Christmas day 2020 was not full of cheer as, in the depths of winter and facing symptoms of CPTSD and long-standing sarcoidosis. I drew one plant growing each day, sometimes several times a day. The process of drawing - pencil lines on paper - became much more than sketching. It was a ritual that helped me keep going. Too early to see the plant as a symbol of hope and the drawings as a future artistic resource, I was simply driven to draw. This blue, bronze and lilac piece resulted over two years later. I had started to gain digital art skills and was building back a sense of identity and an acceptance of my long-term ill-health and different capacity/energy levels. The work took on a candle-like look. Perhaps this symbolised the hope for renewal and the satisfaction felt from creating bold fresh art out of the rough little sketches made in those dark days.