Making Art to Make More Art

Creativity is a tide that rises, each wave lifted by the one before it

Stealing moments from the margins of the day, creativity takes shape in scattered fragments.

I empty the bins and put the washing machine on. The tip of my pencil glides over paper, graphite transforming into fur, feathers, skin, eyes.

I pack football kit and homework into a bag and stand at the door waving goodbye. My fingers fly across keys, letters and words flickering into stories and poetry.

I contemplate a spreadsheet full of numbers and an inbox full of urgencies and emergencies. My hands shape small bouquets of paper flowers, create miniature envelopes for tiny letters to send to friends.

I am filled with excitement and bubbling over with new ideas. The more I create, the more I long to create. Creativity is a tide that rises, each wave lifted by the one before it.

I send them out into the world, these creations, setting them adrift like paper boats on an unseen current. I press publish, I invite others to join me on this creative adventure.

But why? If creating for joy alone is enough?

To build a creative life is to walk a narrow path between making for joy and making to sustain the act of making itself.

And to make money as a creative often means spending more time not creating than actually making art. It means learning how to market, how to price, how to package something so that people will buy it. It means balancing what others want with what your soul compels you to make.

When Lydia and I incorporated Tree Keeper Books and published our debut picture book, Is Aunt Moll From the North Pole?, of course we dreamed of wild success and a future where creativity sustains us and our families. We still do.

But what was more important, the only thing that really mattered, was that we were bringing to life our magical world, creating something tangible from nothing but imagination, a story of magic and enchantment; a book with our names on the cover. Our first goal was only this; to make enough to fund the next book. To measure success in sustained creation.

A children’s book, by its nature, is meant to be shared, to be read aloud, pages turned by small hands, for young minds to be enchanted by the glorious combination of pictures and words. But what of the other things; greetings cards, printable art, decorative dividers? What of the intangible things; the ideas, the messages, the stories, the poems?

The answer is the same. I share them because I want to make more.

Art is not meant to live in the dark. It is the continuation of a conversation. Writing comes alive when read. Music exists to be heard. A painting is meant to be seen.

A heart, a comment, a quiet ‘this moved me’, sharing my words and pictures with others. These small acts of encouragement don’t simply affirm, they spark the next idea; the next story; the next brushstroke.

And so, I continue to share them with you. Not just stories and illustrations, but small, tangible pieces of this creative journey, waiting to be chosen, shaped, and shared in ways uniquely your own.

In the gallery, you’ll find illustrations to brighten your letters and journals, decorative dividers to thread through your own words. Printable art; small reminders of joy and creativity for your home. Wallpapers for your phone; a pocket-sized portal into something whimsical and wild.

Welcome to my Ever Growing Gallery of Beautiful Illustrations

In our online shop, you’ll find our book (of course!), a story spun from imagination and brought to life in ink and paper. But beyond the pages, you’ll also find cushions for curling up with a good story, tote bags to carry a piece of creativity with you, greetings cards that carry words to distant hands, and other beautifully crafted gifts to bring a little wonder into the everyday.

And for those who walk the winding path of creativity themselves, there is the Magic Beans Guide; an enchanted guidebook for navigating the practical side of creative life, a way to turn numbers into something less daunting and more manageable.

The Magic Beans Guide

Each new subscriber; each Creative Explorer who reads and shares, each Creative Adventurer who steps further in, gifts me something priceless in return. Another moment of freedom. Another stolen hour of creating.

Making art for joy alone will always be enough. But possibility and hope grows, and maybe, just maybe, one heart, one comment, one new subscriber, one small act of encouragement at a time, the balance between creating in the margins and in stolen moments, will slowly shift.

For each Creative Adventurer who joins for a year, I will send you a gift; perhaps a tiny letter, a bouquet of paper flowers, a set of cards, an original drawing. A thank you, a shared piece of this creative journey.

With wishes for endless inspiration,