Rebekah Curtis

You are, in a way, what you draw. So I’m mindful of how subjects help or hinder my mood.

After a winter of studying wispy, graphite trees, I started to feel my mood turn graphite-grey too. I needed to think about the spring. Fresh greens and bright yellows!

Though we may be largely indoors, the sunlight and birds outside the window shout, “It’s spring!” And since woodland walks are off the cards, I can draw from the imagination – or photos – instead. Spring can spring in the mind.

When I dug this picture out from a pile the other day it was a bald, February watercolour . So I spruced up the branches with blossom and new leaves and walked away feeling notably happier.

And that’s something I love about art. It can take your mood on journeys. Like dreams that you can steer.

If we need cheering we can find new subjects in books. I collect my own photos of nature to study. Or we can always look from our windows and draw. Draw leaves, or houses or sky. Or we can imagine, like I imagined these spring trees.

Whatever I choose to draw or write, I am always mindful – checking in on whether it’s something that I think I should depict, or a subject that makes actually me happy.

Before: winter

For more scribbles and photos, find me on Instagram at rebekahcurtisart.