6 women who have been inspiring me through 2020

It’s been a while since I’ve made one of these posts, which is a real shame because I love sharing the things, people and ideas that are inspiring me. In fact, that’s a big part of why I started this blog. I’ve been sharing fortnightly(ish) features on the artists I’ve been loving on social media in my newsletter, so that those social streams can become a place for exploration and fun again. But I wanted to take some time here to share some of the people (all women in this case) who have been inspiring me throughout lockdown in lots of different ways. Hopefully you’ll find someone or something new here that will light a spark. Plus, I just love drawing portraits!

Without further ado, let’s get into the list. 

Emma Carlisle

I’ve been a huge fan of Emma Carlisle’s landscapes for the longest time – I’m currently working out how many other things I can move so that I can buy her Zennor print in the giant size it deserves to be. There’s something about the way she combines brighter colours and sweeping marks that evokes such a strong sense of place and feeling. 

Emma has inspired me to loosen up and try to embrace the feeling of what I make more.

Blair Braverman

I’m trying not to turn this blog into a Blair Braverman fan site, but it’s very hard.In her own words Blair is an author, dogsledder, and adventurer who uses innovative storytelling to make the outdoors accessible”. Her twitter is full of insights into the world of dogsledding from how you feed dogs for a 300 mile race across the ice to making your own hat to moose sightings to the sheer number of layers you have to wear. She doesn’t spare the details. She really does make her world accessible. But she never makes it look easy.Other than the gratuitous number of great dog pictures I think that’s why I keep turning to her tweets and her book as a companion at the minute. Blair has an incredible way of making herself at home and then finding the dog-filled joy in discomfort and reminders others to do the same.

Blair has inspired me to get outside and try to find the story in everything I do.

Maggie Rogers

Maggie Rogers was my most listened to artist last year, and the person I saw live the most too (back when gigs were a sweaty hard to see the stage thing). But what’s really stuck with me over lockdown is her short documentary, Back In My Body, and her interviews. She’s clear about supporting the causes she cares about, but also that she’s going to take her time to make things on her own terms. That’s something I constantly need reminding of, thankfully I can get my daily dose in alongside a dance party.

Maggie has inspired me to take my time with what I make, enjoying the process and movement, but then being intentional about what I share.

Megan Rhiannon

I’ve been retuning to pictures of Megan’s journals and illustrations for a long time, because I find them so soothing. There’s just something about the idea of putting everything in your mind out onto paper so you can see it and draw the connections outside of yourself that’s so calming. She recently worked on a huge, brilliant, personal project about autism and it’s been lovely to see existing autistic come together and take off. I can’t recommend her Instagram and YouTube enough if you want some space to breathe in thies weird time. Plus she’s got me back into drawing margins and using coloured tags in my notebooks – it’s life changing!

Megan has inspired me to follow passion projects and document more in the times when my memory feels like it’s failing

Natacha Oceane

I mentioned in my post about learning to run, that Natcha’s video about running an ultra-marathon with no training really turned a switch in my brain and got me going. There’s something about the way she tackles physical challenges with such positivity and determination that’s really inspired me. I have to be honest and say I’ve not done a single one of her workouts, but I have learned so much about nutrition and how exercise actually works through her accessible science videos.

Natacha has inspired me to run and start with the idea that I can meet a physical challenge before I start (even if I’m very slow about doing it).

Jinjin Sun

I’ve been loving following Jinjin Sun’s #100daysofarthistoryjinjins project, where she’s recreating famous portraits and self-portraits with added Jinjin. Each piece is brilliantly done and filled with character and little details that bring it to life. It’s been so nice to view these classics with fresh eye and see someone just make them their own with such confidence.

Jinjin has inspired me to revisit those old artist studies we did in school and try to apply my own perspective to what feels classic.

Natalie