Updated: Mar 17, 2018
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.
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.
Updated: Oct 1, 2023
The thing that scares me more than failing is never having tried and living with the regret that I wasn't brave enough to try.
So, with that in mind, I am about to embark on my first painting workshop in a pub.
I've mentored before and delivered workshops in schools, but I've never done something quite like this. But if you don't have a go, you'll never know. Well, that's what I keep telling myself!
So many people I meet say they aren't arty, but I have this theory that we all have it in us, it's just that some indulge their creativity, and practise it regularly, and some don't.
I like having fun with art and find it essential for channelling my thoughts and feelings, and I find it very satisfying helping others find their own art confidence so they can too.
Ever thought what might happen if you unleashed your inner artist for the evening? Just indulged yourself for a couple of hours, maybe with a glass of wine to help you relax, to see what happened, just for fun? Picking up a paintbrush and having a play around with paint without putting any pressure on yourself to come up with something presentable? You might be pleasantly surprised. And even if you weren't, so what?
My best advice to people who like to dabble, or who want to dabble but don't, is don't fret about the end result, just have a go and enjoy the process.
I'm no art teacher, but I am passionate and enthusiastic about what I do and can share an insight into how I create my pieces to help others feel comfortable enough to have a go too. I honestly think art is something available to everyone if they have an open mind, let go of any expectations and just go with it.
I can't, and wouldn't, promise that anyone will be going home from my workshop with a masterpiece, but I will endeavour to offer a positive experience and some helpful tips to take away.
I'll give step-by-step instructions for creating something along the lines of my popular angel painting Enough (above) We will paint, we will have plonk and we will see what emerges. But most of all we'll have fun!
This is my latest painting, Never Enough, which I created in under two hours to practise ahead of the workshop and to prove that it can be done in one sitting. She will be for sale after the event on October 11.
The original Enough took me a lot longer to come up with than two hours, but it can be done.
Click the link below if you fancy booking a spot. All art materials are provided and drinks can be purchased at the bar.