The First Blog

Well hello! Welcome to the beginnings of my ramblings.

If you‘ve snooped this far, thanks for the interest. As you may have already figured, I’m Becky. I’m an artist based in North Wales, and I make prints and posters inspired by the great outdoors. This spans from local landmarks, to climbing, the mountains, the sea- you name it.

This first blog is just a simple hello, with a little bit about where I started and where I plan to go.

When lockdown hit, I was in University. That was when I first began sketching. I scribbled an elephant one long day when I was trying to stay sane, and a friend ended up paying a few quid for it after I put the drawing on social media. That got the ball rolling, and by Christmas of that year, I found myself buried under animal and pet commissions.

I loved the work and being able to draw and challenge myself, but it was exhausting. It also meant sitting at a desk, inside, for long periods of time and that made me feel far from optimal. So, I raked up the money from my first drawings, and bought myself my very own ipad. When I say I worked hard for it, I mean I worked hard. In the beginning, I was selling a piece that took me a week of agonising work, for twenty to fourty pounds.

I realised pretty quickly that I really enjoyed the freedom that came with working digitally. So, I joined a small local exhibition and began worming my way onto local coffee shop walls with my first pieces: The North Wales Landmarks Series.

All that was interrupted when a year and a half ago, I was hit with some heavy trauma in my personal life. That’s not a story that needs to be shared now, but what I will say is that it massively affected my trust in other people- from the average Joe Bloggs walking down the street, to my closest friends. I had always been a very adventurous character with a heart for travel and the outdoors, but I completely lost the interest in most of the things I used to care about.

It took me quite some time to work my way through PTSD and depression. I’m still not entirely out of the woods yet, and I have my moments. But, after a long slog, I slowly worked through all the things that I thought I would never be able to do again. Solo travelling was the final item on that list. There was a time when going grocery shopping by myself felt just as hard as this. So, if I could say anything from my own experience with mental illness, it‘s this: don’t give up. You can recover, I know it’s exhausting but believe me- it is very much worth it.

So, here I am. My flight is booked and I’m getting out of North Wales next week. I sold, donated and binned the majority of my belongings. I’m giving myself the chance to go full-time with art and stepping out into 2023 taking a whole load of risks- but risks that I believe, are very much worth it (even if I’m a bit of a chaotic, worried mess). I might be a little hesitant, but I know that this is something the old me would have leapt at- so I’m doing it.

The plan is to do Workaways as I travel, to lighten the costs of food and accommodation. So really, all I need to cover right now is travel insurance, flights and ferries. This makes travel super affordable, and gives me an opportunity to save the some of money I earn from prints. For the first two months, I’ll be on the Canary Islands and I’ll do a few hours work per day on an eco farm. After that, I’ll spend some time in Spain and make the rest up as I go.

The one trip I’m really working for, Is New Zealand. My lovely boyfriend (Rob) and I plan on going at the end of this year, when he graduates from his Masters Degree. Flights and a van for a year’s travel, is definitely going to add up. So, I’m churning out these prints with the goal that I won’t have to stop travelling, but can set this up as my full time job, that keeps me on the road.

I’m excited (and just a tad nervous) to see how it all unfolds.

Thanks for reading, I can’t wait to share all the chaos and adventure with you through this little blog.

-Becky

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