ART to BRIGHTEN EVERY DAY
Expressive floral art made with imagination, colour, energy and joy
ABOUT ME, MY ART... AND YOU
Hello! I’m so grateful to you for visiting my world! You're very important to me and I hope you'll read to the end to find out why!
My art
I create intuitive art that’s uplifting, with a child-like spirit, full of life, warmth, expression and colour. I make art to brighten every day.
My inspiration
Though my work doesn’t often aim to be realistic as I love to work from my imagination and the memory of how things look, whatever I create is always in some way inspired by nature, whether that’s flowers, countryside, birds, animals, or little creatures that crawl or fly. I see the world through my connection with nature.
As a kid, growing up in rural North Yorkshire, I loved the details of the hedgerows, studied the wild flowers, learned all the names, enjoyed them all and gave them a special place in my heart. I'm now back living in the village I grew up in, and I see the same hedgerows again every day, with the same wild flowers still appearing every season as they always did. It's amazing really, how certain things can stay the same for decades when so much in life keeps changing so fast.
Special people in my family play a part in my inspiration too. They're not here any more, but their positive influence on my life is permanent and the encouragement they so freely gave in all that I did has been the most valuable gift I could ever have received in life.
I drew a lot as a child. I can see myself, about age 5, in the kitchen with my mum. I’m wearing my fave stripy jumper she'd knitted for me out of some random supply of wool, with a pencil in my hand, at the kitchen table, piece of paper in front of me. I remember asking, probably too many times(!), 'What shall I draw?'
It's funny that that childhood memory for a long time suggested to me that I didn't have much imagination, but as I've grown older, I've been more and more attracted to drawing directly on what was in my head, or heart, or soul. Which means that I really am 'drawing' straight from my imagination, memory and instinct!
So my connection with my childhood – everything I absorbed as a kid, the physical detail and the strong personal influences of those special people who loved me then, including my Austrian mother with endless fairy tales to tell – will always underpin what I create and how I feel about it. This, and all that I've learned from a lifetime of making art, filters into everything I do.
My creative process
I work organically, drawing freehand, choosing the colours instinctively and working fast to ensure the final piece is filled with energy and "joie de vivre"! I rarely plan what I'm going to do. I just let the ideas flow.
My favourite thing is literally just picking up a pastel, or pen, or pencil, and starting to draw. Letting my heart or soul lead the way, taking the line or the colour to my brain which tells my hand what to do and how to do it. That's how I make art. And whatever I've picked up, the art will reveal itself, and the medium will determine the final results. This is why you’ll see distinct types of art from me, grouped in series, according to the medium I've used. Each different medium creates art with its own identity, though of course, it all comes from the same place inside me.
Then, the greatest thing is, when someone (you?) sees what I've created and loves it or is moved by it in some way. I see this as almost my creative process in reverse. The only difference is that your eyes replace my hand. Your eyes take the image back to your brain, which in turn shows it to your heart and/or your soul and that's where it makes the connection and gains real meaning to someone other than me.
At least, I like to think of it that way, although it would be just as amazing to me if I knew you liked my art because you'd been looking for a pretty picture to fill a space on your wall. Either way, both are beautiful ways to feel validated as an artist.
The results
Because my art is essentially coming directly from my heart or soul, in any case somewhere deep inside me, and because that place is always a happy place no matter what's going on at the surface, this means that my art always has a cheerful nature. It will always be warm, uplifting, often fun and sometimes very beautiful. And I hope that those attributes will be as important to you as they are to me. We all need warmth and light in our lives as a counterpoint to whatever troubles come along, and I hope that if you decide that you'd like to own something I've created, you will take a moment, often, to look at it and remember its purpose in life - to brighten every day.
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Well, if you've read this far, thankyou. It's been interesting to write down where I am and where I've come from, artistically. And of course, it's all wound up with where I've come from in my life, where I've ended up, and where I want to be.
And that's where you play a very important role. I really hope we can get to know each other. Thankyou again for being here.