Freelance lull? Commission yourself….a hand-painted gothic mermaid sign, yes please!

In those moments of crippling anxiety, when your brain suddenly determines that you will never get hired again and that your inbox will be flooded only with mocking tumbleweed…….my go-to is to keep on making. And, perhaps try even to ‘enjoy’ what can feel like an abyss of ‘do I still exist’ lulls. Freelance life ebbs and flows, and reframing the lull as an opportunity to finally dig in deep to personal projects, is now why I now actually look forward to them.

On the off chance nobody ever commissions me to paint a gothic siren sign for an elderly narrowboat, I commissioned myself. What is even the point of living on an old boat if you can’t conjure up a mermaid mythology to accompany it…….this was a lot of fun. The Legend Of Lady Banbury is brewing……

‘And you sang, “Sail to me

Sail to me; let me enfold you

Here I am, here I am

Waiting to hold you

Did I dream you dreamed about me?

Were you here when I was full-sail?

Now my foolish boat is leaning

Broken lovelorn on your rocks‘

The music is one of my favourite song covers ‘Song to the Siren’ by This Mortal Coil, remixed and with a splash of real mermaid calls from the depths of Wolvercote canal.