August In the Pickle Jar

Hi Folks

Its time for another post and things have been super busy here in the Pickle Jar. For starters I have been painting and creating bunnies left, right and centre. I have also been retaking all my photographs for the Etsy page and just generally sprucing things up.

As well as this I have been organising new packaging for everything including fancy new stickers and fully recyclable boxes, postage bags the works. All ready for the upcoming end of year craziness.

On top of all this I've been busy with some commissions, Including this fun little kids menu and colouring page for Riverhead Coffee here in Grimsby and Cleethorpes.

 

  So as you can see I've been a busy bunny and there's still plenty more cool stuff on the horizon.

Scary But Exciting

Hi everyone I thought I'd give you all a little update on whats going on here in the pickle jar. 
Crazy times are ahead because I only have a week left at my current job before I leave to become freelance again. I'm sure some of you will think it's a bit of a hair brained idea and why would I give up a perfectly good job, believe me I've been having all these thoughts myself.
So why do it then I hear you ask. Well good question. As you may know I used to do this several years ago but as is always the way life likes to throw stuff in the way which meant I had to stop. As much as I loved my subsequent job however and it was a god job, it wasn't the same. There was always something gnawing at the back of my brain telling me I had unfinished business, projects that needed to be made real. In itself this was enough to make me think about how to start up again but on top of this I had my first major dealings with mental health. Obviously I've been aware of people having mental health issues for a long time and I guess deep down I knew there was something inside me too, but like a lot of people and especially men I buried it down deep and put on the stiff upper lip us Brits are famed for. In hind sight this wasn't such a great idea. 
I realised that anxiety and depression were very real and that my life was causing me to get worse by the day. I was working all the time which caused relationships to break down and limited the amount of time I could spend with my daughter. So after having a little bit of a breakdown my mindset changed. I needed to be in charge of my own destiny, captain of my own ship. This invariably led me to the decision to resurrect the Pickle and do exactly that. I'm not naive by any stretch of the imagination so I realise that these next few months/years are going to be incredibly hard but at least it won't be a Christmas in retail. If you've never experienced it it's hard work believe me. 
So there we go in a nutshell, that's why I'm going freelance again. My plan now is to illustrate like I've never illustrated before, and to blog my journey through this. I'll be blogging about my passion for the artwork I'm producing, the trials and tribulations of going freelance and also how important  mental health is on a day to day basis, and yes it is fine to admit that you have problems, It's the first step to getting yourself better. 

2016

Happy New Year Everyone. 

Well It's February and as yet I haven't blogged once. Shocking I know but there's loads of changes going on in the pickle jar which mean 2016 is going to be the start of very different times. Firstly don't panic I'm not packing it all in to live in the woods somewhere. I shall still be drawing and creating, hopefully in a much more productive manner. I will however be doing something very different as my career and day to day job.  But what's this I hear you say I thought this was your career?! and yes you're exactly right this is how I've been eking out a meagre income over the last few years. Now don't get me wrong it's been great but there have been some significant down sides to it as well, but that's another story.
I've been doing a bit of work with Grimsby uni of late helping teach art at the Saturday club (which I'll explain more in another post), this coupled with doing homework with our now 5 yr old daughter has made me realise I actually enjoy teaching. 
As a result I've had a long hard look at my direction and have decided to go back to university and do my PGCE to train up and become a primary school teacher.
So as you can see all change. It also means I'll be adding some different items to the blog as I change stuff around. Here's to the new year and let's see what it brings.

Etsy Shop Update

I've been busy taking new photos and updating the Etsy store today. About half way through it so far with loads more coming tomorrow. Check out the shop for some cool christmas gifts. Click on the banner above to head to the shop.

Cleethorpes Winter Wonderland

There is a fantastic event happening in Cleethorpes the christmas which I thought I'd share with you all today. The Cleethorpes Winter Wonderland is to be a four day winter extravaganza for all the family. With food stalls, gifts, an Icerink and even Santa! 

I'm also proud to say that I designed the logo for it so really excited to see it all around town on posters and banners etc. 

If you want to know more about the even t then click on the logo below and it will take you through to their facebook page. 

Hull Horror Fest

Are you looking for something fun to do this saturday? Well if you can get to Hull come along to Hull Horror Fest at the Costello Stadium. There will be all sorts of gruesome and not so gruesome stuff there, including myself. (I'll let you choose which category I'm in)

Click on the picture to go to their facebook page.

Lincolnshire Stall holder Event

Another busy weekend ahead with the Lincolnshire Stall Holder event on Sunday. So if you're around the Grimsby area why not pop in to the auditorium and say hi. There are over 100 different businesses exhibiting as well as fun stuff for the kids too.