I often get asked "How long have you been painting for"?, and the honest answer is, "all my life".
My journey with art started when I was 2.5 years old. I'd drawn a picture of an upright hoover, and it looked just like it, easily identifiable, I wish I still had that drawing or at least a photo of it. After drawing that, my mum was convinced there was true artistic talent there (this isn't something I actually believe in, more on that in another blog post). Needless to say, art was strongly encouraged by my mum. She was great at drawing too and had built a really lovely portfolio, but never wanted to pursue it as a career.
Me with my Grandad where I grew up
I always did well at art in School. I'm a strong believer that when you're doing something you enjoy, you tend to do it well. Since I spent so much spare time drawing, I became pretty decent at it. In high school when it came to picking my GCSE's, I of course picked Art, but I realised that I couldn't do Art and Typing class as they clashed on my timetable. Thinking with a practical hat on, I chose Typing and ditched Art (so silly...).
When I left high school I knew I wanted to do art, but because of the lack of an Art GCSE, I needed to start at the bottom rung of the ladder, so I signed up for an Intermediate GNVQ at Reading College. I hated it... I enjoyed the work, but didn't get on with the lecturers. They weren't inspiring, we (as students) felt like an inconvenience, they were all very young and fresh out of uni and I didn't get out of it what I had hoped for. At the end of that year, we moved from Southern England to West Wales and it was the best thing I could have done.
Above - life study in charcoal, around 1997
I enrolled in Pembrokeshire College for their Advanced GNVQ in Art & Design and absolutely thrived there. The lecturers were wonderful, each were excellent in their fields, and importantly, inspiring. I finished with a distinction and a place at a university to study Graphic Communication (Graphic Design). I should have followed my heart and applied for Illustration or Fine Art, but my lecturer strongly encouraged Graphic Design because of how restrained my work was.
Hazel & the baby - life study in charcoal, 1997
Uni was really hard. I was very homesick, I was struggling with ADHD symptoms (I didn't know it at the time) and we were guinea-pigs on a newly designed degree, that still needed a lot of work. I ended up leaving half way through my final year, that'll always be a sore point for me.
One of the freelance graphic design rebrands I did, around 2010
Freshly out of uni and with a boat load of student debt, I took the first job I could, working in life insurance. I'd spend the next 18 years working in different types of insurance, while still keeping up my art skills in my own time. Then in December 2020 I had the opportunity to go full time with art and follow my dreams, building the business from scratch.
It's safe to say that my art skills have developed the most in this past 5+ years, thanks to painting and drawing practically every day. I'm really excited to see what the future brings, and hoping that art remains at the heart of it.
Woodpecker & Shadows, 2026