Over the past few weeks, I’ve been immersed in my sketchbook, carefully hand-drawing each illustration for my 2026 Calendar Tea Towel in ink, before layering in watercolour washes for detail and colour. It’s been lovely spending time on the little details – the bright splash of a robin’s breast, the patterning on a thrush’s feathers, or the soft texture of moss for a nest.

When I started teaching myself to draw and paint as part of my mid-life career change, I seemed to unconsciously gravitate towards wildlife and nature subjects followed by a gradual focus on illustrating birds - specifically British birds - in all their variety.

My new British Songbird collection features some well-known garden favourites (blackbird, blue tit, robin, song thrush) as well as others that we might only see at certain times of year, or when out-and-about in different habitats.

I tend to leave out projects that I'm working on, as if I tidy things away they often end up never being finished! However, the sheer volume of competing projects I've reached over the last month definitely requires a bit of a Spring Clean!