I guess I’m kinda back…

I last posted at Christmas 2020, though subsequently archived the posts back to July 2020 because there were no images associated with posts after that date and they looked weird on my new theme.

So, what happened? Well I went off and did other things. I started posting mostly on Instagram because my attention span has been so badly damaged by work stress that short-form writing was all I could manage. Plus a couple of friends and I were hoping to make some money selling our designs and were marketing them via Instagram, but this project fell through.

My mental health was already on the downward slope in late 2019. I had successfully had art accepted for a prestigious London exhibition but it cost me a lot of money and led to zero sales, then I exhibited work locally in an art festival, in what turned out to be a tent in a field miles away from the main event. Again, no sales and little interest from those who did turn up. Plus my social anxiety made any attempt to converse or market my work impossible. Subsequently, of course, there was Covid and a recession. I can take a hint and decided to let the dream die. I still draw a lot but only as a hobby.

Covid actually improved my mood for a while, not least because work was far more peaceful with the majority of other staff working from home. And I also had a really good excuse for not going anywhere or doing anything 🙂

Our household managed to avoid Covid for two full years, then I got it in April 2022, and my wife in July. Neither of us was very sick. She was bored by isolation, whereas I was quite happy watching horror movies on Shudder via my phone in bed. I was almost sad to eventually test negative and have to go back to work.

Many of my pre-Covid dreams never came to fruition. And some friendships drifted away, as they do.

Therefore I find myself back at the point I started blogging seriously in 2017, only without the same energy and optimism. I hope this is going to change.

My plans for the next few months:

• Catch up with your blogs.
• One person who has been a constant throughout the gap is my lovely friend Sarah at http://secretartexpedition.wordpress.com , we have been in touch and collaborated on artwork, she has even recently been writing some Latin for me. Anyway, she asked if I wanted to join her in signing up for https://nanowrimo.org as she is one of the few who knows I started writing a novel last year.
• Continue to diversify my art. I will obviously still be doing botanical work but I have created other things over the last two years that I hope to share on here.
• Hopefully get back to the gym.
• Return to Montreal after too long a gap, to visit the lovely Dominique again.

Finally, for now, a thank you to the wonderful Chandra ( https://iamchandralynn.com), whose kind comment asking after me has been the final push I needed to post again. Please go and congratulate her on her tenth year of blogging.