Having a winter break
When I was a teacher I officially had 12 weeks,of holiday year, not that was my experience most years s work overflowed from term time. However these days,yes I have three non shop days a week which is more than the 1-1.5 days that I had when working full time. Time away is usually about 2 weeks a year.
For February we booked ourselves some winter sun for our second trip to Lanzarote. The weather was warmer than the Uk and mainly dry although quite blustery at times. I took my 2025/2026 travel diary and kept a record of our days and also drew something every day alongside taking many photos too.
We returned on Monday 9th and this week is downtime in Purbeck with some visits out fitted around wet weather, which has been better than we had expected.
Having break is something that creatives need even if you still draw some, being out of the shop while Dorset has had so much rain means I haven’t been sat in a shop hoping to see visitors.
I reopen on Sat 14th for the start of half term, so the shop will only be open for half of the month which will mean leaning on previous takings to pay the rent etc.
I look forward to using ideas for some new small / panorama pieces. On Saturday 28th I will shut the shop again to take part in the ‘Toes in the water’ event which I have applied for previously then chickened out of in Southampton, part of that 2026 adventure of taking my art to new venues and events. We will see how it goes down, I will be there for the day so will be drawing live, having some of my art outfits with me. This time I am looking forwards to it.
I am also waiting to hear if either of the pieces I put forward for consideration for another exhibition are accepted to – it’s a new adventure and I look forward to seeing how 2026 goes overall.
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