THE CANVAS IN JANUARY
Welcome to the first instalment of my 2025 calendar blog series! Over the year, I’ll be taking you behind the scenes of each month’s illustration, sharing the stories, memories, and reflections that inspired them. This is The Canvas in January.
If you’re new here, let me quickly introduce the concept behind this calendar. For 2025, I created a collection that bridges my childhood art with my current skill level. I’ve taken some of my old oil pastel drawings, recreated them digitally, and added a few reflective thoughts, messages, affirmations to tie them back to what they meant to me then - and especially what they mean to me now. Each month is crafted with care, representing both the time of year I thought would be fitting, and a personal story, and this blog will give you a deeper glimpse into those moments :)
Oh, and before we dive in, a quick plug: the Growing in 2025 calendar collection is available now! I’ve got tabletop calendars, wall calendars, mini calendars, calendar cards, wallpapers, bookmarks - there’s something for everyone. You can check them out on my shop!
As a child, oil pastels were my favourite art medium. Most of my earliest drawings were made with them - smudging, layering, and experimenting with colour to create many worlds that felt entirely my own.
At the time, around the age of 10/13, I was attending art classes at a nearby home studio - one of my neighbours was an artist who had converted one room in her home into an art space. While most of our lessons focused on oil pastels, my teacher had begun introducing me to watercolours - a medium that was new and exciting to me. She often let me explore on my own once I’d finished the day’s assigned lesson. The original artwork for January’s calendar was no exception. It featured a canvas and a flower, painted in a style that’s hard to decipher now, but held so much significance for me then.
Her home was filled with easels and blank canvases, waiting to be transformed. I remember sitting there, observing from a distance, too shy to get up and examine them closely. I made mental notes about the “stand” (which I later learned was called an easel) and the canvases propped up on it. I don’t remember exactly what I referenced for this particular drawing - whether it was something she’d made or something I imagined - but I do remember the excitement of creating it. The flowers I drew weren’t any specific type, just something I thought an artist might paint. Because that’s what I wanted to be: an artist. I believed that being an artist meant having easels, endless canvases, and the freedom to paint whatever I wanted.
Looking back, I realize how much that belief shaped me, for better and worse. Seeing those canvases gave me direction - a sense of what I aspired to be. But it also planted the idea in my head that I needed certain tools or circumstances to truly be an artist. I told myself, “I’ll be a good artist when I have an easel. Or when I have many canvases. Or when I can paint all day.” It just became a series of
“when”s: When I have this, then I’ll be that.
Over time, life has taught me the opposite. Being an artist isn’t about the tools you own or the “setups” you envy. It’s about the act of creating - right now. It’s about showing up with whatever you have and making something out of it.
And that is the heart of January’s message. A blank canvas doesn’t wait for the perfect time. It doesn’t need Mondays, new months, or perfect plans. It is always ready, waiting for you to pick up the brush. The lesson here is that you don’t have to wait for "ideal" circumstances. So start now, start every day.
When I look at January’s illustration, I see the eager little girl who wanted to feel like an artist. She didn’t have all the tools, but had the determination to create anyway. And that’s a reminder I’d like to carry with me today, and through the year too: the world is full of blank canvases, just waiting for us to begin.
I hope this glimpse into January’s illustration inspires you to embrace your own “canvas.” Whether it’s art, a goal, or a dream you’ve been holding back on, don’t wait for the perfect time to start. Just start.
Oh, and a very happy 2025 to you! <3
Stay tuned for February’s story, and if you haven’t yet, check out my
2025 calendar collection to bring these illustrations into your home!
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