For me, 2024 was full of some beautiful and precious moments. I watched friends get married, welcomed new additions into the world, explored the Peak District in all weathers whilst making new friends and very proudly claimed the title of 'Aunty Moll' as my little nephew arrived.
In 2022 when I was reflecting on the previous 12 months, I decided that I wanted more drawing in my life and less scrolling on social media. That's the moment I started a drawing journal and I've kept it up since. I wanted to capture the mundane or massive parts of my day and develop my drawing skills as I went along.
It's not a Pinterest perfect journal by any means, I've missed days, I've done a half-arsed effort of some pages and used the complete wrong materials for the paper weight. It's all part of a learning experience with nice memories tied up in it.
Looking back over the 5 sketchbooks I've now filled, it's easy to see little bits of growth that I might not have noticed so much day to day. Each drawing of myself, my hair gets a little bit longer, every drawing of my close friend, she recovers a bit more from a serious illness and my little nephew grows a little big bigger (and cuter).
I've chosen 12 pages to share with you from 2024, big and small moments.
Putting this post together to share with you, I've realised that there is more cohesion to the drawings than I originally thought. I could go back into any of them and add a bit more, edit some bits, add colour etc but I quite like how they are just all starting points with the potential to be developed. I'll leave them alone for now.
It could've been easy to just dump the photo versions of these moments onto Instagram and that would've created a very different looking year. I've put a bit more effort into this diary for myself and it's far more precious to me to enjoy an hour or so looking back at the drawings and enjoying this whole body of work instead.
Did you find a way to capture your year in a creative way? Are you planing on capturing your 2025 in a new light? Photography? Videography? Drawing? Audio?
I've written a post here about starting your own Drawing Journal, my biggest tip about persevering with it is to try and identify what might not be working for you and how to change that so that it works better for you.
Drop me a note in the comments if you decide to take on the challenge! I'd love to hear about what you're making
The leaves have left, the sun barely shows her face and the risk of slipping on ice is lurking on every corner. Although, there is a glimmer of hope hiding in fairy lights, cosy pub corners and at the bottom of a mug of mulled wine!
I'm not usually a fan of winter, it feels like it goes on for a lifetime and spending time outdoors becomes limited to the right weather conditions, hemmed in by daylight. In previous years I would sit and wait for winter to be over so I could adventure outside again, this year I've decided to make friends with winter and learn to embrace it a bit more (I'm not saying I'm going to smile whilst defrosting the car but maybe just do more to enjoy this passing of time).
I recently learnt the Norwegian word 'Koselig' pronounced "koosh-lee". It's all about creating warmth from within, a series of actions that enable a 'cosy vibe'. Simple pleasures of sharing comfortable surroundings with people you care about - celebrating what winter is and not focusing on what it isn't. Koselig is similar to Denmark's hygge but more focused on the social aspect and a connection with nature.
Cosy Outside:
I love being outside in summer, the light and warmth just make it so much easier to just go out for a mooch around. Winter requires a lot more effort- especially up here in the rainy Manchester. BUT. I do enjoy the simple pleasures of things like soaking up the sunshine on a bench in the park and enjoying a walk with a friend with a flask of hot coffee (have you ever tried warm apple juice and rum - delish!). You don't have to go full Wim Hof if you do leave the house but just being mindful of getting some Vitamin D on your lovely little face will go a long way.
Cosy Inside:
It can be so easy to turn winter into telly season so I've picked out some things I like doing that don't require a screen - although I do enjoy listening to a podcast or audiobook whilst I'm working on something (my local library have an app for free audiobooks - have a look to see if yours offer this too!).
It's always tempting to gravitate towards textiles when the weather gets colder, my background is in textiles so I will always promote knitting, crocheting and sewing - ooft or a bit of quilt work! Why not see if you have a local club where you can meet up and find like minded people for a creative evening? Or crack on with some handmade Christmas presents? A new hot water bottle cover? A fun scarf?...
Lino block printing and card making are also great ways to get started on those homemade Christmas gifts!
The little things:
Something as simple as stewed apple and cinnamon porridge for breakfast is enough to tempt me out from my warm duvet. Finding the small things that spark a bit of enthusiasm. Two purchases that really get me through the long everydayness is my heated gilet and my sunrise lamp. There are so many heated gilets on the market now, they are heated up using a small battery pack and a good one will last you all day. The morning rise lamp mimics sunrise and will start to get brighter half an hour before your alarm is due to go off. This removes the starkness between twilight bedtime and switching the lamp on, burning your eyes out of their sockets.
Other things like timer plugs or smart plugs for lamps are a god send, coming home to a nicely lit house helps to keep some of the winter dread out. Even something as simple as choosing a wool cover for your hot water bottle can make a huge difference- a wool cover will keep your hot water bottle warm all night. I also recently got some reflector key-rings for my backpack to help to brighten my winter outfit up.
I'll let you know how I get on with this making friends with winter challenge, sign up to my newsletter here to stay updated.
A few things I've enjoyed listening to recently in my crochet corner:
Comedy and food with Off Menu - I laughed out loud at this episode
Just Another Missing Person audiobook by Gillian McAllister
Please feel free to add your podcast and audiobook recommendations to the comments!
Updated: Oct 11, 2024
A personal project
Two very special little people have just entered my life and I'm absolutely besotted with them. My twin sister has just given birth to the most beautiful and chunky little boy and a life-long close family friend has brought a gorgeous little girl into the world.
Before the babies arrived and when my sister and friend were planning their baby showers, they asked guests to bring books for the new arrivals to help start up a library each.
Charlotte Douglass is part of our Newport family through marriage and is also close to our family friend. When the opportunity to create a special book for these new loved ones in our lives arose, Charlotte got in touch to ask if I'd illustrate the story she'd written.
I jumped at the opportunity and we set to work together to produce something meaningful that we could add to the libraries for the babies.
The turn around for the book was quite quick so we decided to produce one illustration and give it plenty of time rather than rush out two or more.
I read through Charlotte's work and chose a scene that I thought would wrap up the whole story nicely. I drew up some thumbnails and we decided on option 'E' together.
The story itself covers a whole day in a sunny village where people are out walking dogs, gardening and someone is even playing a trombone in a brass band.
I started to look at warmer colours and think about how the end illustration would look, by which time it would be a cosy bed time scene.
For this project I chose coloured pencils, I'm much more confident at using them compared to gouache and thought that this might add to the speed of the project - as well as add textures.
Here is the final draft illustration, I found this useful to do to see how the colours would work together and to work out if there was anything else I needed to change before committing to the final image.
I find it useful to have a full plan with all of the creative decisions already made before I set to work on the final.
Ta da! The final image!
The final image was set into a 12x15cm book and finished with little thread ties on the binding.
We've now gifted the babies their books and can't wait to snuggle up and read them the story.
Tools
Pencils -these links are affiliate links*
I really enjoyed this project, narrowing down what we could make and how it would look so we wouldn't be over stretching it. We could add more to it in the future if we felt the need to. It was a pleasure to work with Charlotte and we hope the little ones will enjoy story time.
Learn more about how you can create your own little illustrated publication here
*This post includes affiliate links. Whenever you buy something through one of these, I get a small commission without any extra cost to you. This helps to support my blog, thank you.
