Hello!
Sorry for the sheer number of snowy images, but I just couldn’t NOT share these, it was all incredibly beautiful. For 2 full days, my little family experienced the ultimate winter cottage core dream. We booked this National Trust cottage last minute as we had an eye on the weather and were keen to follow the snow! The book I refer to in the post is this: 100 Paintings from the Collections of the National Trust.
The rest of the week I’ve been back in the studio working on my next still life collection on canvas with lots of citrus fruit and tulips. I was also very busy drawing Portugal and planning workshops for my upcoming retreat in Portugal (12-16 May), see details below.
I hope this finds you well!
Materials Used in Today’s Spread
A variety of Caran D’Ache Neocolor 2 pastels
Holbein Acrylic Gouache: titanium white
A blue Micron pen for the journaling
2025 Visual Journaling Flip Through
If you missed this last week, I shared this little video of last year’s visual journals. I also shared a much more in-depth video for paying subscribers in the club this week with my favourite materials and process.
A Portugal-focused Week
Thanks all who joined my Portugal events this week online!
First, I went LIVE here on Substack to share my process as I made a poster for the Portugal Visual Journaling retreat. Thanks to all who joined me and said hello! It was great to get back into the studio mood! The replay is free to watch here.
Then, it was so fun to draw along with guest TJ Marston and the club for our Drawing Portugal meet on Zoom. The replay is also free to watch here so grab your favourite materials and join in! Please do share with me in the club chat your final artwork with me as there’s a chance it could be featured in the February issue of the gazette.
Finally, thanks to those who’ve already signed up to the Visual Journaling Retreat in Portugal, 12-16th May 2026. If you’re on the fence, we have a handful of spots available and I’d love for you to join! We will look at composition, layout, colour choices, while sketching landscapes and still life with local produce. As well as a dedicated art studio for some focused workshops, we will have opportunities to sketch outdoors the beautiful local vistas.
Here is the full program, this might be just right for you! There are shared rooms and individual rooms. Feel free to share this link with anyone you think might enjoy a bit of sunshine and creativity come May!
More Cozy Posts (these ones are ALL free for now!)
the club January Gazette is out! It has all our dates for this month and a club report on our creative calls.
25 Ways To Welcome Winter is a blog post I wrote with Sara Covey which I think is very gentle and happy - I’d love to know your thoughts on this.
I went LIVE to share with you how I prepare my materials for our Scottish Seascapes drawing session - catch it here.
Margaux Kent and I chatted on a Co-Creating call on the topic of Tiny Tinned Treasures. Grab a project and listen to this in the background!
QUICK CLUB NOTES
This is a free post for subscribers but you can also become a Time Foragers’ Club paid subscriber and meet up on Zoom 3 times a month (we draw, create and journal), receive a monthly video from my studio, PLUS chat with our blossoming creative community in our exclusive threads.
See you then! xx
