A word from Alice

It's a few weeks away still, but February 14th is on the horizon.  I know people have a huge range of views on this day. Some love it, some hate it...

At the end of 2019, in the lovely between times of Christmas and New Year I reflected on 2019 and dreamt up a list of things I might like to do in 2020 to develop the business. 

On the list included moving to a studio, saying goodbye to Shrewsbury and moving further south, having some professional photographs done at the studio, and many workshops. Sadly the latter didn't happen but they will keep and run again one day. I was also keep to blog more which I have managed... although I do acknowledge I'd let the bar fall pretty low so I had a good place to start!

I thought I'd write you a little hello this Christmas. I'd love to hand write everyone a card but that just isn't practical. Here is a means to do it another way - I've hand written a Christmas card and filmed it as I went. Here you can watch the YouTube video or read the text via images or in the text in this blog post. Happy Christmas from Alice Draws the Line.

For the December 2020 newsletter I decided to create a slightly different colouring in sheet. Usually the colouring in sheets are all botanical and made with the idea of anyone being able to colour them in, as they wish, and hopefully enjoying some calm, mindful time while doing so. For this one, I thought it would be nice to do something festive and so I've drawn orange slices that you can download and make at home.

Today is Black Friday, the first Friday after Thanksgiving, the last Friday of November. I am nor running any deals today but instead have used it as a motivation to finally list these artworks online. They are all original pieces and so once they have sold - they have sold. I wrote a blog post to document them.

I thought I'd share a few images of my 2021 Wall Calendar here - because I'm proud of it! In August 2020 I completed the year long project. Some of the bouquets I drew stem by stem as separate studies and others I drew as a compete bouquet from the start. There are some time-lapse videos of some of the drawings in progress over on my YouTube channel should you fancy a watch. So, here we have the whole calendar, page 

In September 2015 I drew some sprouts. In November these became one of my first (and still one of my favourite) Christmas Card designs - Twist and Sprout! In the December I wrote to Alice Palace - some one I had admired for a long time for how Alice had built her business and all it and she stood for. I wrote to ask if I could come and help in the build up to Christmas as work experience (as a grown up). In early 2016 I designed this Valentines card. I posted it to shops and galleries that I enjoy visiting, most were local to me. I chose just 5 and addressed them with my dip pen. I posted them and hoped for the best. 

The power of sharing is often underrated.

To me, sharing is caring for artists and small businesses. Sharing their work helps others to discover then and support them on their journey too. The more people that know about that person, small business or company can then share the word and hopefully some of those may be able to invest - even if it is something small, or at a much later date when they can comfortably invest.

It sounds like an oxymoron but I'm planning some time for play. I'm scheduling in some time next week, and hopefully every month to play with different mediums, different scales and different styles in my work. I have realised that it is surprisingly easy to become nestled into a niche, make it comfortable... and stay

I recently found some of my very old sketchbooks- some from when I finished my A'levels and my year at Hereford Art College doing my Art Foundation course.

This picture really made me smile, as it is nearly twenty years old now (not sure how that happened!) and yet it is so similar to the work that I am doing right now.

I'm not sure if I had ever dared to even hope that this might be a possibility back in those days. This isn't to gloat, but to stop, pause and reflect on just how different my world is now, and how glad I am to get to do what I do day to day. I loved my Forest School years, but as those of you that have followed me for a while will know, Art has always been a strong contender for my affections throughout - and now is it's time to take centre stage. I think it is too easy to get up in the plans for the next stage and phase and not to pause and take stock and so this is what I'm doing.

I have created an 'inspiration station' or mood board /zone or just an area of my studio dedicated to things I want to be looking at. 

The idea was suggested by my good friend Louise who I sat back to back with on our Art Foundation year. One of the biggest joys of that year was having a space that had 3 walls that surrounded you and you were encouraged to fill it with things that inspired you, that you were working on, ideas you were playing around with all part of the project or brief you were working on. At the end of that project the whole lot would come down and the white walls would return as the new project started. Soon it would be filled with the colours and ideas for the next phase.