For over a decade, in my day job, I have worked in posts which require you to stand back, and take a strategic look at the direction of services. And that is where I feel I am now with Three Bears Prints - I need to take a break, stand back, and work out what I want to do next. The first thing that has happened is that I have a new day job. I'm really enjoying my post with Scottish Forestry - it's a different subject area for me, it's challenging and I'm loving feeling like my skills are being stretched. However, I have to commute a 90 mile journey twice a week, and alongside using up all my mental energy on my new job, I'm feeling creatively depleted!
The other new factor in our family life is our rehomed puppy Ted. He's a 14 month old Patterdale Terrier that we rehomed when he was 9 months old. He's a wonderful dog in the house and a great play mate with our daughter. However, outside the house, he has a lot of issues with other dogs and people. This has required us to spend a lot of time training him, attending puppy training classes, and going on long runs to drain his energy. Again, this is taking away from my time for being creative.
Finally, as regular readers of my blog will know, I had a real health crisis last year with my skin. I had a severe outbreak of eczema, which I managed to heal through changing my diet. I have cut out dairy, wheat, sugar, alcohol and caffeine. Although I feel so much healthier on it, it means that I have to cook most of my food from scratch. Again, this has impacted how much free time I have for my art and Three Bears Prints. After a lot of thought, I have decided to 'pause' my Three Bears Prints store, and the public side of my work. I've been struggling to post anything regularly. I also have a lot of unfinished projects I would like to get to. I also hate doing anything that I cannot fully commit to - and at the moment, that is the situation with Three Bears Prints. So, between now and the New Year, you will not be hearing anything from me, till I decide what to do next. My shop will be in 'dormant' mode, which means you cannot buy anything directly from here, but please contact me if you'd like to buy a print. You can still buy fabrics/paper from Spoonflower if you follow the links from the listings. See you all soon!
