ART IS HARD
No artwork brief, no client. Yikes! How do people do that? I needed someone to tell me what to produce! Having illustrated only for clients with specific needs, entering my first framed piece of art into a gallery show was terrifying! I sketched out the idea and showed it to the galley owner for approval—because I couldn’t possibly move on to final artwork without approval!—I was told, by a slightly amused owner, ‘Um, yeah…it doesn’t work like that.’
It took me a long time to actually start to get my creative juices flowing without any brief or deadline. Such a strange way to work! These days it’s no longer a problem and I regularly enter pieces into shows, and am hugely honoured to say that every-so-often, they sell! Happy dance.
After that first show, much of my work defintely had a children’s book illustratrative look to it. Since I’d been doing that for years, it made a lot of sense that that influence would occur. However, gradually my work became more abstract and less planned. Someone once described it as a stream of consciousness, and I would agree with that. Some of the marks I made got smaller and smaller, and the illustrations became very layered and seemed to take on a life of their own. I found it very easy—once I let go—to allow the pen, pencil or paint to make it’s own journey across the substrate.
My style has become much more loose and expressive. Making marks, experimenting, creating for the pure joy of it, and relishing the process.
