She'd celebrated a milestone birthday and "I must have been feeling a little lost again," she mused.

"I needed a new point of focus. When you feel like things are changing and you're floundering or questioning where to from here and what do I want to create in my life from here? It provides me a meditative practice.

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Called Design a Day, Ali is aiming to create one artwork each day for a year, based on things she sees in the environment. She also writes a blog post, which she publishes online weekly.

"I write each day, recording things, which is as valuable as the artwork.

"I'm trying to create emotion or train of thought."

And while the project is an art practice where Ali gets to hone her skills, she said it isn't really about the artworks themselves.

"It's about understanding yourself and how you work. Everyday you learn something new about yourself.

"I like the feeling of chaos," she said.

"All creativity comes in the void of chaos. I have to create a focus to bring that into a way I can create with it or use it.

"One a day allows me to do that, without expectations of where those designs need to go.

"There might be change and chaos on the outside but I can find balance and a focus that gives me a sense of stability.

"As a creative it also gives me a sense of achievement."

Ali said the process also helps her work through the idea of being able to "let go" of her work.

"The hardest thing as an artist is to create a masterpiece every day. If you hold onto it, you lose the magic. That's the greatest lesson."

"I won't progress a lot of these works.

"They will stay at this stage and I will work up a couple that intrigue me a bit or create a different story around them into bigger picture thoughts.

"It's just the process of playing, and I rarely get to do that - look at the world with childlike wonder."

She is enjoying the chance to explore her creativity and said it is a fantastic way to watch patterns, not only in her art but within herself and the world around her.

"It's from the things I experience each day. I walk every day and there are things I find along the way.

"It's about noticing. Things that inspire me or things of beauty and also things that make me unhappy or don't go to plan and not to place too much focus on them.

"Some days it comes easy, some days I can do three or four. Or there can be silent critics that tell me it's awful and I don't want to post one of them.

"Part of the practice is dealing with that and thinking this is where I'm at for today and that's okay.

"Those emotions change what we do in life. Emotions can stop us from doing things."

Ali hasn't restricted herself to working in a certain style, giving herself the freedom to play and create interest, and to make spontaneous changes.

"Some weeks will be really difficult to use any colour, sometimes I'll try to put colour and it doesn't feel right, and then use pink and orange the next day."

Another thing she's really enjoyed is having people interact with her on social media.

"I'm really interested in why people like the patterns."

This isn't the first time the print maker has undertaken a yearly project.

Her first foray came during 2015 and 2016 when she did a similar project called Collaborate 365, although at the time she wasn't working full-time, which she is now.

She started this project not long after returning in May from a solo trip to Japan.

"I arrived home before the ship was in Japan carrying all the COVID cases.

"Because I did that pilgrimage on my own, it gave me time to think about life."

Her first Design a Day was posted on May 26.

She said she's being less strict with herself than she was with Collaborate 365.

"While I was really strict with myself for Collaborate 365 kind of gone work/life balance is out of balance. Need a day of rest and pick it up the next day.

If 365 days takes me more than a year I'm not beating myself up. It's a nicer place to be.

Instead of working on her project in her studio, which takes her away from her family, she uses the Procreate app on her iPad to draw.

"I can be in the same space as the family and still working. Some works take hours and some are much shorter."

You can find Ali's blog at www.collaborate365.wordpress.com or follow the daily process on Instagram @ali.haigh