Continuing on from previous posts about the difficulties in booked / accessing entertainment venues I thought I would share my recent experiences at Cineworld in Whiteley, Fareham. Booking was okay this time....it was the seating arrangements.  As described below in my cathartic "feedback" e-mail:
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This time two years ago I was desperately trying to get well enough to restart my teacher training course. I was endeavouring to become a secondary school maths teacher. I was loving the teaching and, if I do say so myself, I was pretty good at it! I am still proud of my "learn algebra using Lego superheroes" lesson. It seemed I had found my calling. Unfortunately, my health had other ideas. I ended up in hospital for a week during my first term, and again during the second. It turned out that my particular variety of asthma hates schools! Floor polish, whiteboard pens, cleaning sprays and teenagers wearing far too much deodorant were too much for my sensitive lungs! I reluctantly decided it was not going to work out and left the course.

Prior to starting my course I had been selling my pictures through Gillian Jones Designs, but it always seemed like a temporary activity. A bit of a hobby to keep me entertained until the kids got bigger and I got a "proper job". Since I had always expected my proper job would be teaching it was a bit of a blow (I am good at understatement!) to discover I couldn't do it.

After a bit of reflection, and some counselling*, I decided there was no reason not to focus on Gillian Jones Designs as a "proper job". I enjoyed it, people seemed to like my pictures, I could work from home and I could fit it around my children and my health.

Two years down the line and my business is more successful than ever. Last year I sold precisely zero pictures in January; this year I have sold several. I have a growing partnership with the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity. Knowledge of my designs is spreading and people often contact me on recommendation. In contrast, my health is significantly worse. I now have another chronic illness to add to my collection, I often use a wheelchair, I have days where I am so tired I cannot move from my sofa and I am currently in discussions about getting a stair lift fitted in my house (good grief!). This could be a fairly grim tale, and there are days when I am more than a little frustrated (understatement) but the decision to make Gillian Jones Designs my proper job was one of the best I have ever made. When I am feeling very unwell it can be tricky to keep on top of things. Fortunately I have a husband who is very good at mount cutting and friends who are excellent at packaging and don't mind doing Post Office runs! Plus I find customers are very understanding if one is honest with them.

So, here's to a home based, flexible, family friendly, health preserving, but "proper" job.

Today is mostly about melding with my sofa feeling more than a little rough. Whilst ticking off in my mind the symptoms I am experiencing today, I realised I could do my bit to increase awareness of the little known condition that I get to "enjoy" on a daily basis.

It's called functional neurological disorder and today it means I'm extraordinarily tired to the point my ears are ringing and my limbs feel three times their normal weight. I have stabbing pains in my sides and what feels like a little dude with a drill living in my head. My joints ache. My hands shake and my right leg keeps moving without me asking it to. My eyes aren't focusing properly. I can't stand up without the world spinning.

At the moment there is no consensus on the cause of FND and there are few effective treatments. It might get worse, it might stay the same, it might get better. It is one of a number of similar conditions that are not well understood such as chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

I don't normally reference Wikipedia but this is a pretty good summary:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_neurological_symptom_disorder

And here are some of the symptoms:

https://fndhope.org/fnd-guide/symptoms/

And then there is my annoying unpredictable asthma which may or may not be related to the FND. It is all quite fascinating really! Just a shame it is so unpleasant at the same time 😉

Let's talk materials! They are one of the most important parts of my prints. In fact there are a collection of  components to one of my pictures: the design, the printing, the paper, the mount, the mounting tape, the framing and the packaging. The first is usually all one thinks about and to be honest when selling via a website it is really all the potential customer can see. The beauty of the print quality and the paper is difficult to show on a screen. So I am going to try and explain it here!

This is a photo of my robin design. Hopefully you can see the texture of the paper and the clarity of the colour. 

On top of the look of the paper and its ability to hold the ink, one also has to think about how long the print is going to last. I don't want you to put my print up and phone me a year later saying it has gone yellow!! The paper I use is of archival quality which means it has a neutral pH and won't yellow over time or affect the ink. The inks in my painfully expensive printer are pigment inks which means they hold their colour over time and the fading effect of exposure to light is minimised. 

The mount boards I use are also pH neutral to minimise the effect of the board on the picture. If one does not use an acid-free board it can have an impact on the longevity of the print and the paper. In addition I use specialist mounting tape which retains its cling and also won't cause yellowing of the paper.

All my frames are made by a local framer who has the same high standards as I do! Website here: http://www.shearartpictureframing.com. The frames are solid wood and glass. I tried perspex glazing for a while to try and reduce postage costs but it is a nightmare for static and collects all the dust in the local area! I don't want my customers constantly having to dust their pictures.

You may occasionally find a piece of bubble wrap in one of my parcels, but that will be recycled from a parcel I have received! Generally speaking I wrap my pictures in recycled brown paper which not only looks good, it is a tad greener than bubble wrap.

The boxes I use to send out framed prints are specially designed for keeping pictures safe and in all the time I have been doing this I have not yet had one picture frame broken in the post (touch wood!). 

If you order an unframed print I will usually mount it and put it into a plastic envelope with a backing board. Even if a picture is unframed it should look good and be well packaged! For larger unframed prints I wrap them in tissue paper and carefully roll them into a wide diameter poster tube. Why a large diameter tube? Well it means I don't have to roll the print so tightly and reduces the chance of creases.

​Hopefully that gives you a little insight into the care I take with all my pictures!

My favourite thing about Gillian Jones Designs is the design. It is, however, easy to get comfortable and just produce new designs which follow a particular style or theme (see the Union Flag designs!). I have therefore decided to shake things up a bit and give myself the challenge of coming up with a new design every day. This design will be based upon whatever has inspired me that day; whether it is a suggestion by one of my customers or something I have seen or done myself. If my children get involved in making suggestions you could be seeing some rather peculiar designs....

So, without further ado, here is the first design....Jenny Wren. Many of my customers are former Wrens and have been wonderfully supportive; so this is for you!

These daily designs are going to be limited in number but priced very reasonably. Jenny Wren is only £15 unframed! The print measures 24cm x 30cm which is a standard size so you can also buy your own frame easily if you won't want to splash out another £25 on one of mine.

I hope you enjoy these designs. Feel free to suggest ideas!

Unless the first time you have come across Gillian Jones Designs is in reading this blog you cannot have failed to notice that I am now a partner of the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity.

It is a brilliantly mutually beneficial relationship. I donate £3 from each navy themed print that I sell; donate the occasional print to be raffled or auctioned; and am designing an annual limited edition print from which 40% of the proceeds will go to the charity. In return they display my pictures whenever they have a stall at an event; are arranging an advert for me in Navy News; promote my pictures on social media; and allow me to use their logo.

I am very proud of my association with this charity and love that I can give a little bit to this fabulous organisation which works so hard to support sailors and their families.

In one of those moments of irony I have recently contacted a military charity which is supported by RNRMC to ask for some help! I use a wheelchair for any distances greater than about 10m or for any standing up that lasts longer than about 10 minutes. My wheelchair is fabulous on nice hard smooth surfaces but becomes an unwieldy monster the minute I leave the beaten track. My boys love being off the beaten track and I would dearly like to follow them. The solution (subject to a test drive) to my problem seems to be this...the Mountain Trike:

Unfortunately they cost rather a lot and having already bought a wheelchair this year the coffers are empty! Hence the request to the military charity. Watch this space.....

Since acquiring my awesome wheelchair I have been rediscovering my love of going to concerts, gigs, the theatre, etc. Imagine my excitement when I found out that if you are a wheelchair user you can often get a companion ticket for free. What fun. I can go out with a friend (or even my husband!) and we only pay for one ticket. Plus it means the poor sod who comes with me and has to push me up slopes or buy me a drink (carrying drinks when in a wheelchair is actually virtually impossible) or get my random medical equipment out of my backpack (chairbackpack?) is compensated in some way!

I was looking forward to entering this wonderful new world of discounted fun.

But......

Booking tickets! On my.... How can it be so tricky?!

Case Study Number 1 - Portsmouth Guildhall

I want to go and see the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at The Portsmouth Guildhall with my family plus a friend and her two kids. That means 3 adults and 4 kids. One of the adults just happens to be a wheelchair user. Now I can transfer out of my chair into a seat on the end of a row, but I prefer not to since my chair is pretty darn comfy. And I don't want to have to keep standing up to let other people in / out of the row. 

The only spaces where I can sit in my wheelchair at the event are on the right hand side of the stalls. This is fine. But, I can only have one seat next to me "for my companion". The other five people in the party will be several seats away. Good excuse to let my friend look after my kids for the evening, but not really the point! It seems there is a "disabled block of seats" (poor seats) that only those requiring accessible seating and their single companion can use. Brilliant. So if I wanted to go out with my family to any event at the Guildhall I would sit with my husband whilst my kids sat somewhere else? 

Case Study Number 2 - 02 Academy Bournemouth

I'd like to go an see the Barenaked Ladies (they are a band of fully clothed men) with a couple of friends. I could just buy three tickets but I prefer to check out the accessibility first and see if there are areas for wheelchair users so I can actually see what is going on rather than just look at people's backsides for the night. 

I e-mail the venue asking about accessibility and companion tickets and get a very polite reply asking for "proof of my disability". Hmm. Now I understand some people may take advantage of the free companion ticket thing, but should I really have to tell some random stranger why I need a wheelchair? 

Anyway, I send proof. And nothing. Several days pass. I send a follow up e-mail. Nothing. I shall have to phone. Sigh. Really can't be bothered with chasing this. I just buy three tickets online and be done with it. I shall wing it on the night.

So, what have I learnt in my joyous attempts to buy tickets. 

1) People with disabilities generally can't book things online. You have to phone and explain.

2) Everything takes longer. Rather than just bringing up the Ticketmaster app on my phone and spending money and I have to put aside an hour or so to research the venue, phone them up, explain my requirements, wait while "the computer says no", wait while they talk to their manager, wait for them to call me back, etc. etc.

3) With just a little bit of thought, things could be so much better. For example, "Hmm, I wonder if a wheelchair user might want to go to a concert with their family? We should make sure that is possible by allocating family seating in the accessible area." 

I mentioned my somewhat iffy health in a previous blog. It has been causing me problems for about 4 years now and has become a bit like a time consuming hobby I would really rather not have! I have misbehaving lungs that seem to spasm at the slightest insult from airborne allergens necessitating many 999 calls, nervous paramedics and speedy ambulance rides to resus. In a fairly new and odd development my symptoms seem to be multiplying and I can now add pain around my ribs, tremors, a misbehaving right leg, dizziness, feeling vague and overwhelming fatigue to my collection. Oh, and an inability to stand up without my brain seemingly wandering off. A bit like the pictures in Harry Potter where you can't expect the subjects to hang around all day.

It is all very peculiar and baffling but hopefully the medical profession (and my incessant Google searches) will work it out eventually. In the meantime I have taken matters into my own hands.

Problem: I can't walk very far without my lungs complaining, my legs turning to jelly and my head disappearing into the clouds.

Solution: An awesome wheelchair with orange spokes!

I spend quite a lot of my time feeling not all that peachy thanks to somewhat dodgy health. I have to pace myself and tailor what I do each day to how I feel and how much energy I have. Some days it is sitting on the sofa watching rubbish TV or retreating to bed. But on the days when I feel slightly better than that then I can rely on my brain to be able to be artistic. It mostly won't do the accounts, but that could have more to do with the fact that it is dull than anything else!

Today is very nearly a sofa day. In fact I'm typing this whilst sat on the sofa watching Octopussy! It'll take me a while to write and my ability to compose sentences might not be quite what it sometimes is. But I have managed to paint today. I've painted a monster. Literally.

I have also scanned Bluple (as I have just decided to name him), tidied up the scan in Photoshop, imported it into Illustrator and printed it out. And then framed it. All things I can do without too much brain input required and mostly from a seated position. Perfect.

I think I shall be painting more monsters and possibly starting a new line of prints. There seems to have been quite a positive response to Bluple on my Facebook page so maybe I'll even sell a few! And I feel great because I have achieved something without ending up exhausted or feeling worse than when I started. Plus son number 2 has been inspired to paint his own monster. A good result all round.

So, I've been having some thoughts today as I was bombarded by e-mails trying to tempt me with Black Friday deals. I've always known that marketing is my weak area. I love designing my pictures, talking to people about the design they want, coming up with new ideas, mucking about with my website, and so on. I'm not great at marketing / selling (and I hate doing the accounts!).

I can happily post stuff on Facebook and put pictures on Instagram, but that isn't quite the same as trawling round shops trying to get them to stock my pictures or talking people into buying pictures when I'm on a stall or coming up with exciting Black Friday deals. I guess it basically comes down to the fact that I really want people to want the picture they buy and not be drawn in by some fake deal or marketing ploy.

I posted on my Facebook page today that I would give 10% of all sales receipts from the next week to Asthma UK and Help for Heroes. This seemed like a good antidote to Black Friday, but even in doing that I thought perhaps people would think I was trying to use my support for these charities to sell pictures! And I really don't want people to think that but I guess some will. I genuinely do support these charities for reasons very close to my heart.

I am ex-military and know the great work done by Help for Heroes. Asthma UK supports people with asthma and is working hard trying to find new ways to lessen the impact of this disease. I have asthma and it has caused me a lot of grief. I have only had it for three years and I have lost count of the number of ambulances I have needed and the number of nights I have spent in hospital in that time. 

So, in the grand scheme of things, creating pictures seems pretty unimportant! Sure, it makes me some money which is nice and I enjoy it. I also hope that the people who buy my pictures get pleasure from them. I am not, however, going to hassle anyone into buying one! If you want a picture, my website is always open!