STRUGGLING to cope with the crippling isolation of lockdown, an aspiring illustrator living in South Oxfordshire decided to pour her energy into doodling every single day of the pandemic.

While the nation baked banana bread and binge-watched television, 40-year-old Rebecca Peberdy sketched daily, and posted her colourful work on Facebook with the hashtag #IsolationIllustration.

The mother-of-two from Abingdon embarked on the ambitious journey in March last year, with the initial plan to simply to keep her busy and distract her from the doom and gloom in the daily news cycle.

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But it wasn't long before she had accrued a small army of online fans, with requests coming in for handmade greeting cards.

Ms Peberdy’s colourful illustrations capture the big and small moments that made up life in 2020, from Captain Tom to the NHS clap.

She says the hobby helped her tackle ‘cabin fever’,

The 40-year-old, who has a background in Art Studies, said: “I found that taking a moment to do a little sketch regularly was a real saviour for my mental health, giving me a small window of total escapism.

“Some days I would know exactly what I wanted to draw – maybe inspired by the news or my own experiences that day, whilst other times it was just a case of putting a pen to paper and seeing what resulted.

“Some pictures looked better than others, but I always felt better for having just got creative and grabbed that little bit of ‘me’ time.”

In the run up to Christmas, Ms Peberdy decided to collate some of her best work in a photo book that she gifted to family and friends.

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Other people were also interested, so the artist had to contact the printers for more copies three times.

Speaking about the success of the book, she said: “A few passing comments from friends led me to offer the book to a wider audience and I was overwhelmed by the response that I got.

“My first print run sold out on the day of release and I ended up ordering another two print runs.

“I have sold more than 100 copies and currently have a waiting list for more orders.”

To follow Ms Peberdy’s work visit her Facebook page RJP Art.

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