All posts tagged: painting

It’s been a few years…

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What has happened since 2020? That was the year the world stopped, and for me writing blog posts stopped entirely. My last post on this blog was back in 2020, the year I took myself from being a managed artists to an independent one. Following almost a decade of blogging my art journey, after initially setting up this page as part of a university project, I then an almost 3 year hiatus from writing. Why did I stop and what’s been happening since?? One reason I stopped writing blog posts was because of taking on the management side of my artwork and how it meant that I immediately wore every hat that the business entailed. I went from working with a large team, to deciding to work alone! I wasn’t just the painter and artist anymore, I was the admin, the technician, the graphic designer, the packer and shipper. The other reasons is the slow, painful death of blogging! It pained me to watch the social media landscape turn away from blogging, (and pained me …

Hunt Slonem – Art to make you happy

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The art of Hunt Slonem makes me happy. Hunt Slonem is an American Neo-Expressionist artist who is very much loved and celebrated for his distinct animal paintings, most famed for his bunny paintings in particular. I personally love his bird paintings. He finds inspiration from his many rescued exotic birds, over 60 which live in a beautiful large avery. With such a strong spiritual connection to his subjects, his paintings depict the auras of the animals he admires so much. As a child growing up in Hawaii his passion for exotic birds in particular deepened then during his time in Central America. Slonem has travelled the globe with much sensitivity to other cultures and the natural world around him. So much so, his paintings express an ongoing scene of constant stimulation from a world he so clearly admires for its beauty and energy. What strikes me the most about Slonem’s paintings is that they’re so beautifully unpretentious, naive at face value, but so intricately and diligently executed at a further glance. At first sight, the textures …

Creative block – When your art doesn’t look how you want it to!

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I love this topic. But I think there is another side to the conversation of creative blocks that doesn’t get mentioned. Maybe because it’s not about free creative expression and letting your brush work the canvas without a care or thought. Its logical. Its creation, but its not whimsical or freedom. I am talking about when your physical capabilities block the way you want your art to look. The subject of creative blocks and physical capabilities are intertwined but worlds apart. I don’t get creative blocks. I may have a day once in a blue moon where my paintings don’t come together as they usually would, or writing doesn’t flow out onto a keyboard like it often does. In fact I am so heavily flooded with ideas that I sometimes worry that I won’t have enough hours in my lifetime to create all the things I want to. I do understand creative blocks though, because I used to experience them in a way that symptomatically showed itself as frustration at life.  I know many people …

How I began selling my Art

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Selling artwork is not always an artist’s perogative. However not everyone has the luxury of creating for the joy. Of course that is where it has stemmed from for me, but in my early painting days getting the money for materials to work with was an important factor in actually being able to leisurely produce the work I was so inspired to do. I was working in a small coffee shop when I picked up on painting for the first time in years. University had left me a trembling mess of an artist, the soul crushing deadlines and inspiration stifling guidelines to follow for your work to be valid within the perimeters of that semester’s course had left me not wanting to even look at a paintbrush again. I loved working at the coffee shop and had the opportunity to talk to so many people on laid back shifts or quiet mornings. I had talked at length to a regular about art which left me wanting to use what little money I had left that …

New Release – Sea Life and Majestic Mammals

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I am so excited to be donating a percentage of profits from my new sea life themed release to the Marine Conservation Society. They work hard to protect our living seas and the wildlife in them by keeping shores clean of litter, tackling overfishing of important species and offering marine life animal adoption schemes. Keeping our oceans clean and healthy for the environment and its inhabitants is invaluable work. I love what they do to proudly protect our sea life and I am thrilled to be working with them. These 2 original paintings are particular favourites of mine, for reasons in that portraying sea life is a different challenge altogether. I had never painted turtles before working on these sea turtles which shows them swimming amongst a midst of intricate colours and textures. I had watched videos of these serene creatures on YouTube before deciding the way in which I wanted to depict them. When working on forming a mammal painting there is a logic to consider when building the subject. The light source will highlight features and …

Eye Like Gallery / Exhibition

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  Last weekend I had the privilege of exhibiting my work with the wonderful Eye Like Gallery in Beaconsfield. With a gallery full of my work exclusively, a mixture of limited edition prints and originals painted especially for the occasion adorned the walls in this beautiful space. The family run gallery  (the glamorous mother daughter duo Mollie and Saro above, along with Mollie’s father and their dog Brody) care deeply for their clients and the artwork they provide, basing the name ‘Eye Like’ on the way they only sell work that they love themselves. I was excited so attend this exhibition in the weeks leading towards it as I had admired Mollie’s innovative and witty take on their social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) and was keen to meet in person the passionate people behind the 2 year old gallery. I found that they exuberate passion and I couldn’t have felt more welcome. I found this family to be  a breath of fresh air in such a traditional field. The care and work they put in is blatant …

Laura Jones / Still Life Artist / Inspiration

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An artist I have admired for around 6 months via the stalking platform of Instagram, is Australian painter Laura Jones. I stumbled upon her Instagram page (@_laura_jones_ ) and immediately followed. With a meaty backlog of exhibitions, shows, awards and residencies her accomplishments have been as full as her engaging artwork. Although I love her whole back catalog of work including a portrait series titled ‘I woke up like this’ my favourite is her recent ‘Wildflower’ work which emphasises an expression of Australian identity. I find her work so warm and peaceful. The colour patterns are incredibly earthy while retaining the brightness of the flowers and vases. They are full and bold in application but soft by nature. I identify most to the tactful naivety of the brush strokes as well as the simplicity of the visuals. I very much hope to own one of these originals! This is the kind of artwork that I feel doesn’t need discussing at great length, it should be looked at and examine how you feel when you see it above dissecting …

Virtue – A painting ensouled

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It has so  far been rare that I connect to a painting that I produced quite as much as I did with Virtue: a light and ethereal take on a flock of doves. I enjoy working on every painting, some I would keep for myself and some I couldn’t wait to show the world and allow someone else to connect. Hoping for others to connect with your artwork is a pointless effort, it can only really be seen as you would like, if you paint with the intentions of making yourself feel a certain way. Only then, maybe someone else can channel into its meaning or create their own. I love this about art. Production based from feelings gives a timeless result to the artist. ‘Virtue’ came together incredibly fast for a painting of its vast size but tricky and slight proportions. It is often the case that when working so close to a large scale painting, you can become lost in the finer details, only to be surprised by what you produced when stepping away. It can …

Exhibiting at Robertson Fine Art Gallery

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In the heart of Edinburgh, in the wonderful Robertson Fine Art Gallery I had the privilege of exhibiting my new collection of oil paintings. I had been working on this group of paintings throughout early 2016 and became quickly engrossed in the collection as a whole. I tailed off into new sections, irrelevant subjects that still laced in throughout the main body of work and played around with more muted palettes and ideas alongside hugely embellished subjects . To see more of The 21 Grams Collection, see the work and read about its origin – click here. I was incredibly nervous to be showing this work. It had been months of dedication, hoping to put my best foot forward to prove to myself that I can challenge my own techniques and build on what I already know about painting to create the marks and flourishes that I needed. I taught myself new approaches through trial and error and got lost in a concept of building continuously until I had reached the desired effect. So much so, …

Frequently Asked Questions

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I get asked a lot of questions at exhibitions or through social media. Although I try to catch up on responding to comments, there is currently a lag. As a way of answering some of the very commonly asked questions regarding me and my work, I have compiled a list of FAQs to answer some! What materials do you use? I paint in oil paints. A few years ago I tried my hand at mixed media work, and have also dabbled with watercolours. Aside from my sketches (which are mostly charcoal or graphite) I work exclusively in oil paints. Oil paints are given a stigma for being difficult to use. Too thick, too hard to use, too long to dry… etc. This depends on how you paint and use your materials. For me, oil paints were the only option in moving forwards with my work, the traditional and classic tools for painting. (In my opinion) Because I had my heart set on painting with oils, I figured out how to make the material work for …