New season, new dreams

The 1st of September is my favourite day of the year. It signals the formal change of seasons – and in my part of the world, that means spring! Spring and summer are my favourite seasons and while I sometimes think I could live in an eternal summer, I love watching the seasons flow into each other. I love the magic and colour that each season gifts. Spring is a season of hope and new beginnings – and so it seemed fitting that today I start a new season of my life.

Today I handed in my resignation. I resigned from the position I loved and have held for over 12 years. I still have 3 month notice to work through, but today was one massive leap forward towards my future.

I have been permanently employed since I was 17 years old and this was my third place of employment, but this is the first time I have resigned from a position without another permanent position to move into.

So why such drastic measures? Over the last two years my life has been filled with so much drastic change. Change first brought by the devastating and shocking passing of my father on 14 February 2013. Then the heart-breaking and gut-wrenching news just a mere 6 months later that my brother was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and passed away on 29 August 2013. Life will never be the same. I have changed homes, changed routines, changed focus… but despite all these changes, my job was a constant anchor – until on 6 February 2015 at 15:10, when the powers that be ripped the carpet out from under me without warning and enforced some changes to my environment. Sure, in the bigger scheme of things, these could probably be considered as mere minor changes. But they were the changes that left me in an uninspired environment. And to me, being inspired was everything.

So now what? Well, sometimes one just needs to be pushed into a different direction and forced to follow your dreams! This is where all the excitement begins… Over the past few months I have been working my butt off – planning, painting and preparing. My new home studio and office is almost ready and soon I will be following my heart and doing what I love most… focussing full time on my fine art work and expanding into woman’s portraiture.

In the upcoming weeks I will share more about this and my future plans, but for now I wanted to share my new space with you…

I realise that some of the options I will be relying on for my future have been made possible by the sad loss of those dear to me and this is a very heavy weight I bear. But I learnt the most powerful lesson from my brother in his final days… Life is too short – live each day to the full!

- I do not usually take still life images, but having some fun in the spirit of spring and experimenting in my new studio space with some flowers from my garden.