Living in Cornwall it seems the only thing you can do here is either love the countryside and its enchantments or paint them.I do both now and am enjoying it immensly.
 

I am a self taught artist and love all things to do with pencils paints and generally 'getting my fingers dirty'.

I started my art journey when I was 7, I drew a cartoon character and showed it to my father to which he was amazed and told me I had traced it. Since then I have gone from doodling, to animal portraits,fantasy,pen and ink and now to oil and acrylic on canvas.

Having only received a normal state school education and doing only A level art at a time when art was graffiti and the music was punk or pop, I found all aspects of art fascinating. The mysteries of capturing a moment in time, the ability to present it on paper or canvas and to see how people received them always inspired me to do more with my work, the magic of shading and how it changed a particular piece always caught my eye the effects of light and dark especially when doing charcoal or pencil techniques gave me that tingling down the spine feeling when they worked so well.

Having joined the local art society at the age of 16 I was the youngest one there, the other members were retired folk who loved to try new things, although a large age gap I found people who could share with me a knowledge and love for something I also loved and friendships grew. It was here my art experience flourished and I acquired more working knowledge from weekly meetings than in all my A level experience! Here also I took part in my first exhibition and successfully sold 2 pieces of work. I concentrated on my drawings as I felt the most comfortable here,working with pencil and putty rubber always soothed me and made me happy, after showing my work to various show events, drawing for family, friends and selling the odd portrait, I finally was persuaded to try another media, so I decided to take the challenge and dipped my brush into oil on canvas,the immediate affect was, I loved it! One after another the canvases were filled with scenes of landscapes and seascapes, being of a place were 3 sides of the county is coastal I was very much influenced by it. I then decided to see what reaction other people would have to my paintings and started to show them in local shows to which I gained a lot of interest and some prizes to say the least,this inspired me also and by the prompting of family and friends I decided that the time was right for my art to be more than a hobby.

I still paint for the love of it, only now I can do it any time of the day without having to worry about it. But the magic of it will never wear off, only deepen as the more I explore myself in the paintings the more new things I discover about them and myself!

Currently i am setting up as a portrait artist, my medium is pencil as i have had 23 years experience using them. My portraits range from people, pets, fantasy, horses anything really that you want imortalized on your wall, i can even draw birds and a friends owl i have done.

Pencils are so versatile, from light to dark in a few strokes, the magic of what i am trying to capture begins to appear and before i know it take shape underneath my hand. Right now i am drawing in a more serious note capturing those faces you may find on your photo album of  tigger the loving cat you used to have or millie the collie picture which you adore as it looks so like her in a particular pose. Horse heads may pop up with their regal heads and their all knowing soft brown eyes staring right at you. I also wouldnt be surprised if a ferocious looking dragon appears taking a deep breath before a plume of flame is expeled from his maw.The magic of pencil so simple a medium is both seen and wondered at as those few strokes depict your animal hero or maybe even you! "Contrasts from light to dark and enabling that 3D affect always amazes me when i see it work so beautifully" Julia Trewin 2009

 

 
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