As titles go this could be considered a bit naff. But think about it… here I am laying myself wide open on the page trying to think how to present my art and myself to you for the very first time… in words!
For those of us that draw, paint, sculpt, photograph…create, this is no mean task. We are image driven; we see therefore we create. Our senses are heightened by the visual process and urge us to translate this into the task of making art.
Many of us have no choice in this. It is a necessary part of our well-being, like eating, drinking, even breathing.
I have drawn for as long as I can remember. I never wanted to do anything else. At playschool I hogged the easel and jam jars of paint and at primary school my painting of dead flowers in a vase won first prize in the art competition despite disapproving looks from many parents.
Even at secondary school the art teacher’s comments about a blue sky that was too Wedgewood did not deter my fervour to paint, especially as I won another school art prize at the same time; nor did a poor A level result due to ‘lack of technical accuracy’ dampen my resolve to soldier on regardless.
A spell working at the local theatre drew me to the wonderful effects created by lighting and I took a side step and studied this field in higher education, eventually moving over to architectural lighting design for many years. Painting with light was a thrilling experience where the 3 dimensional took over my painting abilities in 2D.
But still I painted as if my life depended on it. I began to realise after a while that I was indeed suffering from some kind of addiction and that in times when painting was not possible for one reason or another I began to have serious withdrawal symptoms!
For the sake of my own health (and those around me) I took up my brush with renewed regularity and the rest, as they say is history. You will note of course that despite there being a few words here, I could not help but put in a few scribbles: thus is the way of the artist.
