Like everyone, I have had to inhabit a smaller environment, both socially and physically, like everyone I have had to look at it anew, to tread new local paths in my daily exercise, to spend more time in the space that directly surrounds where I live.
I have been enjoying exploring what is here rather than always looking for what is new.
I have not driven my car for 6 weeks. I have not needed to and I have not missed it, i'm sure when things change I will drive my car again and go further from home, but, I would like to think I won't do it as much.
I am fortunate that where I live allows me to access sea, shore, hills and farmland direct from my door, likewise, grocers, doctors and vets can all be visited on my own two feet, an enviable best of both worlds.
I have had to change my focus, to stop pursuing a certain direction in my work, although financially this is worrying, it has given me the time to explore creatively and time to pause and think.
I took up a daily sketching challenge during the month of April from @bridge-house-art to sketch the things around me, I drew subjects I would not normally have tackled and really enjoyed it.
I was asked by Shetland Arts to do 4 short videos for their social media channels to share my love of sketching and to encourage others to try it as a way of finding a new way of looking and inhabiting and enjoying a life that is more confined.
One of my favourite pages on Instagram that I follow @awildapothecary who writes so beautifully, shared a quote from Frederick Buechner "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid" I find that strangely comforting in these unsettling times.