Slowing Down with Jasmine Dowling

I was inspired to see the launch of Jasmine Dowling’s new ‘Still Life’ collection of paintings and prints which had a huge emphasis on choosing to take the slower path. As a fan of all things slow, I invited Jasmine to answer a few questions on this new collection for us all.

‘Still Life: the art of slowing down’

What was the inspiration for this new series?

Quarantine was definitely a starting point for the collection. I work from home so being home a lot wasn’t the adjustment, it was the combination of the panic that I would have a lot of cancelled work and the elimination of boundaries between work life and home life. I felt like I was taking on as much as I could because I was firstly scared and secondly, felt I was at home anyway so why not just work night, day and weekend. I started having to become quite strict on myself to regain those boundaries and control for my physical and mental health, so I started taking up some slower hobbies like painting and writing sticky notes on my desktop that just reminded me to slow down.

How do you define slowing down personally?

Slowing down is being more intentional with how I am spending my time, giving myself and my work more time and space than what is the bare essential. An example would be my skincare – in reality my bare essentials are to cleanse, moisturise and apply SPF which could take a couple of minutes, but giving it just a little more time, consideration and care makes me feel a whole lot better.

When you're feeling overwhelmed, how do you reset?

If I am at home, I can do a few things. Going out for a walk always helps just divert some of that energy, I also love a midday shower because I feel like it resets me and I can’t be on my phone in there. Lastly going for a drive always helps me. It gets me out of my head and focusing on the world that is happening around me rather than the one in my mind. If I have the time I would pick a trip to the beach any day though.

Have you noticed any ways that slowing down has impacted or improved your work and business?

Of course the slower I take in projects and work on them the less income I have, but my mental state is a lot more positive and I feel a better connection with each of the projects.

Any advice for other creatives or businesses seeking to slow down and focus on their process more?

Think about the parts of your business that you enjoy the most and make more space and time for those. That might look like getting an online accounting platform so you spend less time doing bookkeeping and more time creating.

Congratulations! I see the series is sold out already. Any chance of more being made available?

The prints are all still available, however, I will be slowing down to create more originals in August.

(Sign me up!)

Thank you Jasmine x

View the collection here.