Painting, Punching and Positivity

There's so much to love about this life. It's beautiful and a blessing.

We can choose whether to let the worst of the world shape us or to seek out the best of it.

My choice is to find beauty and benefit in everything and revel in the simplicity and colour of things. And that is why you will find no negativity here.

Don't really know what this blog is going to be about other than my passion for painting, kickboxing and being a positive role model to my children.

#art #artist #painting #acrylicpainting #positivity #kickboxing

Kindness carries more clout

Sinking from my first ever exhibition in 2019 just before I painted over it in 2025

Painted over an old painting yesterday to make way for a new one and it got me reminiscing about my first exhibition.

It was such a high. I was invited to take part in a group exhibition as part of Cheltenham Open Studios in 2019. I was so up for it and sold an original within the first hour.

Was also when I first encountered a hint of local art snobbery.

I don't tend to dwell on the negative. It serves no purpose. But I do still remember how this passive-aggressive comment made me feel.

The flyer referred to had been designed without my input by someone else and those who weren't sculptors or photographers, including me, were all described as fine artists.

The person who felt compelled to take issue with that was someone who had put a lot of effort into amassing art qualifications themselves. Very impressive, if that's your thing.

I remember feeling put out and a bit deflated that a fellow artist would try to belittle a newbie's attempt to have a go. Everyone has to start somewhere after all.

Looking back now, I couldn't care less. They clearly had issues of their own and I was an easy target. You don't have to look very hard to find pretentious bigotry in the art world, there's plenty of it around. Not here though.

As the saying goes, in a world where you can be anything (fine art degree and letters after your name or not) be kind.

Like to think I'm a bit more supportive of people starting out. If there was something you had the desire, determination and passion to turn into your vocation, I would only wish you well. There would be no reason not to.

And maybe I'd also will you on to have the courage and confidence to stick to your own path, rather than follow someone else's antiquated idea of what that route should be.

I've been a professional artist for seven years this month. I've stuck with it and still have tons to learn. But I have always been happy to share the little I've figured out for myself so far, if at all helpful. To be as kind, approachable and encouraging as I can, particularly to younger artists who might be thinking about art as a future career.

A fundamental part of being an artist, particularly at the start of your journey, is making yourself vulnerable and laying yourself open to criticism. So we definitely don't need any help being hard on ourselves from those already embedded in the field. We've spent weeks, months, possibly years, doing nothing but.

Whereas kindness can carry such positive clout, can be the difference between someone quitting or feeling spurred on to continue. Or starting in the first place.

There's a new series of Landscape Artist of the Year starting this week and already the negative backlash on socials has begun.

If you didn't watch the latest series of Portrait Artist of the Year you won't know that the person who won it was not the artist the majority of viewers thought it should be and all hell broke loose on Insta and Facebook.

I saw some quite ruthless comments about the winning work by those frustrated by the judges' decision. People freely letting rip with their anger, some of it clearly aimed at being as hurtful as possible.

Really? What's to be gained by trying to crush someone for being brave, putting themselves out there, and achieving something you haven't?

Most of us are probably guilty at some time or other of blurting out something insensitive in the heat of the moment before taking into account the consequences. It's easily done, too easily on social media.

The winning style wasn't my taste either but it was different and fresh, and predictably won approval among the quarters that counted.

Critiquing art and responding to it can be important, enjoyable and enlightening. But belittling someone and their aspirations is different and says more about you than it does them.

Maybe take a deep breath, reflect on your own hopes and goals in life, and ask yourself the question what do I want the outcome to be of these words that I type? before you write them.

And then get back to trying to make your own dreams come true instead of potentially snuffing out someone else's.

Ghostbusting

This month I have concentrated on laying a ghost to rest, well, a couple actually.

My new painting Highway to Happy  (below) is a significant one in my art journey and worthy of a new blog post. Rightly or wrongly, I regarded it as a personal point of principle.

So the backdrop to it is many years ago, when I first started out as a professional artist, I had a go at this idea and it ended up in the bin. The only painting I have ever thrown away.

I left the idea alone to sit for ages. It kept goading me. And then I thought I was ready to have another go at it one evening recently. But by 1am I had painted over it in frustration. No doubt recounting the original experience and resolving that it would always remain my nemesis.

Then I stopped thinking I was on a war-waging mission, had a word with myself, and started enjoying the process instead. Me and my painting called a truce and decided to be friends.

Oh, and it sold within three hours of going online yesterday! This particular ghost is now nicely buried thankfully. Adore the therapy that a long, lonely walk in the woods can bring. This is my homage to that serenity. And it would seem I have found my true path to happiness in more ways than one.

Another thing haunting me as an artist that I thought it was time to revisit was the first sketch portrait I was commissioned to do back in 2020.

I'm a painter not a sketcher, so was rather taken aback when I was asked in lockdown to do a sketch portrait. But I took on the challenge and gave it my best shot at the time.

However, it has always bugged me that I could do better. Plus, I wanted to see how my skills had developed over time.

So, this is the 2024 version.

And this is the 2020 version for comparison.

I will be sending the updated version to the couple in the pencil sketch as a little thank-you for the faith they showed me so early on in my art career.

In the spirit of always growing and learning, I am about to embark on another fun week of sketching with ace artist Adebanji Alade, otherwise known as the Addictive Sketcher, over the Easter holidays, so I'm hoping my drawing skills will keep moving in a positive direction.

And, just for the record, I have this week been commissioned to do another sketch portrait. Gulp! Less scary than the first time, but still scary. What I'm finding is scary is good. Scary is where you grow and push yourself to new horizons.