Becoming an artist has been a fascinating and eye-opening journey for me and in this blog I plan to explain how I went from being a polished and lipsticked wannabe yummy-mummy to a focused and scruffy overall-wearing painter.
I have always enjoyed drawing, initially because I was a 60’s/70’s child and there was literally nothing else to do!
My mum would go to the hairdressers every friday to get her hair set for a sociable weekend and I would always take paper and pencils to relieve the boredom. “What shall I draw now Mum?” would be my constant question and she would come up with challenge after challenge, ‘An ostrich riding a camel’ or , ‘A tea party in a zoo’ to keep me busy.
I don’t know if I was initially able to draw well but with so much boredom to relieve and no pressure to achieve, drawing just became second nature to me.
By the time I started school I was a confident sketcher although words and letters were far more of a challenge to me. I remember my mother putting one of my pictures up on the wall, I was immensely proud, she had never done this before.
It wasn’t until she gave it to me as an adult that I realised that in reality she probably put it on the wall because it was funny! I’d drawn a caravan with some people around it entitled ‘The Gypsies’ but spelt it ‘The Tipsies’!
Anyway, regardless of why she put it on the wall, the seed had been sown! I liked having my work on the wall, it made me feel proud and gave me an identity for the first time, who am I? I’m the person that drew that picture that makes everybody smile!
Comments