Thanks to a chance conversation with my coaching friend Sarah Veall, and an awesome teacher, Jo Esson of Lucky Lobster Art – I shall be forever grateful to you both! đ„° – it’s only been a few months and I have already sold several paintings and have been given my first commission đ
The big realisation for me is that painting is a great metaphor for dealing with life, the beliefs we hold about ourselves and discovering new strategies and techniques that help us develop as the awesome people we are.
This gallery is a snapshot of my newfound love of painting, reflections and realisations along my journey to becoming… The Accidental Artist.
(Note: All paintings are available for purchase except where indicated as “SOLD”)
“Believe in yourself and your abilities, because you ARE truly powerful when you put your mind to something. Be creative. Be expressive. Be adventurous. Be your own kind of awesome!”
This week, Iâm still playing around with the abstract⊠Not quite sure where the idea for this one came from, but itâs an interesting and pleasing form. One of the joys of painting is that not everything has to make sense (just look at Picasso and other...
I love the autumn. I love all seasons in their own right, but as a walker the autumn colours hold a special place for me. For this painting I wanted to combine the beautiful colours with wonderful woodland and play around with abstract and using pallet knives to lay...
Recently, I made an 89-year-old lady cry⊠đą I didnât mean to⊠Let me just step back a couple of weeks⊠Our friend Jill (the 89-year-old lady in question) had seen the painting I did of my sister's Westie, and asked if Iâd be willing to do a painting of her French...
After my summer hols, this weekâs painting is of my sisterâs Westie Jester, who passed away a few years ago. And as you may know, Iâm more of a fan of big dogs (Border Collies â€ïž eh Sarolta?! đ) though I love all animals and Jester was special. Those of you who are...
This week I'm back to painting animals. There's something about animals that resonates with me so much. I have painted fish in the past, but this is my first turtle. I have talked before about being outside of my comfort zone with painting, and how I have found it...
Sometimes its just doing something for the fun if it. That was this week when we were tasked with doing a self portrait in the style of Picasso đ± Not sure if it looks like me or more like Ned Flanders though đ€Šââïž So I sat with the idea. I broke it down to the stages I...
Indian ink is something Iâm still coming to terms with. While you can dilute it to get different shades across the greyscale, itâs permanent (so yes, be careful to not get it on your clothes or carpet!!) - Painting with acrylic is a lot more forgiving! When using...
Sometimes, life is just about having fun! This week was an interesting subject that took me straight back to my childhood⊠abstract and playing with tissue paper and paint! Over my journey so far, I have done a number of different flowers-in-a-vase paintings. This...
This week we are back to wildlife with a hare (though mine might be more Peter than Hartley!) We mixed building the base of the hare with tones of Indian Ink and then adding a light colour wash in acrylics, and then a loose background. It still amazes me what I can...
For this weeks painting, Iâm back to painting animals. This grey heron is a project I did for my sonâs 17th birthday. Grey herons have always had meaning for him and remind him of his Nana (my mum). He was delighted when he saw it for the first time, and I believe...
This week we looked at the inkwork of the incredibly talented Leonardo da Vinci, who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. Iâll be honest, this one made me uncomfortable. Iâve painted people before and Iâve used...
This week we studied Matisse. He was one of the few artists who created the very short âFauvismâ style of painting - strong colours over the accuracy of colour or shapes, so things were intentionally out of proportion. So it was back to using bold colours, thick...
Today Iâm back with the lessons. In this âtermâ we are studying the style of various famous artists, starting with Monet and a scene of a sailing boat on the sea. Monet was the leading French Impressionist landscape painter and characterised small, visible brush...
Woo hoo! Spring has definitely sprung, as my dad used to say! So, of course, this weekâs painting is focused on the summer! đ€Ł Sunflowers. They are incredibly satisfying to paint, especially when you take on an impressionist approach to the painting - which was the...
This week was about reduction⊠The challenge was to paint this dog using just indian ink. No paints, no colours, just greys and blacks by diluting the ink with water. Itâs interesting that when you remove choices, you can actually be more creative because you only...
Still sticking with the theme of nature, I decided to have a go at a seascape. Iâve not painted the sea before, and it was certainly different from painting the river in River Adventure or the stream in Cooling Off. What I hadnât truly appreciated until I was...
âOh no⊠a flower!â That was the first thought I had when I saw the topic for this weekâs painting. In my mind, painting flowers have not been my strong point. The only one I can honestly say Iâm comfortable with is the âWatering Can Flowersâ I did 5 weeks ago. The...
The painting this week is of a Puffin. I didnât really know much about puffins before this. I mean Iâd seen them in pictures but didnât really know much about them. Did you know that puffins spend as much time at sea as they do on land, can live up to 30 years in the...
Again, another "non-lesson" painting. This time, it was ALL about lack of detail and expression. This is completely different from what I'm used to (you only need to take a look at the other paintings I've done to see that I quite like detail!) When Sarolta and I...
This weekâs painting is another "non-lesson" painting. Last summer, Sarolta and I were walking in the Peak District, it was hot and humid (and the day the flying ants decided to come out!) We had been up to Kinder Scout, the tallest of the Peaks, and came down Jacobâs...
No lesson this week⊠but I did a painting anyway!! I wanted to do another canvas painting and chose to do a scene that played with light and silhouettes. Ever since I did my dog painting in black and greys Iâve wanted to extend that further using background light in...
The inspiration for this weekâs painting was looking at the style of Monet, Georgia O'Keffe and Van Gogh and their take on painting flowers. Iâve found that as I've progressed along my painting journey, I'm combining some more impressionist style with a certain amount...
This week we studied the style and techniques of Anne Marie Bone and applied them to an image of a bird in a tree at sunset. My first reaction when I saw our reference picture was âOh my God, trees again!" Every time I have a picture that needs trees, my initial...
For this weekâs painting, we combined styles, looking at abstract artist Barnett Newman and adopted a rigid and structured background, which is contrasted by the softness of the bee, while keeping the whole theme abstract. What I found most interesting with this...
This week was a complete change of focus. For the next few weeks, we are studying the styles of different artists and then creating our own pieces âin the style ofâŠâ This time we looked at working artist Anne Desmet, who is famous for line drawings in architecture...
This week I wanted to do something simple, colourful and relaxing and something which has meaning to me. Tuning into my heart centre and going with my intuition led to this piece⊠âFeeling Zenâ Sometimes the simplest things can be the most powerful. We have a tendency...
For my first painting back in the New Year I wanted to do something which reminded me of the warmer times which are coming and so Iâve done an abstract wildflower meadow. Iâve also let go of my usual detail and gone heavy with the texture (it will probably take a few...
This week, we are heading into the magical⊠It was all about creating something in the fantasy realm. Lovely if Ethereal Moon landscape or âWhen Worlds Collide?â đ€Ł Thatâs open to your interpretation! ⊠as is everything in life. We take the information around us in...
So I guess that this week it had to be a Christmas related one đ A well-fed Robin, sitting on a sturdy branch (well, it had to be sturdy!) - something most of us associate with Winter and Christmas. When preparing for a painting, I like to do a bit of research. When...
This week is a quick one⊠I love otters! Otters have always intrigued me with their quizzical nature, playfulness and the way they float on their backs with the young asleep on their tummy! Letâs face it, most animals play way more than we do. They donât drive to...
This week I decided to try my hand at something different. If youâve been following my journey you will know that Iâve been learning different techniques with paints and brushwork, as well as using photos and images as references. This week was about taking what I...
This weeks painting is a Red Squirrel. This is now becoming a process for me⊠Paint something, reflect on it and then post about it. Processes make things easier. Sometimes my posts are about different techniques. Sometimes my posts are about using the same techniques...
Meet the cat with attitude! This isn't the first time I've painted a cat, and it's not the first time I've used tones to create dimension in the painting. It's definitely the first time I've painted on black paper. One of the main things I'm loving about my painting...
Todayâs painting is a pop-art approach to the 50âs icon Marilyn Monroe. It's great to be able to express yourself in a completely different way. Not only with the style of acrylics but also using newspaper as the base to paint on (and boy, is it different from...
Todayâs painting is of a dog. Not hard to see the like this if you look carefully đ This is one of my go it alone paintings, where I decided to paint a different animal. I might well have reverted to my preferred style of dry painting layers, but this approach is...
Todayâs painting goes back to the great outdoors and fitting autumnal colours. Layered acrylics put on dry to give the subtle shifts in colour to give depth and then some light pen work on the house to suggest detail. This felt more comfortable and natural to me this...
Todayâs painting is an expression of a Canada Goose. I found myself falling into what is becoming a comfortable style for me - dry brushing to build layers of colour to create differences in skin and fur texture. That's something that we tend to do in life too. The...
How do you draw an elephant? One line at a time! Todayâs painting⊠African sunset, elephants, striking colours⊠whatâs not to love? This was my first elephant, and I love the way we reversed the image, with the background becoming the foreground within the elephant....
In todayâs painting, we are back to greys and tones using mixed media - charcoal over acrylic. I still find it amazing to create an image using limited resources, and yet still have a profound effect on the final painting. But then you don't need to use a full pallet...
Todayâs painting is slightly different. Itâs still following the theme of âIn The Wildâ but itâs one I did on my own for a special friend because she loves Robins. You see, last year, she was diagnosed with Myeloma, which is a cancer of the bone marrow. While there is...
This term of the painting lessons is all about âIn The Wildâ. For the first one, we had to work with layering light washes to create the mood of the painting and then used the power of silhouette to contrast the stag against the trees fading into the misty distance....
Can you help? This week Iâm looking for some help in naming Tiger. He has character. He has a personality. He deserves a name. One of the things I have learned through the last few months is that I have been putting part of my personality into my paintings. Some see...
This weeks painting is heading towards Impressionism. I was looking to reduce the detail Iâve used in previous paintings, whilst allowing the mind of the person viewing the painting to fill in the detail for themselves. This has been quite difficult for me to get my...
The painting lessons are on a break for a few weeks, so Iâve gone a bit âoff-pisteâ stretching my comfort zone again this week with a go-it-alone painting. Iâve always been fascinated with the pop art world of Andy Warhol, where artistic expression meets advertising...
Still on the theme of portraits, todayâs painting is of a young man smoking a pipe. This was also a study just using black and white acrylic paint and improving on techniques we have used in previous lessons. We learn and improve through a mixture of repetition and...
This weeks painting is my first portrait of a horse. Iâve always had a love for all animals, and my appreciation of their beauty has grown because of my painting journey. Iâm more aware of the details in their shapes and features than I used to be now that Iâm looking...
Todayâs painting is a study in tones using just 2 colours and a pen. Itâs interesting how your perspective changes when you only have limited resources to work. Pay more attention to the lighting, to the shade, to the textures, and you find workarounds to create an...
This week's painting is another portrait, this time in black, white and greys, focused on creating detail through the use of shadows of varying intensities. Every reference picture I have looked at before starting to paint has given me something to think about as the...
My second portrait was a study in the abstract, using darker colours to represent different levels of shadow. Â It's a great metaphor for life. Â Sometimes we look at things in a certain way... the way we are used to seeing them, the way we always have. Yet taking a...
Are you constantly looking to improve? We get better at things by practising, tweaking, improving every time we do something. This has been true of my painting journey since I started - the complete fear I felt initially, never having picked up a paintbrush (other...
Do you look at alternatives? As my father used to say âIf it ainât broke, donât fix it!â But there is another one âIf you always do what youâve always done, youâll always get what youâve always got!â Personal growth comes from expanding your comfort zone, so itâs very...
Ooooooh so MASSIVE resistance to putting this one up đ± Sometimes things donât go as we expect them to, our expectations of the outcome outweighing what we achieve. In everything, there is a lesson. I could have chosen not to post this painting, but it is also a part...
Are you getting in your own way of progress? When I started my painting journey, I had no confidence in my ability. At school, I had been told I would never be good at art, so I had never really tried to express my creativity in this way. Each week when we are...
If you've been following my painting journey, here is another one for you... What struck me with this one is the resistance I had to paint something I perceived as difficult... and what I let go of to give it a go anyway! We are often all too quick to dismiss...
Last week I shared my painting of a Swan, as an example that it is never too late to try something if you have the courage to give it a go. In a conversation today, I was reminded how vulnerability and being prepared to be vulnerable is actually a GOOD thing, as it...
I didn't do art at school... I never thought I was good enough. I've always been fascinated with different artists though, especially van Gogh, Monet, Picasso and Munch. I recently signed up for some online art classes and have thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The...
