Over on Instagram, I’ve joined some wonderful artists in a Christmas celebration and been drawing away some themes for the month, from puddings to pine trees. (Check out @the_portfolio_project).

Our last theme was polar bear, and I create this process video as a reminder to myself on my plans for next year… yes, there are the creative ones, family ones and health but also to tread a little lighter on the earth. There’s terrible politics at work, but I’m going to do my small bit to try and lower my own usage of our planet’s finite resources. Suggestions from coolantartica.com include:

It’s about cutting power use and consumption generally – not so simple in a world where consumption is often admired and sometimes envied and where power use can make life more convenient or more interesting.

As a rule of thumb though anything you can do to use less energy and buy locally produced items of quality rather than cheap and cheerful in quantity will help. There are many guides as to what to do, some very effective, others less so, the most effective are:

• Get a less polluting car and use it less often.


• Get more efficient refrigeration – fridges and freezers are on 24/7/365 and as a result use the most energy of any domestic appliance.


• Reduce the amount of heating your house or office needs, use insulation, stop draughts, turn the thermostat down 1 degree.

• Reduce water heating requirements, takes showers not baths, take normal showers, not power-showers, get a more efficient washing machine.


• Get low energy light bulbs and turn them off when not needed.

• Fly less or not at all.

So my big resolution for next year is to do my own small steps to do as much as I can above.

In the mean time, a big Merry Xmas from me – thank you for reading and supporting my work this year. I’m looking forward to a break now and starting the new year refreshed and ready for a big year of work and play. x