Hello everyone! Happy 2019! I hope you all had wonderful winter and new year celebrations and I hope you were kind to yourself over the past few months.

I’d like to write today about the year that I’ve had in 2018. I’m sure many of us can recognise 2018 as a period of growth and learning; for me, 2018 was a year of unbelievable acceptance, kindness and personal development. It was the year I found peace, it was a year of self-love. It was the year that I started Ccorinnef! And what a crazy year it has been.

I started the year in a really bad place with my mental health. I lost my job and decided to drop out of university. It was a difficult and challenging time, but I started to draw and paint again. It was just small pictures to start with; I’d draw how I was feeling and I’d paint pretty scenes from BBC’s Planet Earth. Then my sister commissioned me to draw a tattoo for her, a few friends commissioned drawings for family birthdays, and suddenly more people were commissioning works from me.

I struggled throughout this time, and still do, with self doubt and imposter syndrome; I couldn’t believe that the art I was creating was good enough for people to buy. It still feels completely surreal to me now but I’ve learnt to embrace that feeling.

At the start of the summer we moved house. Buddy took about as long as me to settle into our new town but it feels like home now and Buddy has (mostly) got used to the new neighbours’ comings and goings. The great thing about our new house is that we were allowed to redecorate and hang pictures on the walls which immediately made the place feel more like home. I love how cosy and comfy our home is now – cue: blanket nests and cups of tea.

Over the summer I had a pretty regular stream of commissions which I am incredibly grateful for. It actually brings me such joy knowing that something I made can make someone smile.

October was an incredible month for me. It was the first month that Made in Stirling began stocking my art. Just writing that sentence feels surreal. An actual shop, in an actual town actually wanted to stock my actual art. It’s incredible. And it has grown from there. I started with a few prints of my artwork and now I’m stocking tea towels, tote bags, mugs, mounted prints and looking to make more products soon! I’m so grateful for all the kindness and support from Sam and Paul and everyone else who make Made in Stirling so successful. It is still unbelievable but I’ve learned to embrace those feelings and remind myself how incredible it is to develop as an artist.

In the run up to Christmas I was inundated with commissions for Christmas presents. From paintings to ink drawings, I was delightfully creating while watching very cheesy Christmas films for most of November and December. I hope everyone enjoyed their presents!

And that was only a very brief overview of my year. 2018 was long and intense and I’m grateful for every moment of it. I’m not the same as I was at the beginning of the year but I am in no way a new person; I am the same, I’m still Corinne, but I’ve grown and learnt and developed and accepted and loved. Here’s to yet more growth in 2019!