"In the early days of graduating, I set up a studio co-op with a couple of artists friends, ‘The Colour Factory Studios’, where we also had a little gallery/shop. I managed to make an income from this, selling designs through my agent and teaching at my local art college. This allowed me the time to build a body of paintings for my first solo exhibition, I then secured shows in a couple of London galleries. I honed my style by increasingly putting more time aside for painting, as they sold, I was able to adjust my income stream. It all sounds very straightforward putting it like this, but the reality at times was lots of uncertainty along the way, juggling all sorts of other little creative jobs in between to keep going. There are also the more mundane aspects of the business, admin, and tax, something we were not taught at art school for sure.

 

The Studios, which is now in its 27th year, now houses 6 artists, a gallery, and a teaching classroom. We have a full programme of art classes passing on our professional skills and encouraging others to get creative. I realise now I never actually wanted to leave art school so set up a version myself! I was also keen to build a creative business template that could inspire other graduating artists wishing to work together professionally and make art their career.

 

"I think through experimenting with a whole load of different art techniques and materials at Art School. I would call myself a mixed media artist today, a term I’m not sure I was aware of at art school. I specialised in printed textile design, but I flitted between the departments, eager to learn about traditional printmaking, etching, painting and design. And I use a combination of all these practices in my work now. I have developed many techniques over the years, not only from my Art School years but in my professional practice working for clients. Pushing the boundaries of art materials is interesting to me and learning how to control them to the best effect. I am never satisfied with just acrylics or oils I can’t help adding an extra layer of effect or texture with modelling paste, collage, inks, or printing. I believe in not limiting yourself to one medium. There is so much energy and interest in combining all these mediums and it’s a lot of fun finding out too! I’ve always loved artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and John Piper and have found them very inspirational. 

 

For an impatient painter like me, acrylics are a great medium, they allow me to experiment and achieve results quickly due to their fast-drying time. You can create so many incredible effects with them by simply playing around with water and drying times, layering them to create washes of colour or throwing them onto the canvas straight from the pot for a great effect!

 

"I am passionate about sharing my skills and communicating my love of art. I also get excited about the potential of the art materials themselves. I love helping people get over the fear of the blank canvas. It’s a case of breaking down the process of painting and showing easy steps. There’s also a pleasure to be had in squeezing paint from a tube and applying it to the canvas! 

 

I have always had a belief that creatives who share their ideas and inspirations gain more in the long run than those who fear others will come and steal their ideas. I get so much pleasure from seeing beginner artists learn how to do a particular technique and develop it in their own style. From my experience over the years if you have a strong enough identity yourself this can never really be replicated exactly and other artists who are true to themselves cannot help but make something in their own unique style. Whether or not we all started off with the same palette of colour, paper, and brushes, using the same techniques, we will all end up with something different and unique. 

 

As a professional working artist, I love to encourage a freedom of expression and share techniques with my students that they can adapt to their own style, I certainly don’t want to teach people the boring stuff about perspective and perfect ellipses not in the first instance anyway!