I still can't quite believe that today I turn 28! It doesn't seem that long ago that I was leaving primary school and feeling all grown up. When I was 10, being 28 was forever away and seemed VERY old. I thought I would of traveled the world and got married by now but to date I've got as far as moving to St Leonards! For the first birthday in a while though I feel like I don't mind turning a year older as I think I've achieved quite a lot since turning 27. This time last year we were visiting Hastings for the first time, and now we actually live here! We finally got out of renting and onto the property ladder, which I'm exceedingly happy about. It's given me the freedom to work really hard on my little business, which is slowly starting to pay off.
This year, I want to carry on with the same momentum - continuing to push myself and my artwork to be the best it can be. I'm also really looking forward to getting things done to our new flat, with my next big task definitely being tackling our garden/jungle! It would be lovely to have people round for BBQ's next summer. So far though our little home is coming together nicely!
I wanted to have quite a chilled out birthday this year as I have been so busy recently but I decided to get new tattoo as a special present to myself! I spent so many years being indecisive about tattoo designs but came to the conclusion that I could change my mind forever, so it's probably best not to over think it. This one is loosely based on a illustration by artist Hiller Goodspeed. I loved all the 'different contexts' but all of them seemed appropriate so I decided to focus on the image, as that way it can symbolise lots of things. It's also my nerdy little tribute to Twin Peaks. I LOVE IT! Super talented Indigo Forever Tattoo's did an amazing job designing it for me in her delicate hand poked style. Check out some more of her beautiful work on her website (the sweet curled up dog is obviously my favourite!)
Another lovely illustrated thing I received this week which seemed very appropriate to include in my birthday blog is 'Perks of a New Body - a zine about turning 30' by a very inspiring Hasting based Illustrator, Frannerd (Fran Meneses). It's a beautifully illustrated summary of a years worth of feelings on turning the big 3-0, which despite being a few years off, really resonated with me, as I'm sure it will with a lot of people.
Today also marks another big day as it's the third anniversary of when we got Tovah! I had wanted a dog of my own my whole life so as soon as we moved out of London it's one of the first and best decisions I made and my obsession with her grows daily. Here is a photo of her as a cute seal pup to celebrate.
I also just wanted to say another big THANK YOU to everyone who bought one of my Inktober drawings so far. I worked really hard on them so it means a lot to know they are going to good homes. There are still a few originals up for sale on my shop, each piece is a one of a kind so once they are gone they're gone!