The Art of Van-Life
How I illustrate, write, and art on the go in a tiny home on wheels.
I'm currently living my dream and doing what I’ve wanted to do for many years. Not only am I illustrating children's books, but I’m also travelling around Europe and living pretty much full-time in a van. Or to be more precise, a Peugeot motorhome called Tally. She has a fully equipped kitchen, toilet, shower and even though she’s thirty years old, she’s a sturdy girl. I love her.
It sounds idyllic, and it is, most of the time. When it's pouring down outside and I'm resigned to staying in the van with my husband, I'm grateful I have my creative projects to keep me busy. Sometimes though, the wet can start to get to me. When there's no dry coats or shoes and everything smells damp, it's not brilliant.
Then there’s the gloriously sunny days. It can be hard to concentrate on work when you’ve a stunning view from the window, which changes as often as I change my knickers (daily I have you know. Cheeky). Fortunately, I love my job but after hours of drawing, painting and obsessing over whether a monster's expression is pensive enough, my back usually starts to twinge and I'm reminded to stretch. And what better excuse to explore the surrounding area? I often find when I’m stuck on an idea for a drawing or any other creative project, a good walk gets the blood flowing and the ideas float on in.
Tally has a small dining table and seating area where we eat our meals, sit to watch movies, and play games. At night, after much faffing, this area is transformed into our bed. This same space is also my workspace. The challenge here is timing work time around mealtimes and bedtime, which means tidying everything away at intervals. Fortunately, Tally has oodles and oodles of storage space and both husband and me are very tidy people, we couldn't do what we do if we weren't. So, after a day of illustrating, I neatly put all my art materials back into their designated places. I must admit though, we do have to beware of art avalanches whenever a cupboard door is opened. Especially if we've just had a bumpy countryside drive.
Wwoofing (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) has been an opportunity for space away from Tally, and sometimes the husband. I love them both very much but after months of living together (since October 2024 to be precise), and with Tally being a box the size of a garden shed, a chance to do something else is much needed. You usually commit to offering about 5 hours of your time a day, five days a week, in exchange for food and board. This has given me time to draw in the evenings and on weekends. So far, every placement I've had has been wonderful. I've met amazing people and been able to practice my French (which is not brilliant but slowly getting better). I got plenty of much needed exercise, ate terrific food and best of all, I took care of some donkeys! That’s probably a whole other blog :-)
I've also been very fortunate to have been offered sanctuary at a friend's house in central France; a converted farmhouse and barn where I'm currently writing this, sat on the decking overlooking a meadow, listening to cicadas singing. When I’m here I take breaks from drawing and painting by doing some gardening and cleaning. Both of which, to the surprise and bafflement of my host, I love to do.
Dreams are funny things. They are rarely ever solid and can morph and even completely change as circumstances change. I am currently living my dream, but now I have a new dream. This new dream is to find a small, but a bit bigger than Tally, space. A space without wheels. A permanent space where I can leave my drawing board with art in progress on the table, without having to tidy it all away for mealtimes or bedtime. A cosy space with an ink covered table bedecked with a pot of brushes and dip pens, some paints, inks and water pot on one side, and a cuppa (possibly a couple of biscuits too) on the other. Note how paint water pot and tea should never be close neighbours for fear of dipping your paint brush into your tea, or worse still, drinking dirty paint water, which I've done more times than I can count.
So…the house hunt has begun! Watch this space to see if I find my space.
Ta ta for now
Inky
