Back to the roots

How Treespeake began…

‘And suddenly you know, it’s time to start something new and trust the magic of new beginnings.’  Eckhart Tolle

I wasn’t always a Devon-based artist. This blog is about how my family ended up moving to beautiful Devon and why I started painting.

Relocating to Devon

I’ve always found change tricky so my relocation to Devon six years ago proved to be quite a challenge!

I was living in the area I grew up in and had been teaching in the same school for 9 years. If it weren’t for the move, I would probably still be there now. But what a perfect decision it turned out to be!

I have battled with panic attacks on and off for over 20 years – mostly due to being so adept at bottling things up I think! In fact, my mental wine cellar is pretty well stocked with some fine vintages! I’m not a tough cookie but actually, I don’t want to be and take pride in the fact that I’m a sensitive soul and a bit fluffy round the edges!

So, after hyperventilating myself all the way to Devon I realised that actually, this was a wonderful opportunity to reinvent myself. Not to change drastically, but to embrace the opportunity to reprogram a few things.  I had no job, no friends nearby and had left my parents two hours up the road. No more spontaneous cups of tea and heart to hearts with mum! But, I did have my beautiful children and husband (not so beautiful!) by my side.

He had this wonderful new job, but what was I to do? I remember trying to plan what I was going to do during the day. I couldn’t go far in case I felt panicky; thankfully Tesco was only 10 minutes away and there seemed to be a nice lady across the way to talk to (turns out to be the loveliest neighbour ever!) and a friendly looking couple next door (actually turning out to be the craziest, but sweetest neighbours ever)! The place felt good!

In between hours of perusing teaching jobs I thought about how else I could spend my time. Well, there was unpacking boxes of course and getting rid of cobwebs which, as it turns out, is pretty pointless because they appear again a few hours later adorned by a rather smug looking spider!

It was time to find a hobby.

To find out more about how I was inspired to start painting, please read my blog Planting the Seed.