My Change & Challenges
3/2/2019
Hi everyone, great to see you here!
For my second blog I thought I'd skip through my art from the last post onwards to my current artwork, then I can start putting up posts about what I'm working on now, how its going, what new materials I might have etc.
So after painting my daughters bedroom in Jungle Book, I didn't really get to do much art for a number of years, having a new baby and a marriage that broke down, my life was super busy!
I decided I needed a fresh start and moved in with a friend in East Yorkshire. I loved it! I had a huge garden for my little girl to run around in, and I could sit and draw in the garden on times when I had a little time to myself.
One day while my daughter was away, I spent the day by a beautiful lake while my now fiance was fishing.
I was already going through my illness by now so sitting in the sun by a lake in total peace was just perfect for me. I sat with just a small A4 sketchpad and drew the lake in pencil. At the time I thought it was awful and I actually put it somewhere safe for about 5 years, it was obviously a very safe place because I couldn't remember where it was!
Anyway I found the drawing and thought, well it's nothing spectacular but it was nowhere near as bad as I'd thought lol.
So I decided after that I'd maybe try and a do a little more art.
My daughter wanted some paintings for her walls in her bedroom, with her name on.
I chose cartoon characters that she loved and painted her two canvases with something a little special for her. All the yellow outlines on the pink Scooby painting is glow in the dark so her name glows up at night while she's in bed, then I went all out with batman and Scooby, again, all the yellow is glow in the dark, the moon, windows, everything. She loves them and even now as a teenager she still has the paintings safe in her room.
I then decided that I'd do a painting each year just before Christmas that we could put up as a little bit of fun. I did Garfield the first year, then Family Guy the second year. We put them up each year with our decorations. I actually didn't manage to do one for 2018 Christmas because I was busy doing 2 commissions for my best friend as a surprise. I was soooo nervous! I was terrified because I knew they were nowhere near as good as some of my professional artist acquaintances that I have spoken with. However, she absolutely loved them! to my relief.
I had started doing realistic drawings first in just graphite pencil to see how I'd do, and I was quite pleased with my work, but I could always find fault with them, until I drew my last horse in September 2018, I was so happy with him. I had done another private commission before I drew my horse which was for another best friend, he had just lost his cat after over 20 years of first taking him home and was heartbroken. I decided I draw a cat and then put the colours and markings on him just has his cat looked and then I'd write something sweet but fun on there that related to his cat and how he behaved.
He absolutely loves the painting and hangs it on his wall in his bedroom so it's the first thing he sees when he wakes up. It's a very rewarding thing to know I've made something so sad a little better for him.
That painting of Casper the cat is done on an A4 canvas in acrylic paints.
After doing Casper I decided that I was really going to try and start drawing realistic animal portraits of pets and wildlife and I would do them in Coloured pencils rather than graphite.
I was gifted with a box of 72 pencils for my birthday in December 2018 so decided I'd try my hand at a picture of a mother giraffe and her youngster. I had tried to do a Kingfisher in October with some nonamed coloured pencils but they were awful to use, very, very oily and just wouldn't mix together, that turned out awful, but I've still shared it with you.
Anyway, I completed the Giraffes and wasn't unhappy with the outcome, but wasn't thrilled either. It turned out better than I thought, but it wasn't anywhere near where I wanted it too be, so I decided that I would do as many drawings as often as I could to keep improving.
So from the giraffes on I've worked really hard to try and keep and improving my artwork. My aim is to become as good as I can get so I can do more commissions for people and bring some joy into peoples homes.
So keep following for new updates of new pieces that I'm doing.
Be Happy & Keep Creating
Hi everyone, great to see you here!
For my second blog I thought I'd skip through my art from the last post onwards to my current artwork, then I can start putting up posts about what I'm working on now, how its going, what new materials I might have etc.
So after painting my daughters bedroom in Jungle Book, I didn't really get to do much art for a number of years, having a new baby and a marriage that broke down, my life was super busy!
I decided I needed a fresh start and moved in with a friend in East Yorkshire. I loved it! I had a huge garden for my little girl to run around in, and I could sit and draw in the garden on times when I had a little time to myself.
One day while my daughter was away, I spent the day by a beautiful lake while my now fiance was fishing.
I was already going through my illness by now so sitting in the sun by a lake in total peace was just perfect for me. I sat with just a small A4 sketchpad and drew the lake in pencil. At the time I thought it was awful and I actually put it somewhere safe for about 5 years, it was obviously a very safe place because I couldn't remember where it was!
Anyway I found the drawing and thought, well it's nothing spectacular but it was nowhere near as bad as I'd thought lol.
So I decided after that I'd maybe try and a do a little more art.
My daughter wanted some paintings for her walls in her bedroom, with her name on.
I chose cartoon characters that she loved and painted her two canvases with something a little special for her. All the yellow outlines on the pink Scooby painting is glow in the dark so her name glows up at night while she's in bed, then I went all out with batman and Scooby, again, all the yellow is glow in the dark, the moon, windows, everything. She loves them and even now as a teenager she still has the paintings safe in her room.
I then decided that I'd do a painting each year just before Christmas that we could put up as a little bit of fun. I did Garfield the first year, then Family Guy the second year. We put them up each year with our decorations. I actually didn't manage to do one for 2018 Christmas because I was busy doing 2 commissions for my best friend as a surprise. I was soooo nervous! I was terrified because I knew they were nowhere near as good as some of my professional artist acquaintances that I have spoken with. However, she absolutely loved them! to my relief.
I had started doing realistic drawings first in just graphite pencil to see how I'd do, and I was quite pleased with my work, but I could always find fault with them, until I drew my last horse in September 2018, I was so happy with him. I had done another private commission before I drew my horse which was for another best friend, he had just lost his cat after over 20 years of first taking him home and was heartbroken. I decided I draw a cat and then put the colours and markings on him just has his cat looked and then I'd write something sweet but fun on there that related to his cat and how he behaved.
He absolutely loves the painting and hangs it on his wall in his bedroom so it's the first thing he sees when he wakes up. It's a very rewarding thing to know I've made something so sad a little better for him.
That painting of Casper the cat is done on an A4 canvas in acrylic paints.
After doing Casper I decided that I was really going to try and start drawing realistic animal portraits of pets and wildlife and I would do them in Coloured pencils rather than graphite.
I was gifted with a box of 72 pencils for my birthday in December 2018 so decided I'd try my hand at a picture of a mother giraffe and her youngster. I had tried to do a Kingfisher in October with some nonamed coloured pencils but they were awful to use, very, very oily and just wouldn't mix together, that turned out awful, but I've still shared it with you.
Anyway, I completed the Giraffes and wasn't unhappy with the outcome, but wasn't thrilled either. It turned out better than I thought, but it wasn't anywhere near where I wanted it too be, so I decided that I would do as many drawings as often as I could to keep improving.
So from the giraffes on I've worked really hard to try and keep and improving my artwork. My aim is to become as good as I can get so I can do more commissions for people and bring some joy into peoples homes.
So keep following for new updates of new pieces that I'm doing.
Be Happy & Keep Creating
