While attempting to have five minutes to myself and scrolling through social media, half heartedly looking at the posts while I kept an ear out for any squabbles amongst the children, something caught my eye, a post asking if anyone could create a birthday card for her dad, The Skipping Sikh. If you are unsure of who is, Rajinder Singh MBE has been inspiring young and old all over the world to stay fit and healthy under isolation, he has created fitness videos where he has skipped into the hearts of the nation, raising thousands of pounds for the NHS.
Obviously this would be an honour, not only because he had been such an inspiration to us all, but also because I felt a closer connection to him, being from the Sikh community. I made contact with his daughter Minreet and she quickly responded saying she would love for me to create a card for him. I was thrilled and also very nervous, I mean how do I congratulate him on all of his achievements through an image.
I have enjoyed making cards for family and friends, often drawing a quick image of them on the front to make it more personal to them, so having this opportunity allowed me to do something I really enjoyed doing.
Whilst I thought about the details, I started sketching out the Skipping Sikh, I had read that he had been gifted a skipping rope many years ago and I wanted to try an incorporate that into my drawing. I really to-ed and fro-ed about whether it was going to be good enough, with my family supporting me and encouraging me along the way.
You know how it is when we start doubting ourselves and our abilities and they just kind of spiral out of control. The human mind is flipping crazy, it just manifests simple thoughts into self doubt because I knew in my heart I wanted this to be perfect for a man that has simply encouraged the world to get moving again.
I finally got past that stage, and came up with a simple drawing of him skipping, it felt like that was his happy place and I tried to show this in my image of him.
The picture above is the completed card that I created for him, it is a simple but I felt that the essence of what he has encouraged the world to do in such an unprecedented time has been captured in the image.
In response to this, The Skipping Sikh sent me a video message thanking me for the card, I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to do this.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post, please get in touch, I would love to hear your thoughts on any of my posts.
Sonea X