I have been thinking of ways that I can help support friends and other individuals who work for themselves as artists or illustrators and this got me thinking – What if I start to feature artists on my soothe-me postcards! This could be a lovely way to showcase unknown artists, to share their inspiring works with my customers.
So I am starting this idea off with my good friend Nicola Sokel, (her website is www.nicolasokell.com) we used to lived in a house share together in East London when we both starting out as graphic designers/illustrators back in 1999/2020!! When I saw Nicolas latest painting on instagram during lockdown it really showed how I was feeling so I am really excited to be able to share her work with you and look out for a postcard with it on in your next soothe-me order! #artistsupportpledge
Artist Nicola says – “Lockdown brought me back to painting! I’ve been living a ‘nomadic’ life for quite a few years, still being creative but in different ways (dreamcoat, DJing, etc) as I didn’t have the tools or space to get into much visual work. I had built up a sketchbook full of ideas though. My background is Graphic design and I particularly love creating illustrative texts.
Just before the world went into a COVID spin my laptop broke, totally died. I went up north to stay with my family so that I could work on my Dad’s computer while I was sorting mine out and then lockdown happened. I got a new computer but without the usual design software which I couldn’t afford as all my paid work stopped with the pandemic. Fortunately, I was staying at my sisters, in a big bedroom with a desk and and big bit of wall space and plenty of time!
So I started painting, and absolutely loving it. A few ideas came out fresh and this was one of them. It was my response to the situation we’d found ourselves in and how I didn’t want to buy into the narrative that it had to be a total disaster but could also be an opportunity. And I really didn’t feel that I wanted things to ‘get back to normal’ because the normal we had a LOT of flaws. I believe in our creativity as a species, we have the capacity to change this world, it starts with ourselves, and especially with our belief in that change and the will for it.” Nicola Sokel, Whitley Bay
