My Creative Path in Pictures (part II)

The gift from the financial crash:-

Fast forward to 2008 and as a consequence of the financial crash, I ended up studying as a mature student.  It’s a long and tedious story but it was necessary, I hated it and it cost me dearly, mentally and financially.  On the plus side I started drawing by hand again and won the end of year drawing prize two years running. 

(I also graduated with an Architectural Technicians Degree, with distinction but it didn’t mean as much to me as the drawing prize did!)

Hello England

I’ve been living in England now since 2010 and over the years, spurred on by a new found love of drawing, I tried, once again to study art in some form outside of my 9-5 job.

Turning my hand to Illustration, I’ve got a Diploma in Childrens Book Illustration, with distinction from the London Art College.

I took a Drawing and Painting Online course with Peter Stanyer which I can totally recommend.  I didn’t finish out this self-paced course but that wasn’t any fault of Peters and I still recommend his courses today.

But again and again, I just couldn’t settle – there was no fun for me in any of it. 

I found it frustrating, tedious and more like a chore than anything enjoyable – I felt like I’d done it all before, there was nothing out there that resonated with me until…

Fast Forward to 2018 and as a Happy Birthday gift to myself I signed up for an abstract painting weekend with Joe Daisy Studio in Mapledurham.  I procrastinated about signing up for so long and honestly, I only chose the abstract weekend as it was the only type of art I hadn’t tried my hand at; I really felt like I was running out of options.

That weekend was eye opening and in no small part down to the studio founder Caroline Hulse and that weekends tutor, Heather Miller.  I returned for several weekends over the next couple of years and learned so much. 

This is the first abstract painting I created on that weekend and although it might not look like it, it was a completely different feeling to anything I'd ever created before and I loved it; the not knowing what I was painting, the puzzle solving organic process and there being no right or wrong to worry about.

In 2019 I started working part-time so I could spend more time painting.

In those days, I called myself an abstract painter but during the time since, with countless hours of exploration and experimentation under my belt, I’m happiest when I’m painting expressively, finishing with just a hint of something recognizable to satisfy me and engage the viewer.

a selection of work from my Joe Daisy weekends - a little different to the previous images!

And Now:-

I’m a Hampshire based artist fortunate to live and work surrounded by beautiful countryside.  Nature in all its forms inspires me to create expressive, vibrant and colourful paintings.  I use layers of mixed media, painting subjects that uplift, using marks that make me happy. Still not knowing what I'm painting, still puzzle solving within an organic process and still not worrying about the right or the wrong of it...it's just paint after all!

The landscapes I paint are not of specific places but taken from a collection of memories, scenes and colours I’ve breathed in and stored, waiting for their time to come to life again in the paintings I create today.

I delight in flowers and foliage in all their colour in all seasons from fresh spring buds to the once beautiful blooms now shrivelled and crisp, ghosts of their former selves – to me they hold their own special beauty and charm with just a touch of melancholy.

I’m drawn to water, a stunning coastline, hidden waterfalls, tranquil lakes, chattering streams and eager springs the source of mighty rivers journeying to the sea – what tales they could tell.

Lessons Learned

* Creating from a place of happiness and expressing it through paint isn’t for everyone but it’s SO important to me.

* Joining the dots is easier in hindsight.

* The ship that sailed just wasn’t my ship.

* Horrible things happen but sometimes they happen for good reason – we just don’t always get to find out why.

I'm told this is a 3 minute read, so if you're reading this, thanks for taking the time to stick with it!

Next time...

I’ll be sharing a little about my commission process.