Bear Hug: Free Art Print Download

A gift from me to you

Hello friends, a slightly different one from my usual Friday edition in order to offer you the first ever ‘Download of the Month’ art gift!

This is something I’m going to do on the last day of every month this year as an act of radical trust and open-handedness and an experiment in the gift economy, because I feel those are qualities I personally need to draw closer to at the moment and because these values describe the kind of world I’d like to see more of. I believe in keeping art accessible and want to do some of that here.

It’s a tricky time to be a freelance artist (with dependents) but the antidote to fear for me personally is always to banish it by choosing to be more trusting, trying to be more generous, trying to build more reciprocity with my ‘village’ and looking for mutually beneficial solutions. When I move into that trusting mode, my creativity always flows better, funnily enough. When I think about how to build that dynamic and community with others, I feel it starts with a gift.

January: Bear Hug

So here’s the first little gift, a print called ‘Bear Hug’ I created a few years ago, because it felt right for the season and the scene makes me feel warmer. The high resolution file can be found here. I’m keeping it simple by just using Dropbox until I learn a smarter way to automate things. You are welcome to take this completely for free and you won’t have to sign up to anything at all to do so. I won’t even know who has downloaded it, I am simply releasing it with a few short terms and conditions below. If you feel like engaging in a ‘pay what you wish’ system, you can send any contribution for my pencils and pink lady apple habit via PayPal: www.Paypal.me/LightontheSea

P.S. I love hearing your stories! If this gift leads to nice things, I’d love to hear about them and share them in this space. If you display this somewhere, by all means send pics!

The T’s & C’s

• This art is for personal use only and not for resale, licensing or any other type of commercial gain. Don’t try to use it to make money in any way, guys. I trust you but that’s not the point of the gift. (Although contact me for licensing any images for commercial use).

• Please do not edit this image in any way. I do not want things floating about with my name on that have been edited willy-nilly by other people and don’t represent my colour preferences, ideally.

• You CAN print this for home, print and give as gifts, print it on stuff just for you or for gifting like a card or a canvas or a cushion etc. You can even use it for things like birthday party invites and other personal special occasions. I’m also ok if you want to display it on your walls in an office, cafe, school, etc if it brings some joy. It will go as large as at least 40 x 40cm square. I would LOVE to see pictures of anywhere you choose to use it :)

• You may also use it digitally for personal use only: Profile pics, screen backgrounds etc are all fine. Again, not for commercial use so don’t use it for your business websites. Personal blogs should be ok-ish with credit. If you use online, a link back to my instagram or Substack would be delightful if you can.

That’s it, let’s see how this experiment goes!

Love, Gill

__________________

Some non-financial ways to support my art:

1. Subscribe to/share this newsletter! I’m hoping to do way more community stuff later in the year so would love to build a mailing list.

2. Leave comments here or on social media. I’m assuming those things feed the algorithm but honestly, it’s just nice to hear your thoughts and know you are reading. I love to hear your stories and to see what you’re making. Someone sent me a song they’d written with a similar title to this newsletter and it made my entire week!

3. Just enjoy it. Seriously, if that’s all that happens here, my work is done.