Transitions

Four years of study and an extended identity crisis later

I’m moving to Germany in May and pursuing a career as a tattoo artist. Whatever that looks like. Who knows?

Prints may be available upon request, once I’m settled (however long that takes- I don’t want to put pressure on myself. It could be a year, longer). Cards are currently available at Sonics Gallery in Thornbury. I may make them a product again, because environmentally, the impact can be very low and the cost is accessible for you, the buyer. I may not make these products again. Life is very fluid for me. I’ll still be painting, always painting, it’s in my blood. So at some point I may manufacture a few products, if I can keep the cost accessible and be kind to our planet (and if time permits, which I suspect it may not). 

It’s taken 11 years of research for me to get here; exploring horticulture (throughout the years)
- Pottery
- Massage (that was a hot minute)
- Tantra apprenticeship (something I tend to hide because #cringe)
- Bartending course (also a hot minute)
- Art therapy (a very respectable profession but I really do not want to do MORE study)
- Working with children (props to childcare workers-, your patience is off chops)
- Geography & sustainability (maps are cool, sustainability is important!! I nearly majored in this degree)
- Indigenous ontologies (my BA major that won above creative writing & geography… Amazing course, 10/10)
- Creative writing (for a few hot minutes, I was going to be a writer. I even studied for this one twice, minored in it even)
- Manufacturing processes regarding art based products (I went hard into research on this & was this close * * but realised the costs werent worth it)
- A business course + a book that acted as a course (the book was surprisingly valuable. I’m always suspicious of business related content)
- Multiple mentorship programs (1…2...3… 4…, ya gal really needed help OK)
- An internship in social services (my supervisor was also very much a mentor… so 5?)
- Working in disability (incredible learning & i’m so grateful for the people that have shared their lives with me)
- Exploring the idea of being a yogi (did the whole ashram thing, regular yoga thing, read many books)
- Daydreaming about working in emergency services (an important daydream. Emergency service workers are brilliant people)
- Exploring woodwork (I have a lot of dreams OK).
It’s been a ride. But I felt that rare full-body yes to this, a feeling I’ve been yearning for, for 11 years.

Anyways, my silence on here & irregular posting has been because the identity crisis (on top of career search… I actually did a brief course on exploring finding the right career for me) is very very real (it’s like being thrown in the wind and being unable to land, holding onto tree branch after tree branch before being whooshed to the next branch in a different tree. It’s fun, exciting, but exhausting. I am so tired from exploring & researching… but I also love to learn & cant help it).

Things are calming down and becoming more consistent (despite the flux of moving), but I hope things become more grounded and whole. For now, the research process where I keep thinking I’ve found IT! is still doing its magic as I get ready to leave, except I feel whole in my decision for these next major steps. The research process is more practical based and not: do I want to do this? (I spent two years deciding if I wanted to study art therapy) I will keep whirring in this big move and la la la-ing and once I land in Germany, maybe, just maybe, I’ll be the kookaburra sitting in their tree, singing the song for me that feels like home.

Bethan x