I have always loved to draw. As a child, every year in my Christmas letter to Santa, I asked for ‘felt tips and drawing paper’. I used to ask for a white horse every year too but I think that was pushing it a bit! I gradually moved from pencil and felt pens to paint and other mediums… it was a long process! I am self-taught and have a huge appreciation of art – many hours have been spent wandering around museums and art galleries and copying the characters from the Asterix book as a child. I think all of this, and a love of design, nature and architecture, fuelled my desire to create art of my own.
Original Art
I’ve produced a range of artwork, from small watercolours to big canvases in oils and acrylics. I love using mixed media too so some of my artwork combines paint and papers, aqua pencils and pen and acrylics, brush pens and ink pen, watercolours and ink pen. Many of my originals have sold, but I’ve kept a few as they have particular meaning to me. I’m always producing new work though and am happy to be approached for commissions. You can Message me through the Contact tab if you are interested in any of my artwork.
Prints
I always think prints are a great alternative if you can’t afford an original piece of artwork – there’s still that sense of originality, and you’re buying something that’s not being mass produced. When you’re buying a print of a painting, you also often see some of the colour changes and marks of the original, and get a sense of the texture of the original, which is something you don’t see as much with digital art. Not everything I produce is available as a print, and I tend to keep most of my print options on RedBubble. You can explore these in my RedBubble shop via the button below. I recommend going into the ‘Explore Designs’ option. You can then click on a piece of artwork you like the look of and see if it’s available as a print, and also see other items that design appears on.
Linocuts
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been experimenting with linocuts – boy, is it tricky, and can be pretty messy too! I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way but it’s definitely worth persevering with. After experimenting with different subject matters and sizes, I’ve fallen in love with using linocuts in mixed media work and have been focusing on my Icon Heads series. These are just a few of my icons – David Bowie, Robert Smith, Kate Bush, Frida Kahlo and Audrey Hepburn. These are available as Icon Head Gift Tags and are all hand-made and hand painted.
The two larger images of Frida are available as prints. Some of the Icon Heads are also available as stickers and fridge magnets in my RedBubble shop. I have yet to do a Leonard Cohen icon head, but he is available – head, torso and limbs. Please approach me via the Contact page if interested in any of my linocut arwork.
Available Artwork
These original pieces of art are still available through me. Many of them are also available in different formats via my RedBubble shop. The button below will take you there. If you’re interested in an original or a similar piece as a commission, please contact me through the Contact tab.
Journals
Around the time I started experimenting with linocut, I also started making junk journals. The ‘junk’ in Junk Journaling encourages you to use what you already have, although I have to confess to having bought quite a few bits too. However, I do also use my own artwork when making journals, and a mince pie box is never thrown away now! Charity and antique shops are also a really good source of old and unusual images and magazines.
The idea of making a book from scratch is something that has always really appealed to me. Initially, I made some journals for myself – my first was to provide a home for images and descriptions of some of the things I collect. I then made one for affirmations and quotes, and then one for all of my poems, which I hand-wrote on the blank pages. I then made them for gifts, and have now moved on to selling them and taking commissions. These can be topic themed, colour themed, crammed with images or mostly containing lined, plain or sketch paper, depending on what the customer wishes to use them for. They can be tiny (see pics), A5 size, or anything in between. Please contact me via the Contact page if you wish to commission a journal for yourself or as a gift. They are quite time-consuming to make as so much thought goes into every one, making each incredibly personal, so please give me two or three weeks’ notice on a commission.
