Meet Jane Windle-Hartshorn
Before Immersion, I had spent around 25 years working in charity management, which was meaningful work, but over time I realised it wasn’t where my heart truly lay, and that feeling only grew stronger. During a period of caring for an ailing parent, I had space to think about what I really wanted. I found Bonnie Christine’s Immersion course, and I knew it was time to finally explore my long held dream of running my own art business.
I have always been creative but never given myself permission to pursue it seriously. Immersion was a bridge between creativity and career, an opportunity to learn how to turn my art into something purposeful and professional. I wanted to build a foundation, learn the tools, and understand how to create repeat patterns so I could start building a design business.
Imposter syndrome was my biggest hurdle. My creative practice felt rusty and my confidence was low. I worried that I wasn’t really “an artist” and that everyone else would be far more advanced. To prepare, I started sketching again, nothing perfect, just small pieces to rebuild a basic body of work and remind myself why I loved creating in the first place.
The course gave me the structure and belief I needed to move forward. I now confidently call myself an artist and feel proud to be developing an art business. I have a roadmap on how to do it, a website in progress, an Instagram page that’s growing, and a much clearer creative direction. Most of all, I no longer see this as a distant dream, but something I am actively doing.
The best part of the course was the community. The kindness, generosity, and encouragement from people was extraordinary. Even though it was all online, it never felt distant, everyone was so supportive and genuinely interested in each other’s progress. It was a safe, positive space that made me feel part of something bigger.
Learning Adobe Illustrator was huge for me. The confidence I gained in using Illustrator and understanding how to digitise my work is invaluable.
Since completing the course, I have built the foundations of my art business, drafted my website, have my first collection in progress, and my online presence established.
Next, I am focused on completing and launching ‘Mabel,’ my first full collection, and continuing to build my website. I am excited to see how people respond and to keep developing my style. Whilst it’s still early days until I launch, it feels like I am finally building something that really is so fulfilling, fun and most likely a very large part of who I am.
