A reality shift - huge changes happening now with coronavirus on the spread

Well, I am writing this in the UK with almost a month under our belts in lockdown quarantine. There are huge changes happening to society. Many deaths of course affecting a lot of the older population but also younger people too. There have even been a few children that have died too and quite a lot of nurses and doctors as well. Society is turned on its head in a way. The essential workers that are keeping things going are the people in shops, care workers, NHS staff etc. CEO's and media guru's etc etc all are in the same boat...staying in and staying well to protect the NHS and save more lives in this pandemic. Schools are shut, workers deemed non-essential are working from home and  many businesses have found their income has fallen through the floor. I am one of those. I can't of course run any workshops and also I can't sell my greetings cards to the shops I normally do as they are shut for business at the moment. I have always concentrated on selling to shops so as to support the high street. I am in a bit of a spin really. Social media seems rather odd at the moment. I don't want to be just pushing to sell things when everyone is very tight for money, or dealing with a grief and being isolated too. Which of course makes me think some really big existential things. This is all new territory for all of us. There won't be a magic bullet for things to just return to normal.... the longer it all goes on, the stronger fear grows and means social distancing will be the norm.

Its an enormous shift in all of our realities. 

Many positives however are flowing from it. How people are home working and managing that which will bring to bear questions of whether companies will want to bring employees back into an office settling, and of course employees very unsure of returning to offices where social distancing will be impossible. Communities are coming together to help the more vulnerable. Pollution is massively reduced. Fast fashion can't carry on as there isn't the numbers shopping. Nature has time to become stronger. Goats and sheep have been in the empty streets and it's wonderful to have a sky of no vapour trails as so few planes are flying. And across the nation people are getting used to a different sense of time. Instead of rush, rush, rush - people are getting used to just enjoying things that take longer. Making, creating, baking, and of course with great weather at the moment, gardening. Its wonderful to feel so much nature being relied on to get us through. And businesses are adapting. Pubs turning to being takeaway's and businesses like Burberry will begin to make PPE for the health sector. We all need to flex and bend to these new ways of being.

The thought of course has occurred to me that I should just stop. Get a job that contributes more to society's needs at the moment. I am in that at risk group with being asthmatic, so that isn't really a plan. I need to keep my head down and stay in. But how to continue as an artist??? what can I actually help with? 

Well.......art feeds the soul and making helps mental health. That is a definite truth and its that that I am going to attach my flag too. People need inspiring, lifting up and tips as to how to make new things at home.......so maybe there is a way forward, with me sharing my work and changing how I work too. 

Dicken's had it right in the Tale of Two Cities......

Stay safe and watch here for some creative ideas 

to have a go at!