. We opened the doors to the Ignite membership again and saw, gosh, I dunno how many people joined, but lots and lots of new members,
which is amazing. So, so many people now starting on their creative journey or continuing on their creative journey, developing their work, which is just absolutely fabulous. And I'm seeing some amazing pieces coming through already, kind of following, following the foundation's course and, and it's just wonderful. Lots of lovely new people within the community, again, which is absolutely fabulous.
So this month it's been a bit of a whirlwind. My eldest son has moved or, yeah, so he's, he's gone overseas. He's actually moving to Australia. He's got a year's visa that may end up being two years. May end up being that he's gonna stay there forever, I dunno. So he went on the fourth. He's currently in Vietnam and probably by the time this goes live,
he'll, he'll actually be in Melbourne. So having the most incredible time. They started off in Thailand. He's been sort of texting me every day and sending me photos and videos and everything is FaceTiming me. He's just having the most fantastic time. He's gone with some friends and yeah, so that's, that's been quite, what's it been quite, I I wanna say stressful but isn't,
not really stressful. I think internally it's been quite stressful for me because we've been a very tight family for, you know, since 2017 when, you know, when, when their dad left and we're just, just a very, a very, very nice, tight family. And yeah, him going as sort of, it has made me sad and waving him off and everything was sad.
But he's 24 and you know, he's got some amazing adventures ahead of him and, and that's really exciting. And my daughter ended up, ended up having her appendix out just before she went on holiday, so that was really stressful. And then my youngest son and I were obviously in the house with all of the animals and everything for a couple of weeks and yeah,
it felt really, really strange, you know, emptying the dishwasher in the morning and like, there's hardly anything in it 'cause I'm not, I don't really like to cook. And my other two that weren't there, they really love to cook. So normally we have like tons of stuff in the dishwasher, you gotta put it on twice and I'm like taking a plate out,
that's it. I'm like, so had a bit of a weep over that. Oh my goodness no. And, and then of course when my daughter came back and the dishwasher was full again, I was like, oh my goodness, get back on holiday. So yeah, so it's been, been been a bit strange really. You know, the family dynamics has sort of changed a little bit,
but yeah, he's having, he's having a fabulous time. So that's all good. And then of course all of the run up to the, the academy, the Ignite doors opening and then, and then welcome, welcoming new people in all of the extra sessions that I run. So when, when I open the doors, I, I like to kind of hold people's hands quite a bit,
so I'll end up bringing in, you know, doing more live sessions and all of that kind of stuff. So I've been busy. So the, the, the amount of stuff that I do normally in a week is quite a lot. And then that sort of, not doubled, but you know, an awful lot more. So yeah, so I've had had all of that as well.
And then, and then decided that I couldn't do any more people, so I had to cancel a few, a few interviews and stuff that I had lined up. I had to cancel just because, you know, sometimes you just feel, actually I just need to spend a little bit of time on my own drawing and whatever so that I, I am able to do the stuff that's important.
And the stuff that's important is obviously to support my amazing members. So yeah, so I had to make the decision to cancel a couple of things, which is, which is fine. And then we're still on with the, well actually by the time this goes live, I think we'll have finished the bee but this is what we've been drawing in Art Club.
You can see that, I dunno whether it's gonna go all fuzzy because of the camera, but we're drawing this lovely little bee on a flower and hopefully this, we're gonna be finishing this next week. We've got two weeks left. But actually what we're gonna do is we're gonna have one week of art club, and then I'm going to, I'm going to record the final bit because we're starting on a brand new tutorial in Art Club,
which is a highland cow, which everybody's incredibly excited about. I've been talking about it for ages, probably once we get going and we're drawing all of that fur, people are going to be less excited. But yeah, we're gonna be starting that on the 3rd of October, which, which we're all very, very, very happy about. So, and then of course I finished another of my portraits,
so I, I wanted to challenge myself. I think when it comes to development, I am always developing, I'm always buying courses to learn new things. I'm always attending webinars. I'm, I'm always doing something to better myself, to be a better version of me, you know, and it could be, could be anything that I, that I do.
And when it comes to drawing, developing my drawing skills again is, is key. I think for, for any artist, we always need to be developing and pushing ourselves. And for me, one of the things that I really struggle with and I find incredibly challenging is drawing smooth subjects on drafting film. And I did a, I had to draw a,
well, I didn't have to, but I drew a portrait on drafting film that was for a client who's already got a portrait and their first portrait I did on drafting film. So the second one, because they're gonna be hung together, they both need to be on drafting film, really. And I found it really challenging and, and managed to do it and it looks amazing and I'm incredibly proud of it.
But I thought, you know what, I really need to properly challenge myself and look at how I can create smooth subjects on drafting film, because a lot of people love drafting film. It's a very stable surface. The quality is always exactly as you expect it to be. You know, it's not like you get one piece and it's like this and then and another piece.
And it's like that. It's always consistent in quality. It's a super, super surface to work on. It's archival, Lightfast, all of the stuff that you want it to be. So I decided I was gonna draw a human on it. So I'm relatively new to drawing humans. I have found my passion, I've talked about this before. I love my animals.
I never wanted to draw humans. And then all of a sudden I'm like, oh my goodness, drawing humans is amazing. And drawing humans has actually allowed me to develop my animal portraits, which again is amazing. So I, I drew this on film, so this is on, this is on film. You see it all shiny there. It's another thing that I say to my students as well,
oh Bonny, my, my draft, it's all shiny. And I'm like, are you looking at it on an angle? And they're like, yeah. And I'm like, don't, don't look at it on an angle, just look at it head on and then you won't see the shine. But yeah, so that's that. And then if you look at it on the other side,
you can see where I've kind of darkened bits and drawn on it. Not over the, the entire thing. But, so that's, I've really enjoyed drawing her on drafting film. And what has made that really successful is this a, I dunno whether that's gonna come out back to front Prismacolor, would you believe it? So I bought the full set of Prismacolor,
150 pencils. And I know people are gonna go, they're not Lightfast, some of them are Lightfast, some of them aren't very much like the Pablos, very much like the Polychromos. Do you know what? They are fantastic on drafting film for skin. They're amazing. So yeah, so that was a bit of a, a revelation really that, that prismacolor that I haven't used purely because I don't like the softness on pastelmat,
which is what I normally use on drafting film. They're like a match made in heaven and they work so well and they've got the most gorgeous colours. So anyway, so I've got the full set of the Prismacolor now, not sure I'm gonna be introducing them into my tutorials anytime soon. I think maybe if I do another person on drafting film, I probably will because they are,
I'm not gonna say it's easier to use them because I, I think there's definitely a skill there. But they definitely blend better. They definitely give you a, I mean, you know, she's got this lovely super smooth skin, you know, and, and that I could achieve using the, the, the prismas. So yeah, that was quite a,
a revelation. Oh my goodness. I loved, I absolutely loved drawing her. I really loved drawing her and I drew her for me. So I didn't really record any of it. I did some little ones for social media, but I didn't record any of it as a, as a, you know, as a tutorial. And I, I definitely need that.
I definitely need to have pieces where it's not a commission, it's not a tutorial, it's just because I want to draw it and I, I've seen a piece and I just absolutely love it and that, that is how I keep my sanity most definitely. And that's also how I manage to keep drawing and teaching and not having to take sort of big breaks or anything like that.
It's because I, I'm, I'm very conscious of how I feel and how my body reacts and I'm very quick to put things into action so that if something is a bit of a miss or you know, I need to sort of take a little bit of time out, I can do that, but it doesn't affect my work. And I think that's really,
really important. So the other thing that I've done, in fact, the book's in the other room, but the other thing that I've done this month is I've, I'll show you this little box because it's quite pretty here together. So I've taken out a subscription to, oops, This makes good footage, doesn't it? I've taken out a subscription to,
again, it might be, might be the wrong way around Lock Library from Harper Collins. Basically each month I get a new book, I dunno what I'm getting. And the book is like a limited edition. So it's got all of that gorgeous, the edges that are all painted and it's got beautiful inserts and sort of a lovely bookmark and everything like that.
And it's really nice. So, oh, when I, I had a bit of a declutter, well this year, last year I had my living room all done and I'm one of those people that wherever there's a space, if there's a, if there's a a surface, I'll put stuff on it. So, so my kitchen table looks like I've got some kind of a,
I dunno, production line going on it wherever there's a space I put stuff on it. So in my living room I took out all of the extra surfaces and so I don't really have, I have a setee and I have my tele and, but I don't really have anything else. So I've got no new space for books and I've got loads of books.
Anyway, I bought myself a little book stand, like a little book tree. So I'm excited for that to come 'cause I've got so many books to put on the book tree and then I can put these lovely, these lovely Harper column Collins ones on there, which will be really exciting. So I've got a few different books that I'm actually really enjoying the,
I'm reading one at the minute and I, I'm not sure I, I'm not sure I should be reading everything. It's, it's very, it's, it's sort of like a thriller type thing, but it's very dark. I, I am really enjoying it, but it's very dark and I'm, there's parts of it I'm thinking, I don't think I should be really reading this.
So that's, that's quite funny. But I, I really do enjoy reading and I've, I've found sort of like a, I like to, I like to read all sorts of different things and you know, it's, it is quite nice to be able to sit and read. I don't now watch an awful lot of telly. You know, there might be a series that I find and I,
I sort of like binge watch it. I watched, what did I watch? Oh gosh, what was it called? The, the Wilderness on Prime. It came out last Thursday. I was like, oh, I'm watching this. So I got to the, I think there's about seven episodes and I got to sort of like the end of episode five and I'm like,
ugh, I've just had enough of this. Now I know what's gonna happen. Sorry, I haven't bothered watching the rest of it. But yeah, so I tend to draw or read and of course go, go swimming. But I haven't been swimming for a couple of weeks just 'cause we've been so, so busy. So yeah, so what have we got coming up October off to Nashville,
which I'm really excited about. I am part of Stu McLaren's mastermind and we've got a live event going on in Nashville. So I fly out on the 12th and we stay for a week. I'm so excited because I get to meet Stu McLaren, who's like one of my biggest heroes ever. But I also get to meet loads of people from the Mastermind as well.
People from all over the world doing the same thing that I'm doing, you know, well not drawing, but you know, different memberships and it's gonna be the most amazing couple of days. So that's really exciting. Off to Stratford-upon-Avon for a couple of days to check out the, the hotel, meet the florist, look at the, meet the audio visual guy for the great art party,
the Great British Art Party, which is happening in November. So we're just gonna give a, the, the, the once over that, we know it's a fantastic hotel, but we're just gonna go and have a look at it and make sure, and then talk to the audio visual guy, make sure that he's got, you know, the screens are all set up and all of that kind of stuff and,
and talk to the florist about the flowers that are going on on the table. So again, really, really exciting times there. And then this is really exciting for me. You'll, it'll probably bore the pants off you, but I've got, it's my cousin's son is coming next Thursday and he is a lighting and audio visual specialist. And finally I am going to have my studio set up with lights off the floor,
everything in the right places. And they're all going to be hopefully worked from my phone. I can't tell you how excited I'm, I can't, I just can't tell you how excited I am, he's gonna look at my microphones, he's gonna get all my microphones working, probably he's gonna get these box thing. Hang on. Oops. This thing that I,
I dunno how much I spent on it. I covered in flipping dust, this thing here, look at the dust on it, he's gonna get out working for me. He, yeah, we're gonna get the whole of the studio working properly so that I've got really good studio lights. I I use floor standing soft boxes and they get in the way and my,
you know, my, they fall over all the time, so I'm gonna get them all properly on a big boom arms. I'm gonna have another rig set up so that we can have a camera running all of the time for social media clips, all of that kind of stuff. And just properly set my studio up with the lighting so that everything's off the floor,
everything's really handy and I can switch everything on from my phone, which is just going to be the most amazing thing. You know, I, I've got so much equipment everywhere and it all works fine, but it's not, it's not, doesn't work to, its optimal how it should do because of course Bonny's put it together so it's all a bit hit and miss.
But yeah, so I'm really, really excited about that. I dunno how long it's gonna take to, to sort out, but that's again, that's really, really exciting. I'm just trying to think about what else we've got going on. I think I've got a new, a new lot of freebie that's coming out, coming out in October. I think that's about it.
I think that's about it actually. Just, just the normal, I've got some lovely commissions that I'm on with, I'm doing a big tutorial at the moment, a horse on drafting film, which it, it's quite big. I mean it's sort of a, a four-ish, so it is relatively big, but because it's the whole body, the head's really quite small.
So that's, I'm having to draw like really, really tiny, but details, but really, really tiny. But it's gonna be a good one because it's very shiny, it's very rich colors. So lots and lots of learning points in there. And then, yeah, I've got some really lovely commissions coming up. Couple of really lovely horses, lovely cat.
And then I've got some pieces that I haven't been able to share and they're going to be gifted, so I'll be able to share those. So a couple of Labradors. So, and then I'm gonna be doing some more of my own pieces, which I'm really excited about as well. So yeah, same as usual. Busy, busy and you know, we're just,
we're just keeping on, keeping on. And yeah, so hopefully next month I'll be able to show you the completed at Bumblebee, the completed horse that I'm doing as the tutorial, maybe another couple of pieces that I've been working on and tell you a little bit more about the lighting in my studio, which will be amazing. So, so for now,
you know, thank you so much to me listening to me gabbling on about a load of rubbish and, and I'll catch you all later.
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 Bonny Snowdon Academy or by getting on my list at bonnysnowdonacademy.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,
