The “It’s Okay” collection is coming TODAY. I’m so excited that release day is finally here!
This is Bobbi the Robin. Bobbi is loud, and beautiful, and absolutely okay with being a presence unlike any other. Bobbi says: “It’s Okay to stand out.”
Bobbi has a secret – before I started the collage background, I wrote all over the canvas. I wrote all my hopes, and my fears, my frustrations, and things I love about myself. Unashamed and authentic expression is the foundation of this painting. The background is painted the colours of the non-binary flag – it’s not exactly in common usage, but if you know, then you know.
I spent a very good chunk of my life trying to fit in. I knew I wasn’t like everyone else but I tried to be, because any time I poked my real head up and said something that someone wasn’t expecting, someone had a swipe at me. I wasn’t particularly happy, and to be honest, I wasn’t very good at fitting in either. Eventually, I decided I couldn’t do it any more. I was going to be real, I was going to be me, and if people didn’t like that, tough. I had to accept that there was a *better* life waiting for me if I owned my voice.
When you stop trying to fit in and you accept that you’re just going to stand out, you find you can do things you didn’t realise. You meet other people who aren’t afraid to stand out, and they encourage you to keep going, even when you’re questioning whether you’re strong enough. You find inner strength and a whole new love for yourself, because you learn what you truly value, and you let go of the things that you don’t. I quit a job that I’d been doing for ten years and now I paint birds. It’s been a wild ride, and the only thing I’d change is that I’d have done it sooner.
Bobbi is a painting about my journey, and I hope they inspire you to take the next step in yours. Bobbi’s challenge to you is: “what amazing things are just waiting for you to be brave enough to own your voice and stand out?”
Bobbi is painted in acrylic, india ink, and charcoal, on canvas collaged with Who Gives a Crap? papers, and wax pastels. They measure 30 x 22 x 1.3 cm. Initially, there will be 6 x 8 inch prints, as well as some very fetching greetings cards.