First ever blog - part 1
Helloooo! If you’re reading this, my very first blog post ever, then thank you very much indeed. This is part one – I started writing and realised it was a bit long so split it into two parts – might have to pare down a bit in future.
You are probably already either
1. Friend or family
2. following me on Instagram
3. both
so you’ll either know a little or a lot about me but even if you know a lot, you might not know how I came back to painting and creating my website so I thought I’d start with a bit of an introduction. I’m a bit nervous actually, now that I’m writing it which is weird because all the time I’ve been building my website (a long time) I’ve been really frustrated because I’ve had so many things I wanted to say in the blog and now my head feels like I pressed the Delete All button and emptied it of all content, except the spam, but here goes…
I’ve been drawing and painting all my life, encouraged by my lovely Mum, an art teacher and artist herself, and studied art at Oxford Polytechnic (as it was then known – we were referred to as the Heathens on the Hill) from 1986 to 1989. Yes, I’m quite old. I had completed my Foundation Course at Wimbledon School of Art the year before. My proudest moment at OxPoly was receiving a commendation from Albert Irvin OBE RA for a painting I entered into an Open Exhibition hosted by Oxford University. It was a large oil painting of the view across the allotments from my bedroom window. Oxford Union bought the painting for £120 which was the equivalent of a month’s rent, an enormous amount! Sadly, I don’t think I’ve even got a photo of it now.
I left the Poly with no clue how to make my way as an artist – my degree course didn’t address vulgar concerns like making a living – a familiar story in those days it seems and I found it excruciating discussing prices with anyone interested in buying my work (except my parents!). At first I embarked on a Government “Enterprise Allowance Scheme” which paid me £40 a week, moved to Brighton and rented a space in a disused factory as a studio – it was pretty lonely as I was the only occupant. There was no electricity or running water either so I was restricted to daylight hours and finding accessing water from a pipe under the floorboards! Unsurprisingly, the sale of only one painting and the romantic appeal of living the life of the starving artist did not last for long and I had to get a proper job – working as a Support Worker in a Children’s Home. This, at least, allowed me to continue being creative through art activities with the Young People but gradually I was doing less and less of my own work and losing inspiration and confidence in myself.
While occasionally picking up a paintbrush, sporadically sketching and making cards over the years, I gave up any hope I might have had to make a career out of being an artist.
I never completely stopped but painting became something to do on holiday and most of my art materials ,apart from a travel watercolour set, ended up packed away in the cellar.
In 2018, after many years of holidaying in Andalucia, southern Spain, my husband and I realised our dream of purchasing a house (ruin) in a lush green valley in the mountains of Almeria. Over a number of trips , inspired by the landscape, I painted a few watercolours I was quite pleased with and felt a bit of the old spark igniting. Then lockdown came and we couldn’t get out to Spain. So, in September 2020, several cancelled trips later, desperate to go somewhere and like everyone else, limited to the UK, we couldn’t find any accommodation available. Cornwall, Devon and Scotland were all booked up, so we finally ended booking a beautiful Airbnb on the Causeway Coast of Northern Ireland.
I couldn’t find my travel watercolours anywhere and realising I must have left them in Spain, I had the perfect excuse for a bit of retail therapy, bought myself a new Cotman watercolour set, a lovely new Seawhite sketchbook and a set of 4 travel brushes and set off for Coleraine.