"The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love." ... 'and LEGO'

Day 84:

Today was another one of those days that can just do one. When these days pop up you can guarantee that myself and Opeie always turn to the LEGO for a pick me up. Those magical bricks have some crazy healing power. 

Hoping for a few happy days please.

"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it."

Day 83:

I don't know what we'd do if it wasn't for all the creativity in the house, it seems like we are always drawing and painting these days. Since becoming a single dad the evenings have always been the hardest for me and this whole lockdown thing has just magnified that. That feeling of being alone and disconnected is horrible. sketching has been a huge way of taking my attention off of that and has helped to keep me in a much more positive headspace. It's been great to look back on all the things we have created and I look forward to putting it all into a fun photo diary for Opeie to look back on. 

"Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self."

Day 82:

I never really understood why people created self portraits? It always seemed like such a bizarre thing to do. Currently though we are living in a pretty bizarre world so as I enjoyed creating the picture of Opeie  earlier in the week so much, I thought I'd give it a go. Its definitely not something I could see myself doing again but I'm glad I had a go. I'm really loving this new style of drawing, we may be mid lockdown but this limited life that we are all living has definitely unlocked my creative side and given me a real hunger to keep those creative juices flowing.

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul."

Day 81:

We've been out and about taking photos of Opeie's LEGO minifigures for an upcoming project of his. I really love how we've managed to get through these bizarre months by being creative every day. I like to think that by the end of all this Opeie will come out of it a lot more confident with his creative abilities and even more open to trying new things.

“The true secret of happiness lies in the taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.”

Day 80:

I have absolutely loved cruising around Telford with Opeie on the Raleigh choppers over the last few days. It''s not only been us with the smiles on our faces either. We've had people honking at us, giving us thumbs up and a few people stopping for a (distanced) chat about how they owned one when they were younger. It turns out that these little beauties are happiness on wheels. 

"It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project."

Day 78:

Today we all went out on our new rides and it was lush. I was so gutted selling my chopper years ago when I knew that Opeie was on his way and after picking one up last weekend, me and that retro loving boy of mine couldn't stop thinking about riding it around the park. So I sold my mountain bike and went hunting online for choppers for ourselves. We managed to find a couple pretty easy and picked them up on the same day. Since then we've been tinkering, adding parts and cleaning them up. It's like I always say, it's good to have a project or two on the go, and now we can head out on some seriously stylish adventures.

"Evolution is a light illuminating all facts, a curve that all lines must follow."

Day 77:

I found myself parked up on my own for an hour today which is unheard of. My first thought was to put the seat back and have a nap with my music on but instead I grabbed my sketchbook and started my piece for todays #creativelockdownproject. Id told Opeie earlier in the day that I was going to draw Charles Darwins head and he needed to pick me a Pokemon body for him. I figured he would pick one of the cute ones but instead chose Rayquaza, it ended up working perfectly I thought.

"Never seen anything like her before. There must be something in the water"

Day 76:

I didn't take a singe photo today, so instead I'll leave you with a song...

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working."

Day 74:

I went to bed last night with the intention of having a creative morning but when I woke up and got going I had zero motivation to to do anything. This is frustrating not just for me but also because it can have a knock on effect to how Opeie is feeling too. After passing back and forth a few messages as I drank my morning coffee I was flooded with inspiration. I went straight for my pens and within 10 minutes me and Opeie were sitting in the sun and our creative juices were flowing. All it takes sometimes is the right person to get you going and its lovely to be surrounded by creative people..

"“Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.”"

Day 73:

Ive said it so many times since this lockdown started, The #creativelockdownproject that has really kept me and Opeie in a happy creative headspace and I don't think I've ever been this creatively motivated in a long time. Its been great to really reinforce to Opeie that art is everywhere and it doesn't have to be something that has taken a chunk of time to create, to make people smile. as the creative word today is 'books' Opeie decided to search through his collection and make a book rainbow. It certainly put a smile on my face.