The last few weeks have been bizarre, unsettling and transforming. Initially, like many of us, I felt ‘at sea’ emotionally and practically. It was very hard on Mothers day to not be able to give my mum a hug and in April not be able to celebrate my son’s 25th birthday with him, face to face. We have tried very hard to make the best of the new situation though. I’ll admit its been ‘up and down’ . The daily news continues to speak of heartbreak.

One of the first challenges was adapting to working from home instead of going along to the wonderful printing space at Digswell Arts.

In addition when we all went into Lockdown I had just joined the membership of Omega Printmakers in Portsmouth so it was gutting to miss out on my first visit, to begin using the spacious print rooms. Hopefully I won’t have long to wait before using the lovely etching press there.

There are however a few small morsels of positives from our current Lockdown. One is adapting our small garden shed, at the bottom of the garden, into a temporary Art Studio space. The lack of heating or electricity hasn’t stopped me from making good use of this cosy space. A lovely long dry and sunny spell helped.

It’s especially good for photographing work. Ironically better than any space i’ve used before. It was fun converting the shed, though my husband is missing his den for dumping garden stuff. We did have to buy another small storage shed !

A second key outcome from our ‘New Normal’ is that it’s finally given me the motivation and time I needed to set up an Online Shop. Squarespace make it very easy, which helps my non computer brain. Like many of my artist friends I am experiencing a sudden loss of income from exhibitions, events and workshops. For that reason I have joined the Artists Support Pledge Initiative set up by the Artist Matthew Burrows. This is a pledge to purchase another artists work when an artist reaches a target of sales. Its very straightforward and I have been eyeing up other Artist’s work, eager to purchase some pieces on my wish list.

Seeds, Monoprint and stitch on Gampi Tissue; mounted on sketchbook page

To start with I have been going through some past sketchbooks and putting pages onto the shop site. I have also identified some ‘one off’ Prints, in my folder of recent work, that I will be photographing and putting on the site.

After a few weeks of not making much work, and the only creativity being in the form of baked food, it’s good to be in a studio (of sorts) again. I am currently working on some ideas around the theme of Navigating These Times.

Driven by a desire to work through a mix of responses to the current times caused by this Pandemic, I decided to start a new sketchbook documenting, writing, drawing and making. In essence a series of drawings and words that respond. Im trying to avoid over thinking and just go with more ‘gut’ responses and what works and feels good to do.

The idea for this theme was initiated by Fellow Forge Artist Fiona Chaney. As a group of artists we wanted to turn our current experiences into a group of work that we share and, at some future time, put on show at the studios. Posting regularly on Instagram with the hashtag ‘Forge Artists Navigating These Times’ - it’s lovely to see the work being made from their home environments.

New skills I have acquired during our ‘Lockdown’ have been plentiful and keep on coming. Including: how to send Internationally Tracked Parcels: how to apply loads of Thermal Insulation Foil to the shed interior and then hide said shiny foil; How to host our weekly artist Zoom meetings; How to teach my college students remotely using Whats App; How to make a video of myself showing my mum, (who has quite rightly shunned immersing herself in the overly online world ) how to use Zoom on her iPad ; a tricky manoeuvre that involved several devices, hubby as assistant cameraman, and several attempts, plus a very strong cup of coffee for both of us. :)