January 2026 has been a little different for me than usual. Every other January, I’ve been straight back into the grind at my day job. However this was my first January as a fully self employed illustrator. How did I want to spend it? On holiday of course! As January is one of the quieter months in the wedding industry (which is where I get most of my work from), my partner and I decided this would be the best month to go away as he also works in the wedding industry.

Before the holiday we obviously had to go shopping. We went into Cheltenham (one of my favourite towns!) and managed to find a few essentials (mostly..). While we were there I wanted to get some illustrating done in a cafe. However what I was not expecting was to struggle so much with the illustrating in public part…especially considering I’m a live illustrator. I had set myself a personal goal to illustrate while people watching in coffee shops in the Cotswolds . However, when we sat down I found it so difficult to bring my sketchbook out, let alone draw! Which is odd as I have no issues with this when at work- I actually thrive under the pressure illustrating in-front of people! I felt so self conscious, then once I started, I didn’t like what I was illustrating- more on this story on my instagram post.

Fast forward to my holiday, I made it my mission to become more familiar and comfortable with illustrating in public, so I set to work and took my pencils and pens with me and I looked around for inspiration.

I had more of a F*** it attitude on holiday… why not!? I was drawing out in public more, getting the hang of it! I started by doing pencil or pen outlines, as this is what my brain automatically wanted to do. However, a few drinks in and I had the realisation…I can do whatever I want! No limits! This is where I started to draw with my mini watercolour set. I started off with this dog who was literally barking in front of me, I think he was asking for his portrait! Later in the day I was painting in front of the sunset and had so much fun with it!

This process reminded me of how I had gotten myself back into fashion illustrating. I’d created my ‘little ladies’ which were almost like dancing fairies. I’ll go into more detail on this in another blog. I put no pressure onto it, I’d feel free and felt like the pen was guiding me through- that’s exactly how I felt with the shapes above.

We got back from holiday and it was actually so good to get back into routine! Of course I missed the sun, but I was now back with my fur babies and home comforts.

Typically, after holiday we both became ill. I’ve never had a chest infection but I do not recommend! I usually find it really difficult to allow myself to sit back and switch off, but it’s safe to say I did not have this issue that week! It was some time of forced reset and recovery. Thankfully that’s all over and I feel like I’m back to me!

My January was quite all over the place as you can probably tell! My first week was filled with productivity with a business mentor, getting my business ready for me to be away for almost 2 weeks. Honestly this was one of the best decisions I made, I was so productive! I had the best time on holiday with Nathan, being kind to myself once back to recover from the chest infection, then it’s onto February!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this, it’s been a long time coming. I’ll try and keep up the monthly updates but I have a few other ideas to write about so it may be more regular. Let me know what you think and we’ll catch up soon!