The Process - Part 1

Small glass frame ready to paint

How I paint

Today I thought I’d share information about my painting process.

For my small glass pieces, I usually like to complete them in one sitting. There’s nothing I find more fulfilling than seeing a finished piece at the end of the day.

First off, I clean the glass with hot water from the kettle. I pour a tiny amount onto the glass and rub it with a clean cloth to get any dust and smudges out.

Once that’s done, I select the paints I want to use.

I usually have a three colour rule, I like to let the subject/composition speak for itself and not have too many colours fighting for attention. So I stick to three colours or tones, of course I sometimes break that rule if I want to go particularly colourful as with Raspberry Picking.

I then start to paint - I use a sketch I’ve previously drawn and/or pictures as reference. I find that if I spend too long on one painting, it will become “frozen”. I like to keep the marks loose and flowing, to give life and movement the painting. There is always that moment when I know I need to stop or I will add one mark to many and cross the line into “too much”. It’s hard to stop sometimes as I get caught up in adding more and more paint and have to step back to see if that line is about to get crossed.

So, I like loose, flowing paint marks; when I paint a subject, I don’t fill it in, rather I paint the main elements and the contour and leave a black background. This has great effect on the glass. The animal lives alone, preserved in the space. There is no background to distract from the main subject which is typically an animal, plant or mythical being.

Once I’ve finished the painting, I sign it and let it dry - I use acrylic paint which dries really quickly. I then closed the glass case, admire it and take pictures to add to my website. Then it’s time carefully wrap it and move on to the next piece!

Voila! :)

The small glass frame opens and I paint on the inside. I close and seal the glass when the paint is dry.

What inspires me - part 2 (a note on foxes)

You probably already noticed I have a thing for animals and plants. I’ve loved animals since I was a child (well, most children love animals don’t they?). I used to beg my parents for a dog (it was a hard no), but I did get a lot of goldfish and guinea pig. I collected posters, postcards and figurines of fluffy puppies, lions, cats, squirrels and more.

As I grew older, I still loved animals but not to the point of plastering my wall with pictures if them. Now, I enjoy painting them, especially foxes. They were a big revelation for me when I first moved to London; I had never heard of urban foxes and found out about them the hard way: by being woken up in the middle of the night by that horrible screeching sound they make. I had no idea what that sound was and briefly thought someone was being attacked and wondered whether I should call the police - not hearing anyone else disturbed by the sound made me realise I was overreacting. I asked my flatmates the next day if they’d heard it and they said “Oh yes, that’ll be the foxes”). Of couse. The foxes. Makes total sense.

I’ve since grown used to their sounds and frequently see them wondering the streets or setting up home in the neighbours’ gardens (or my garden - one of them chewed up my flatmate’s welly boot the other night) and I can’t help but be fascinated by how unafraid they are of humans. So yes, I’ve been painting a lot of foxes.

I love their luscious, bright orange coats and bushy tales. They look so mischievous yet so cute! It saddens me that the London ones often look unwell and basically live off bins and discarded chicken shop containers. Yet I admire the resourcefulness and resilience; they are truly remarkable creatures! Sorry for going all David Attenborough there but foxes really are fascinating creatures!

Any way thank you for reading my ramblings about animals; I will be talking about deer next!

PS: I try to keep these posts short and easy to read but you’re welcome to email or join my newsletter for more (and exclusive content!).

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What inspires me - part 1

“Bull in a China Shop” - Acrylic on museum grade glass and paper.

Prehistoric Cave Paintings

Hello again and thanks for joining me on my musings about art!

I studied Art History as part of my degree and loved learning about all the wonderful creations that came before me. The curriculum did not cover prehistoric art forms, it was only after I’d moved to London, when I started painting animals that I realised my style and use of colour has similarities to that of prehistoric cave paintings, specifically those found in Lascaux caves in France for example.

I decided to visit those caves on my next trip to France and went with a friend in 2016. The paintings are reproductions as the original caves are closed to visitors for conservation reasons. The reproductions are stunning and true to the originals; I absolutely loved seeing them and was blown away; these amazing paintings were done about 40,000 years ago (don’t quote me on this but I bought books on the subject afterwards) deep inside the caves, on very high walls that required scaffolding and lamps (they would have used oil lamps which can’t have provided much light and yet they managed to paint huge, intricate and symmetrical patterns).

I was amazing (and still am!) by how accurate the depictions were (the lines, the movement of the aurochs (prehistoric cattle now extinct), horses and deer. How lifelike they look and how they are painted to mirror each other across the walls. Some entire herds were painted galloping across an entire section - just stunning!

I’m fascinated by the fact that people were creating art so many years ago with limited materials (colours were mixed from charcoal, rocks and plants). I love that humans have always had the instinct and drive to create art.

That’s it for this blog post! I hope you enjoyed reading it and there is more to come in the “What Inspires Me” series!

The importance of painting for myself

I have been painting professionally for about five years now yet I still sometimes get anxious whenever I start a new piece or collection.

I worry about whether the artwork will be good enough; will it be to everyone’s taste? Is the theme/subject/choice of colour a good idea? Will it sell? Is it reflective of how people view me as an artist?

Green is my favourite colour so naturally I love using it when painting, but I worry about the urban legend that no one buys a green artwork. I refuse to let that kind of thing dictate my practice but there is always the element of doubt. I know second guessing myself is silly and I should direct my energies in other ways but it’s hard not worrying about such things when there’s a chance they might affect my business.

I am sure other artists have the same worries. In fact, I know they do. This is why being part of an artist community is so important - but I’ll right more about that another time!

I used to draw and paint just for the pure pleasure of it, when I was a child and later at university. As soon as I started painting with the aim of making it my business, I would be lying if I said it didn’t take some of the joy out of it. That’s why I periodically create paintings or drawings not for sale, that are just for me. There is less pressure when I know I don’t have to put that piece up for sale, that it doesn’t need to please anyone else but me.

That’s not say I don’t enjoy creating the paintings I intend to sell, I love all my works, it’s just that the ones I do for myself takes a little of the pressure off!

Why glass?

Hello and thank you for making it to my blog!

My goal with this blog is to give you a little more background information, through which I’m hoping you’ll gain deeper understanding and appreciation of my work.

Today I will talk about why and how I started using glass as my canvas.

I started painting on glass by chance mostly. When I was at Wimbledon Art Studios, a fellow artist was having a studio clear out. I purchased a few large sheets of perspex from her to experiment on.

As my style was quite sparse at the time (and still is), I thought my paintings would work well on a transparent surface. Thus started a series of trial and error. From perspex I moved on to glass and after discussing framing options with my framer, I decided to go for museum glass which is non reflective (so almost no reflections at all visible on the glass which makes it look like it’s barely there). I love the effect, my animals look like they are floating in mid-air, ethereal, in a world of their own.

Thus was born The Glass Menagerie, the title of the series just popped in my head and I knew I had to start this collection. I painted several animals on large panels of glass and had each of them custom framed. Each piece is painted across two or more layers of glass which are spaced out within the frame, giving the piece a 3D effect.

These are fairly large pieces; I’ve also created a series of much smaller paintings also on glass frames. I call this series The Mini Menagerie.

What I love most about glass is its smoothness, feeling the paintbrush slide across the surface is wonderful. I like painting in long, loose stokes so a smooth surface is key. Also, as mentioned, the style of my work lends itself beautifully to the transparent material.

The painted subject appears with no background so looks like it’s hovering on the glass.

In a nutshell that’s how the glass work started. Hope you enjoyed this blog post! I will aim to release a post once a month so stay tuned!