Bonny Snowdon 00:06
Hello, I'm Bonny Snowdon, ex-corporate person, a mother turned successful artist entrepreneur. It wasn't that long ago though that I lacked the confidence, vision and support network to focus on growing my dream business. Fast forward past many life curveballs, waves of self-doubt and so many lessons learned and you'll see Ignite, my thriving online colour pencil artists community, a community that changes members lives for the better and gives me freedom to live abundantly whilst doing what I love and spending quality time with my beloved family and dogs, all whilst creating my best artwork with coloured pencils, and mentoring others to do the same. But this life wasn't always how it was for me, it used to only exist in my imagination. I've created the It's a Bonny Old Life podcast to help increase people's confidence, share mine and my communities experience and hope through fascinating personal stories, champion the other amazing humans in my personal, professional and membership community, and create another channel through which I can support others to realize their dreams. If you're a passionate colour pencil artist, or an aspiring one who's looking to create their best work, and a joyful life you love, you're in the right place. Grab a cuppa and a custard cream, let's get cracking.
So welcome to another monthly roundup, and gosh, this month has just absolutely flown by. I, I dunno where it's gone. I'm, I'm all sort of sixes and sevens at the minute because I dunno whether anybody's like me, but honestly I love having a break. I love having a holiday and I know I need to take more of them, but oh my goodness, coming back from a holiday and then having to start work again, it's awful. It's absolutely awful. So we've been way to Cyprus for a few days last week with my daughter, which has been absolutely lovely. So, so nice. And we had the most beautiful, we were staying lovely villa and then we had a VIP pass to this fantastic hotel, so always stayed there. It was, it was lovely, it was so nice and I managed to get an awful lot done. So I managed to write, have, get all of the chapters for my new book that I'm writing. So I've managed to get all of those written out. I've managed to write an introduction to the book and I've managed to write a couple of pages of the first chapter. So, you know, all in all, it was a, it was a very successful trip cuz I managed to do all of those things cuz I wasn't doing anything else. So that was really, really great. But I've come back today with a diary completely full of, I need to do this, a big video. I need to do this next video, this video. I've then got, oh gosh, in, in a few minutes, a meeting with, with a, with an ad expert. I've then got another meeting at five and I've just come home and I'm just like, Oh. And then I was supposed to do, do a load of stuff over the weekend, which I completely forgot about cause I was so tired. We got back in at sort of about three 15 on Saturday morning and oh, I've just been so absolutely exhausted. So I'm exhausted from my fantastic holiday. I need a holiday from, you know, to get over my holiday basically. And that's one of the reasons why I find it really, really difficult to take time away because I get into my routine and I do and I'm happy doing that and I've always been happy doing that. And then as soon as I stop, everything just stops with it. And then I find it really, really hard to get back into the swing of things. And I think that's one of the reasons why I don't tend to take an awful lot of breaks. I I tend to sort of keep going. I find it much easier to do it that way anyway. And I know people will be saying, well it's, that's because you need to, you know, you're doing that because your body needs to take a break and yeah, I, I get it, I get it. But I, you know, we all have our own way of doing things, don't we?
So anyway, so I'm back. I'm back and I've created a new tutorial this morning. A little one that's gonna go out, I think beginning of November, which I'm quite excited about. So I've just got to do all of the other prep work and everything for that, which is gonna be good. My rose went live last week, I think the, the, the next challenge, which is another really good one. We've had, I think about 1500 people take up the challenge so far, which is a, I mean, amazing, absolutely amazing, honestly just blows me away. And the most fantastic, fantastic Roses have been appearing all over my social media, which is brilliant. And then what else have I been doing? Oh, then, my latest tutorial in the academy has gone live. So all five parts are up and I've seen some people have have finished that as well, which is amazing at absolutely brilliant work. So that's all up in the academy.
Gosh, what else has happened? Oh, I launched the academy. We had record numbers joining me this time, which was just unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. So lots and lots of lovely new, new members. We had nearly 600 I think joined me, which is, is fantastic. So lots of new people to get to get to know and lots of people to help with critiques and all of that kind of thing, which is, which is wonderful. I've got a, I've got a new one day workshop in October, which I'm, I'm actually really excited about and it's a human eye, but with some really lovely sort of quite dramatic values in it. Darks and lights, which again, I'm really excited about.
And then it's just, oh, Vinnie broke his toe while I was on a holiday. He's, I dunno how many toes he got left, to be honest. He keeps breaking them. This is the second toe. He is broken and actually it's not as bad as the, it's not nearly as bad as the first one, which he had to have taken off. This one I think has just been a, a, a slight fracture. So he's been on paracetamol for a few days and he's an awful lot better. He's actually had a, a walk this morning, he's a lot better but, Oh, so you know when you're away from your animals and then you get a call, do I take him to the vet? What do I do? And I'm like, Yes, take him to the vet. You know. So that was all, that was all fun and games. The other two girls are fine.
The gardens coming on. We've got all new fencing now, which is, which is great. All our fencing was, we've been here 17 years, so it's about 17 years old, our fencing. So that's all, that's all been taken down. And we've got new, new fencing, which is great. And we've got a new, we're starting to put the patio area down in the bottom of the garden now and it's all starting to, to come together, which is lovely. So can't wait to, you know, when it's all, when it's all done. We've been here so long and oh that's, the postman just arrived, put some, so, yeah, so, so all all very exciting about that. And then my, my, I'm having a little studio put down at the bottom of the garden again, quite exciting. I'm gonna be able to kind of work down there, work, got my studio in the house, but I've also got, I wanted somewhere that was away from the house so that when I've got, you know, Lucy who works with me and then I'm looking at, at getting another assistant to help Lucy when they come and, and work from the house, it means that they can actually be outta the house and not kind of part of the, you know, the whole sort of craziness that goes on in my house. It is completely bonkers. So yeah, so that's, that's going in in October, hopefully again, you know, very, very, very exciting. So that's all good.
And I can't, I can't really think of anything else I've done really. It's been a really busy month, what with the launch and then kind of, you know, keeping, keeping on, on top of all of those sorts of things. And then obviously, you know, after Cyprus for a week, which was really, it was really nice. It was really nice. I'm not, I'm not a big sum someday there at all. I burn very, very, very easily so I don't sort of lie in the sun, but we, we had these, you know, I can, I'm very happy to sit in the shade and in the sea. Oh my goodness. So I was in the sea a lot. They had a private beach. So it was just a case of, you know, Maisy sat and, and did a bit of sunbathing and I just waited out and just floated about bobbed about in the sea. Turns out I'm really good at floating. Maisy says it's cuz my boobs, she's cuz your your boobs are so big, mum, you just float around. I think she's probably right. But the water was so clear it was just oh and lovely and warm. It was just really, really super, It was, it was really nice. I think water is my very much my happy place. I could just sit in it forever. I might get myself a paddling pool in the garden and just sit in there. But it's, you know, when you've got joint tissues and stuff like that, when you go and you're floating around in water, all of the pains just disappear and it's, it's, it is, it's super really, really nice.
So I'm just trying to think about what I've got on the go next. I I've got some commissions, quite a few commissions to do a couple. I'm waiting for the, the imagery from one, the, the dog is, and they're both golden retrievers actually one the dog's alive and I'm just waiting for better imagery for that. And then the other one has been, has been gone for quite a long time, but I need to be sent the photographs, that old photo. So really I I, I prefer to scan them myself. So I'm just waiting for those to come through. So not that I'm at a loss as to what to draw, but my, my thinking is what shall I do next? And I think it's gonna be another human. And I've got two that I've kind of sort of sidelined, well, I've got quite a lot. I've got sidelined actually. And I think I'm gonna do another one like the little girl in the scarf where I draw the majority of it without recording it and then I just record certain bits and, and use those certain bits within the academy for, for texture and for skin and all of that kind of stuff. So I think I'll probably do that next, get, get going with that.
I've got, I've just done a little tutorial this morning. It's taken me about an hour and a half, which was very nice on this paper that I've not used before. Actually. I've had it in my, I've had it in my, I dunno whether that's gonna come out back to front or not, but it's the Fabiano Classico five watercolour paper and it's quite sturdy actually. It's quite, it's quite good. And I've drawn done a little drawing on that this morning that's been a bit more painterly, a bit more sketchy. And I really like it, thinking, oh, I really like this. I spent most of the morning procrastinating thinking, oh, I've gotta do this. I've gotta, you know, it is something that I, I'm, I'm, I'm putting together that's that I'm gonna, it is basically draw a Christmas card and then how to get it printed. That that's basically what I'm gonna be doing. So that you can draw your own Christmas card and then you've got all of the instructions as to how to, how to have it printed wherever you are in the country or in the world basically. So that's, that was my idea. So I sat down this morning thinking all I want to do is just go back to bed. I just, I don't wanna do anything. And I found it really, really tough to get back into the swing of things. I found it really hard. So actually this little drawing, once I got down to it, was a really nice way of just getting me back into the swing of not having drawn for a week. So it's put me much in a much better frame of mind for creativity and everything. It's just, I had to do it. It was in my diary. I had a certain amount of time to be able to do in it, it in, and it was either, and actually I did think this, I did think that I was just going to text Lucy and go, I'm not gonna do this. Just look, I just can't be bothered. And I thought, no, it is a nice idea. I think it's gonna help a lot of people, you know, people like to get their drawings and, and everything printed for Christmas cards and if it can help people and I think I'll be quite nice. So I was like, no, right, I'm just gonna do it. And actually I've, I've really enjoyed doing it and it is, it's been quite, quite speedy, quite quick. But yeah, I, I I think it's turned out quite nicely.
So I'm feeling in a much better frame of mine now. I've got some, I've got meeting at, I don't even know what time it is, what time is it? Or I've got a meeting in 40 minutes. 20 minutes. I've got some macaroni cheese in the micro in the microwave too for me. It's been bleeping. So I'm just gonna go quickly gobble all of that down and then have my, my meeting and then crack on with creating this video that's gonna be coming out in, in November. I mean, we talk about November, don't we? We talk about, you know, Oh, November blame. It's my, it's only a flipping just over a month away completely. Where's this year gone? I just, I don't, I don't get it. I don't get it. The, the, it is just, we seem to have been on fast forward. I think it's absolutely bonkers. It's crazy. Anyway, so yeah, I hope you're all okay. I hope you're all being creative and doing lots of bits and pieces. Got, yeah, like I say, I've got some exciting things in the pipeline. I think the, I think for me the most exciting thing is my, my book. Although it was so funny, I, I, I wrote the first sort of like, bit of the chapter and gave it to my daughter, daughter to read. And she was like, Mom, I think you need some commas in here. So basically I've been kind of introducing some bits and pieces and talking a little bit about my childhood and everything. And I put, basically, we used to live on a farm and we, we, we had these big henhouses in the, in the field and there was one day where we were all in the henhouse and we kind of, it was like a Wendy house type thing, you know, in this, in this, in this old henhouse. Not beautifully made out. It was full of, you know, chicken poo and everything. And anyway, so we're in this henhouse and we're all playing games and, and everything and next minute we're wanting to come outta the henhouse and go back to the back home. But the cows had all herded around us and, and we couldn't get out. So we had to send my sister out. We had to send my sister Tanya out because she was the fastest runner. We had to send her out to run to get help to get all of these cows away because we couldn't all get out cause we were scared the cows were gonna get us. Anyway, so I put this in and I put, oh, you know, we had to send, you know, the fastest runner out to get help. And then after that I'd put that we'd, we also, and it was kind of listing stuff that we used to do as children, but I'd listed that we, we also very nearly broke into the village church and rang the bells. We were all very, very little at that point. And anyway, forgot a comma in between the herding of the cows and the breaking into the church. So it seemed like the cows were hurting around us and they were also breaking into the church and ringing the bells. My daughter was completely bemused. She was like the cows, the cows actually broke into the church and rang the bells after they do that. Anyway, so yes, we did definitely need a com in there. But that's, that's something that I'm really, really looking forward to doing. It's a, it's a, a kind of a, a book within a book if you like. It's, it's kind of taking, taking you through how I've got to where I am now. So there'll be a lot of information about how you, you know, self-help and all of the stuff that I've done and lots and lots of different things to help artists who want to have a successful business basically. And then bringing in a little bit of the storytelling as well, a little bit of, of, of my life in there too, which has been quite eventful and yeah, quite funny at times.
So that's me. That's it. That's, that's my monthly roundup load of waffle as per usual. And I'll, I'll see you all very soon. Okay, bye.
I really hope you enjoyed listening to this episode of my It's a Bonny Old Life podcast. If you did, I'd be so grateful to you for emailing me or texting a link to the show, or sharing it on social media with those who might like it too. My mission with this podcast is all about sharing mine and my communities experience and hope by telling your fascinating personal stories, championing the other amazing humans in my personal, professional and membership community, and to create another channel through which I can support you to realize your coloured pencil and life dreams. If you haven't done so yet. Please help me on my mission to spread positivity and joy throughout the coloured pencil world by following me on my socials at Bonny Snowdon Academy, or by getting on my list at bonnysnowdonacademy.com, and remember, I truly believe if I can live the life of my dreams doing what I love, then you can too. We just need to keep championing and supporting each other along the way in order to make it happen. Till next time.
