I sit down at my table, tea brewing at my side and pencil in hand, posed to write...but then all of a sudden I stop. My mind is not necessarily blank, rather it is completely and utterly full to the brim with ideas. Too many ideas, too many things to get across, where to start?
From the moment that I discovered that I was pregnant with my first child in the Summer of 2016 I wanted to create artwork to inspire my baby as he grows. During my pregnancy my work transformed, it became less eerie and more whimsical, inspired by children, dreams and fairytales. One day I looked at the drawings on my studio walls and I figured out my plan, a new dream. I wanted to write and illustrate my own children's story book. A real book for me to read to my son.
So I discovered that starting to write a story in what I imagine is the usual way (sitting at ones desk pen in hand), is completely impossible for me. So instead I decided to make a start by drawing, doing what comes much more naturally to me. I have massed together an array of sketches of initial ideas for characters to detailed parts of the story. Everything is a mess of ideas, a literal mess in my studio, bits of sketches stuck to the walls next to torn pieces of old maps.
Watercolour drawing of a Mother sperm whale and her baby..potential characters in my story.
Finding the time to get creative is nigh on impossible with a 9 month old. Baby Nuri has just learnt to crawl and is on the move every waking moment. In the time it takes for me to gather my thoughts and put my pencil to paper he wakes from his nap, ready and raring to go again. So writing my story has become very tricky which frustrates me, a lot. Nuri is fast asleep as I type this, I doubt he will sleep long so I thought I better focus on something I know I can complete quickly. Rather than getting lost in my artwork for 5 minutes only to be abruptly brought back down to Earth by baby's cries!
Since my pregnancy and the birth of my baby boy I have started to really enjoy writing down the memories that we are making. I keep looking back through them, even though they are only recent memories.