Although I have been painting and drawing from the earliest of ages, I was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia as an early teen. It was not until the age of 18 that my first ink doodle, in this style came into creation. I was sitting on a train in London, where I grew up, with a ballpoint pen and a scrap of paper, scribbling away, while in my own world and loved the shapes and images that came from it.
This creative obsession carried on from 2009 and I still love and enjoy making these doodles, never knowing what the outcome will be or what character or animal will appear in the lines. It gives me great pleasure, a sense of calm and meditation, which has helped me cope with the struggles and stresses I have had to overcome throughout life.
I have constantly had an internal battle with myself about whether my life’s journey or destination was to be an artist. I spent many years progressing my art and trying to stop myself doubting, with thoughts like “I will only make money when I’m dead, artist’s lives are usually miserable” but kept doodling while I continued a career in sales.
With age comes wisdom; and the realization that to run from my calling, my passion, my very purpose of being was not going to end well, and a life without art was not really a life at all.
So I returned my focus on the arts trying to figure out how to develop my skills as a self taught artist and turn my style into something larger, better and more intriguing.
Luckily the pandemic has forced me to focus more on my paintings and this developed and turned into the larger paintings of my collection.v