Happy New Year!

I had such a lovely, relaxing break over Christmas and am now slowly getting back into the swing of things with my art and design work. I have made a conscious effort this year to slow things down at the start of the year rather than head into 2026 at full speed. I want this year to be one of deliberate, considered action towards creating the life that I want. I spent most of 2025 working hard behind the scenes on the building blocks of my business, ensuring that everything was in place for me to really grow and expand this year. I have a healthy portfolio of work for sale on my website and my next collection is in the very early stages but is really exciting me with the way it is progressing and I have just started designing my first fabric collection to compliment this body of work.

If you have read my previous post you will know that my background is in commercial interior design as well as being a textile artist and I have really wanted to create a fabric collection to bring together my knowledge of pattern and textiles with my love of colour and bold expressive art.

I spent many hours as a designer desperately trying to find commercial fabrics that satisfied my love of bright colours and pattern but really struggled to find something that excited me so I'm absolutely loving designing this initial collection, although I would rather be in front of a canvas than my computer getting my head around Photoshop and Illustrator! That said I am loving seeing the designs come to life and can't wait to share them with you.

This is just one of the things I have planned for this year and the reason that I wanted to start the year slowly is to give myself time to make sure I am moving in the right direction as the importance for me, as well as earning a living, is that I am building something worthwhile and sustainable that feeds my creative soul. It feels right to take my time in January to set the foundations for what will be a crazy busy year and it's most definitely a marathon and not a sprint so slow steady progress is all that's needed right now.

I've also made myself a promise to get out drawing more this year as I do tend to get stuck in my studio and not see much of the outside world when I am in the middle of a new collection. I visited Hebden Bridge on Christmas Eve and had a lovely walk around the small independent shops there (Heart Gallery is a must!) and a relaxing walk on the canal so I will be heading back there with my sketchbook when the weather is a little warmer.....and will definitely be buying more of the red liquorice from the sweet shop in the town centre as I ate the last lot before I had even got home (it was a small bag 😋).

That's all for now but I am hoping to fit in more posts this year as I will hopefully have lots of exciting things to share. If you want to keep up to date regularly you can follow me over on Instagram @cathcrowtherstudio. What have you got planned for 2026?