New work (It's been a minute...)

*waves shyly*

Hello, it’s taken me a very long time to write this. Many first lines of a new Substack have been written, deleted, for some reason, (feeling like a failure? Fear? Shame?) abandoned. But finally, here we are.

I suppose I should start by way of an apology. I’m sorry for disappearing. Last year was a very challenging one, and I (like many others, it seems) hit burnout with my artistic career. If you follow my Instagram, you may have already known this, but long story short, I decided at the end of December to enrol in a year of study to gain my qualification as a primary school teacher. And so, that is what I have been doing for the past seven months. It’s been incredibly challenging in its own ways, but my eye is fixed firmly on the prize of having a part-time career that means I can make art without the burden and pressure of financial income.

In doing so, I had to let go of creating art regularly, which has been very difficult. I felt like I had lost part of my identity and had a deep sense of grief for my former days of painting in my studio every day. But recently, I have been inspired by some of my older work and chipped away at a new collection of affordable art on paper, and I am finally ready to share them with you:

I hope you enjoy them, and if you do choose to purchase one, please know that you will be helping towards a very challenging year of a single income whilst I am a student. My family and I will be deeply grateful.

Finally, I thought I would share with you this quote by Maya Angelou that I shared on Instagram and it was my most liked and re-shared post ever, with over 21,000 likes! clearly, it resonated with a lot of you.

Thank you for sticking with me and for your words of support and encouragement if you’ve sent them my way; they really do mean a lot. I hope that life is treating you kindly and that you are still finding ways to sing your own song.

Phoebe x