Meet Frances Poff
A couple of years ago at the age of 56 I found myself starting to worry about what would happen once I retired as I had not real 'plan' up to that point and I really wanted to be able to do something that would bring in just a little extra money to supplement our superannuation fund and our savings. I came across Bonnie's Skillshare classes when I was looking into learning Adobe Illustrator - and many people may relate to this but I had no idea that such a things as 'surface pattern design' existed until that moment.
I watched all her classes and tried to put into practice what I was learning, I was an absolute beginner to Illustrator and learnt a lot - Bonnie was such a great teacher, explained everything so clearly. I was curious enough to check out her website and read about the Immersion course which was due to run early in 2021. I joined Flourish as well, and tried to consistently create art - 'one thing a day' become my mantra!
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm no Michelangelo, but as Bonnie scanned in and vectorized leaves and ferns I found myself thinking I could definitely do that and that gave me the confidence to enroll for the Immersion 2021 course. It was a financial commitment for me but I discussed it with my husband and he was really supportive of me doing this, and I'm so glad I did it as I learnt so much over the course of the 8 weeks.
There was so much new information to take in, but it was great to be able to replay the lessons as many times as needed, and during the past year I have replayed lessons when I needed a refresh on some aspect or other.
I think the best thing I gained from attending this course was to believe in myself and have confidence in my abilities. I grew up in an era when you weren't encouraged to be proud of your achievements so this is a major attitude change for me.
One major win for me last year was that I entered some designs in a competition in August 2021 which I won! Even though I only came across the submission form three days before it closed, I remembered the lessons on portfolios and how to put them together in a cohesive manner - I really believe this is what made my entry stand out from the other entries. Now I have my pillow designs available through that company, and part of the prize was also a feature in one of the major Home and Garden magazines - I'm anxiously awaiting to see my story in print!
I would encourage anyone who is interested in this subject to join the Immersion course, the community is amazing and supportive, always ready to answer your queries and gently steer you in the right direction. There is so much to learn from everyone's experience; this year I'm working on setting goals and breaking them down into manageable tasks - I've just finished my website and am now starting to work on some new collections. And if you really love something, you'll always make the time for it - I have a full time job and a family, but I still get my 'one thing a day' done :)
