For privacy I haven’t included the final image, but I edited my drawing on the computer so that the twins names and date of birth were written on the tree trunk. And voila! a (only slightly!) belated birthday gift for my friend’s daughters.
Trying to concentrate but..
At the moment I have no idea how long I have before one of us gets sick, someone in our bubble gets sick and we have to quarantine, or Belgium goes into full on lockdown mode again and we have no more help with childcare.
Sketch a day
My new year’s resolution was to draw a sketch a day in my diary of something that had happened during that day. During lockdown it was one of the few things that helped to keep me sane, and it’s been a really nice way of recording our second daughters progress.
For my daughter on her first birthday
Finished this only 3 months too late! Did it as a series of pictures around her full name, one for each month of the year plus one on the day she was born.
Airpods
Also airpods always remind me of this article https://www.vice.com/en/article/neaz3d/airpods-are-a-tragedy so its a doubly annoying situation.
Wear a mask
My hypochondria anxiety levels have been going through the roof over the past 6 months as presumably so have everybody’s. I’m feeling better right now, but during April/May I felt quite breathless a lot of the time – no idea if I had a really mild case of Covid or if it was all in my head. Wearing a mask and taking care with social distancing and meeting friends outside helps with my anxiety about the whole situation.
A wedding
My brother is getting married in London next weekend and sadly because of coronavirus restrictions we can’t be there to celebrate with them. I’ve drawn him this picture as a wedding gift (yes they got a lockdown puppy- a super cute border terrier called Siggy who I’m also sad I’ve not yet gotten to meet! And the cat is called Hero).
Malmedy 2019
A cartoon from the first holiday we went on after the birth of our second daughter in July 2019. In hindsight maybe we should have gone further afield given the situation now with travelling, but we had a lovely time at Val d’Arimont, it was so peaceful there with lovely walks and cycle rides just on the doorstep.
Leaving Gifts
During lockdown I couldn’t do anything art wise because looking after the kids was all consuming, but in June Belgium suddenly announced that schools would reopen and so I had a period of a month before the summer holidays to do a few things for friends.
Lockdown working from home
So… everything has changed since my last post in February. I find it hard to concentrate on TV shows or movies now because everything they are doing has this extra layer of unreality to it. Having your extended family round for a holiday meal? ARE YOU INSANE??? Going out to a restaurant WHAT IS THIS 2019??? Brushing past a stranger and not flipping out DUDE, ARE YOU TRYING TO CATCH CORONA?
In some ways with the two children and that being it’s own form of lockdown (it’s not like I would’ve been out clubbing or drinking or even to a restaurant more than a handful of times this year anyway) I think its been easier for us than for others, but then again trying to keep the two of them alive and well at the same time as my husband tries to get some work from home done with no outside help has been a total nightmare.
