My Illustrated Alphabet letters were born out of a project in 2016. Each was drawn with pen & ink and each letter is illustrated with either an object, flora, fauna or wildlife that begins with that letter.
My first drawing in the new Rebelle 7 by Escape Motions. Go wild with the new metallic paint or turn it down low for a subtle sheen that adds interest to simple paintings.
I am an art teacher with a master’s degree—trained by brilliant professors who believed that art could do more than decorate walls. I offer safe spaces for teenagers to grow—nourishing soil where their imaginations can take root.
And yet… I am assigned to hallway duty.
This is compulsory education, after all.
So I sit—posted like a sentinel—watching young lives stream past.
“Get to class,” I say with a smile and a nudge.
The system wants attendance; I’m hungry for presence.
Armed not with a whistle or clipboard, but with a pen—
my scribble’s soft insurgency.
The hallway stretches out like a geometric hymn.
Columns and corners chant structure.
Teenagers swirl past—half-formed galaxies of limbs and laughter—
their orbits chaotic, their gravity pulling time forward.
I begin to draw.
Not their tardiness, but their motion.
A shoulder. A blur of sneakers.
A tilted head chasing freedom.
Feet flickering like seconds.
Each mark a pulse.
Each smudge a breath.
My paper becomes a seismograph of seeing—
trembling gently through the mundane.
This isn’t about making art for a frame or a feed.
It’s about refusing to leak away in the fluorescent hum of obligation.
It’s a quiet mutiny against the clock.
I do this on long car rides, too (passenger side, mind you).
Letting the lines grow wild, jagged, and unapologetic.
Not for polish—
but for presence.
This is how I remember I’m still alive.
Still growing.
Still watching.
Still choosing to see.
Because sometimes mental health looks like
a piece of scrap paper,
a moving pen,
and the simple, sacred act of
marking time with wonder.
Finally got round to watching Hunt For The Wilderpeople, after eons of procrastinating over doing so, and was well chuffed at how great it was! Gave me some much needed inspiration for some art as well, always a bonus.
Can see what the Deadpool 2 guys saw in Julian Dennison that’s for sure, and of course Sam Neill was brilliant as well. Can’t be forgetting Taika Waititi either for directing it! Excellent job from all in my opinion :)
A scene from where I live.The origional photo for this is taken from within a huge wildlife reserve. I should do more plaine air work but the weather in Ireland is not that predictable.
