I won’t pretend life feels light at the moment. Sometimes life arrives all at once and suddenly you’re carrying more than you ever expected to. 🤦🏻‍♀️🫠 What I’ve been learning is that creativity doesn’t always have to be about making something amazing. Sometimes it’s simply about giving your mind somewhere gentle to rest for a while.🥰 A sketch. A photograph. A few lines in a journal. Sitting in the garden with a cup of tea and listening to the birds.🦚🪶 These little pockets of creativity have been keeping me sane lately. Not because they solve anything, but because they remind me that even on difficult days there is still beauty to notice and small moments of peace to be found. I think we need to normalise this a bit more. Life isn’t always sunshine and productivity. Sometimes it’s messy, exhausting and overwhelming. And sometimes making a tiny bit of space for yourself is more than enough. 🙌🏻 So if you’re carrying a lot right now, perhaps today you can find your own little pocket of calm. ❤️

I had to show you my sketchbook page from today because I absolutely love how this one turned out 🙈 I’d been wrapping presents earlier and had all these leftover scraps of paper sitting on my desk. Normally they’d probably end up in a pile “for later” 😂 but today I started playing around with them instead. I’ve also been saving this beautiful cut out from one of my art magazines for ages because there was just something about her face that I couldn’t let go of. So I started layering everything together… strips of paper, colours, shapes, patterns and somehow it just worked. Like the page already knew where everything belonged before I did. I think creativity can be a bit like that sometimes. It’s less about forcing an idea and more about noticing what wants to come together ❤️

Grab your hat and gloves my creative explorers… 🧤this week Around the World in 80 Sketches is taking us somewhere a little bit chilly 🥶 We’re heading up into Arctic Alaska 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 where the roads feel endless, the skies are huge and everything has this beautiful quietness about it. I think places like this are fascinating creatively because there’s so much atmosphere in the subtle things… muted colours, icy textures, tiny buildings against giant landscapes. 💙 And in hilarious Smidgen style the road we landed on is called Cakeatter Rd 🎂🙈😂 https://maps.apple/p/UCfXnb00bLeZcj I can already feel the watercolours calling my name for this one but maybe I need to change it up somehow 🧐 As always you can join in however you like. Sketch, paint, collage, write a poem, doodle for five minutes or simply tell us how the place makes you feel. 🙌🏻 No pressure. No perfection. Just a little creative wander together 🤍💙

There’s something about watercolours that feels a little bit like letting go. For this week’s Around the World in 80 Sketches I reached for the paints, sprinkled in some salt and let the pigments do their thing 🙌🏻 ✨ I also pulled out the fine liners because I wanted to play with contrast between softness and detail. I really enjoyed building up the layers and depth in this one, watching the falls slowly appear through all the washes and textures. 🎨🧑‍🎨 I think that’s one of my favourite things about creating… sometimes the materials surprise you if you give them enough room to breathe 🩵

it just me… or did April absolutely zoom by at 100mph 🤦🏻‍♀️I feel like I’ve been constantly on the go, with a few wobbly, unwell days sprinkled in there too 🙈 and somehow… my birthday came and went in a blink. But even in all of that, there have been little pockets of calm.Those quiet, gentle moments that remind me to pause… and honestly, so many of those moments come from being here with you. You really do inspire me every single day 🙌🏻 ❤️ May is shaping up to be a busy one ! I’ve got plans to visit friends, a family reunion up country, and of course our beautiful garden is really starting to come into its own now 🌱 (which brings me so much joy). And today is extra special… it’s @Treena Gooding birthday 💛She is such a dear friend to me a beautiful creative soul who gives so much to others, often without taking enough time for herself. So today, we’re sending you all the love Treena, and I hope you find a little smidgen of calm tucked into your day somewhere ✨ 🥳🥰 For those of us here in England, it’s a bank holiday and living in a touristy spot means we’ll be doing the opposite of the crowds… staying home, pottering in the garden, and soaking up the quiet.🌺 And before I go, I just want to say thank you.Truly. For your continued support, your kindness, your creativity… this little corner of the internet feels so special because of you. 🙌🏻😍 Here’s to a gentle, steady May 🤍