Despite winter being over (I mean, were those two weeks really it for winter?), and being a third of the way through September, I was still wandering around under the impression that I had about four weeks until the Canberra Handmade Market.
I did not.
I have about a week.
And strangely enough, I am okay with that.
The old pre-market panic
If this was me two years ago, discovering that Handmade was suddenly NEXT WEEK would have triggered a full-on meltdown.
I would have spent the next 10 days ignoring almost everything else in my life.
I would have created constantly, stayed up until 3 a.m., started far too many new ideas and convinced myself that every single thing I had imagined for the market absolutely had to be finished.
Because somewhere along the way, I had decided that being properly prepared meant doing everything.
Every idea.
Every collection.
Every tiny detail.
But this is the 2026 version of me, and I am fully embracing my give-no-shits era.
Not in the I don’t care sense.
More in the I care about different things now sense.
I would rather take fewer things that I have enjoyed making than spend the next week frantically trying to bring every idea in my head to life.
And strangely, one of the paintings I am hoping to finish for Handmade feels rather appropriate for that.
The Release
You may have seen The Release slowly unfolding in my studio and on my socials.
I have approached this painting differently.
Instead of disappearing into the studio for marathon painting sessions because I desperately want to see her finished, I have been working on her in smaller, more intentional sessions.
Sitting with her. Trying new techniques. Adding another layer and then walking away.
Of course, the impatient part of me was ready for her to be finished weeks ago.
But perhaps there is a reason she is called The Release.
She is almost there now, and I am hoping she will be ready for Handmade so people can finally see her in person: The collage elements, the details in the background and all those tiny pieces of ephemera that don’t always translate through a screen.
But I don’t want to rush her simply because there is a market on the calendar.
She’ll be finished when she’s finished.
Apparently, I am learning things from my own paintings now.
There are still new things coming…
Giving up the pre-market panic doesn’t mean I’ve stopped having ideas.
Obviously.
An impulse buy from Aldi recently sent me careening down an entirely unexpected creative side quest and somehow resulted in The Siren and the Pirate, a brand-new Wee Beastie collection.
One of my very first Wee Beastie collections included mermaids, but despite loving them, I never felt particularly called to make them again.
Also, glitter and I have mutually agreed never to work together again.
These new Sirens, however, are something completely different, and I am stupidly excited about them.
So excited, in fact, that one set has already found its way onto my own Wee Beastie shelf, leaving just nine sets coming to Handmade.
I’ll also have the Queens, Witches and Guardians with me.
The Tarot Queens are coming too
At the last Handmade Market, my Tarot Queen paintings were so new that I simply didn’t have time to turn them into prints.
This time I do.
I’ll have limited-edition signed A5 print sets containing all six Tarot Queens, along with a little information booklet telling you more about each painting.
These are one of those projects that I could have rushed last time.
I didn’t.
And I’m glad I waited until I could make them the way I wanted.
And then there are the Shadow Moons…
The Shadow Moons currently have a very large MAYBE hanging over them.
This collection began after a conversation with a customer about my Mini Moonscapes, which planted an idea in my head and sent me off on another creative tangent.
They are almost ready.
Unfortunately, some of their finishing touches are currently somewhere between me and wherever parcels go when you’re impatiently waiting for them.
So they may make it to Handmade.
They may not.
My fingers and toes are crossed.
But if they don’t?
There will be another day.
And perhaps that is the biggest difference between the artist preparing for markets now and the one from a couple of years ago.
Not everything has to happen now
There will always be another idea. Another painting I want to finish. Another collection I could make. Another display I could improve. Another thing I could squeeze into the week before a market if I were willing to sacrifice enough sleep, time and sanity to do it.
But I’m starting to realise that creativity doesn’t particularly like being treated as an emergency.
I’d much rather arrive at Handmade with work I loved creating and enough energy left to actually enjoy talking to the people who come to see it.
So next week I’ll pack whatever is ready.
The Release will hopefully be there. The Siren and her Pirate definitely will. The Tarot Queens are coming. The Shadow Moons are keeping me guessing.
And whatever doesn’t make it this time can wait.
Maybe my give-no-shits era is actually just my learning-to-release-things era.
Either way, I’m rather enjoying it.
If you’re coming to Handmade Canberra next weekend, please come and find me and say hello.
And if Canberra is a little too far away, the new pieces will make their way into the online shop once I’m home, unpacked and sufficiently recovered.
From my whimsy world to yours.
Let’s stay connected
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