Hello! I hope you are really well. January felt like three months in one this year, didn’t it?! I made a tiny book! The tiny book features my Illustrations for this month’s #apinchandapunchclub. A good wholesome instagram community challenge, with a whole month to think about and create your offering .February’s prompt was ‘Little Glimmers’. A really aptly set title, so perfectly fitting to hold in my head during the last month. It made me realise that January for me is always a month of looking out for little hospitable and reassuring signs…
(Oh, hey my friend just told me there’s a soundtrack to the video up there - 🤦🏻♀️ sorry! It’s unrelated: It’s Louis Theroux and Chris O’Dowd talking on Louis Theroux’s Lockdown Podcast, you can find it on BBC Sounds… It’s really good episode of chat, if you like chatty podcasts)
Subscribe for FREE? Go on, it’s like a virtual high five…
Of all the months, I always feel at my most discombobulated and lost in January, perhaps you do too? It’s the contrast I think after the big push to complete things by the feast season.
I can trace my habit of keeping my eyes peeled for these signs to when I first left home, which for me was University. The homesickness hit me hard in that first January and I remember quietly weeping with relief when I came across a scattering of crocuses on a grassy verge on Psalter Lane. It felt like a message from home I hadn’t known I had been psychologically clawing for.
Sometimes adulthood can feel like a protracted bout of homesickness. But when you feel a little lost, a tiny thing like a lone flower persisting on a bank can reconnect you to your sense of yourself amongst the ‘family of things’.
The pose is pensive in January, tentative and shy. Body language and general countenance is that of mole of Wind In The Willows: Hands clasped nervously at the front, time above ground can feel perilous! There is a tenderness to this disposition, and openness to seeing those little glimmers that comes as part of the emotional rawness.
I wanted my illustrations to be a catalogue of little glimmers - almost like creating a tiny guidebook of remedies for melancholia in January. It was such a delight to print out my little concertina! I work digitally a lot now to make my illustrations, but I always want to see them on paper and turn them into things I can hold in my hands.
I’m closing in on picture book making and really want to jump into the mud of that this year. I’m planning and making lots of notes at the moment. Setting time pressured challenges seems to really work for me, I think it channels my tendency for hyper focus well and leverages that state before I hit the ‘novelty wearing off’ phase of a project. With that all in mind, I’m organising my year around more illustration challenges (I’ll be setting for myself). More to share about that really soon.
If you can spare a moment to tell me what you would like to read more about in this Substack I would be super grateful: More illustrations? More process vids and photos? A Vlog from my studio/table? Would a class be something you would like to join?
Thanks so much for reading!
Here’s a peep below at my favourite illustrations featured in the teensy book
See you soon
Susannah x
This tiny book is utterly beautiful! I love how the size of it mirrors the tiny glimmers of hope and joy. The two colour print is stunning too!
Susannah! I adore this little book…and I’ve really enjoyed observing your creative journey from afar. There’s so much noise out there that I hide from, but your words and imagery really resonate with me. Thank you for inspiring me. It’s been a long slog of winter, recovering from two surgeries…trying to be gentle with myself and not feel pressure to create. I’ve taken a long break from social media, but thoroughly enjoy reading your substack. Keep going!