Happy New Year to readers of my blog. If you’re new to my posts or even a recent follower of my Instagram, I welcome you. I’m writing this post on the eve of returning to my day job for the year, so I’ll try not to let my dread colour this post too bleakly.
You’re more than likely being overloaded with people’s content across social media regarding their reflections on the previous year and their intentions for the new one, especially if you follow a lot of artists and creatives. This post isn’t going to be much different, but I’ll do my best to keep you engaged, so strap yourselves in.
If you’re a regular reader, you would’ve seen me bang on a lot over the last 12 months about a lot of things that have been happening in my life and how it’s impacted my practice. It all really kicked off when I was made redundant from my graphic design job in Q4 of 2024.
I think my behaviour and attitude at the time really reflected a lot of struggles that I couldn’t properly process coupled with a lack of emotional regulation (something I’m currently working through in therapy). It resulted in a fair bit of uncharacteristic and antagonistic conflict with my friends and family. It was triggered by the first redundancy of my design career, financial stress from unemployment, dissatisfaction with my life and general burnout.
From there, things just seemed to escalate. I eventually developed creative exhaustion and blocks, and my health took an unexpected turn where I ended up in hospital for three days being pumped full of IV fed antibiotics twice a day. I’m still dealing with the health problems, and I hope to get more answers in the coming months through appointments and examinations with specialists.
I spent the last half of 2025 taking a break from everything and focusing on healing, recovery, and sorting myself out. To some degree I’m still operating from that space.
My life in 2025 has been a three-ring shit-show for the most part, but as our brains are wired to remember all the shitty things rather than the positive, it has been balanced out by several cool occurrences. I opened 2025 with a solo show at RED Gallery and participated in a record number of group shows, including my first at a commercial gallery. Additionally, my work was featured in the Spring issues of British Vogue, I was invited and joined the we[dot]art platform, and I secured a new design job that helped fund my art activity.
Now that 2026 is here, not since 2021 have I been in a position where there are no plans for anything art career related. I will more than likely apply for group shows as they arise, but I don’t have my eye on anything. I have no solo show ambitions at this stage, especially when I left my art in a state of confusion and lack of direction. I have no idea what kind of work I want to make or where I want to elevate it to, so this will more than likely be a year of focusing on development and experimentation.
Diversification is really the keyword for me this year in all areas of my careers as an artist and a designer. After my redundancy at my previous design job, my deteriorating health and feeling stale in my arts practice, I’ve been thinking about what I need and what I want. Not only from my vocations in art and design, but also life, fulfilment and my contribution to society.
Variety has always been something I appreciate as I think it’s mentally and emotionally stimulating for me. I don’t like doing the same thing on repeat (even though structure serves me well while conversely, I resent its predictability and repetition). So true to form, just as I used my career as an artist to build my career as a designer, I am now using both my art and design careers to add another string to my career bow. I’m expanding into being an art therapist.
Now this decision isn’t impulsive, nor is it something I’ve not considered previously. After I completed my BFA over a decade ago, my intention was to move straight into the art therapy track. For numerous reasons, it just never eventuated, and I ended up as a designer instead. Considering the life experience I’ve gained in the time since and the maturation and growth I’ve had to go through to get where I am now, I think I’m in a better position to return and be a better therapist.
Having my health deteriorate for the last 4 months has made me engage in my art practice how I initially used it (and I still do this to some degree now taking into consideration the subject matter I work with) and that’s as a cathartic and therapeutic practice. To help manage the stress and anxiety over my physical and mental health (in addition to seeing a mental health professional might I add), I’ve been sketching in a sketchbook. It’s this process that reignited the art therapy journey.
Does this mean I’m abandoning my art and design careers? Not at all, what a life looks like where I’m working as an artist, designer and therapist hasn’t crystallised yet, but I think they all feed into each other well when put into the context of expression, creativity, and wellbeing.
The core of why I’m an artist and a designer are the same reason why I want to become an art therapist. That’s to make people’s lives better. It sounds a little altruistic, but everything I’ve experienced recently has allowed me rediscover how fortunate I am that I have access to creative tools and frameworks that make my life a little less shitty when things aren’t great.
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