In one month, there were two deaths in our family; my father-in-law on 1st May and my mother on 16th May, both from terminal illness. The latter was a very abusive person behind closed doors, and trying to process everything I feel whilst having to take lead on arranging her funeral because my dad was in no fit state, has been harder than I ever expected.

I started out writing out the poem I wrote for the funeral, as it felt safer than unbottling feelings I'd hidden for my entire life.

Then surrounded it with black acrylic.

I couldn't decide where I wanted to go from there, until I picked up my soufflé pens and started to doodle.

The beauty with these pens is that you cant see what you are doing whilst you are using them, the colour develops over time.

I finished by writing on the acrylic just a portion of how I felt coming up with the poem.

Ive continue to use what I've dubbed my junk journal several times since, and it can feel cathartic to get the thoughts out of my head, even for a little while.