An Artist

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Celtic Cat

I must have been about five when I realised I wanted to do art. I would make patterns on graph paper, draw and doodle and sketch. I know my mother started to collect some of my drawings. As I got older I put them on my walls. I even strung them across my bedroom held on by pegs because I didn’t have enough wall space.

When I was in my teens one of my paintings was sent to our twin town in Germany to be exhibited. My headmistress was given a drawing I did of my fellow pupils as a leaving present and I knew I wanted to be an artist as I told my careers teacher, not a nurse as she tried to persuade me. On to Art school to do a degree, and even 40 years later an MA in illustration. Now. I’m struggling. But iooking at different methods and skills. I’m not giving up!

Can you see the wire cat?

It’s a wire cat my friend made, she’s done fairys and birds and squirrels. But now she’s gone onto making cats. I really like this, it’s about 12 inches tall and 9 inches wide. I’ve got it on my windowsill along with a collection of ornaments and a couple of plants (which I keep forgetting to water). I think its well modelled and quite cute. She certainly put a lot of work into it.

Playing with scraper board art

It’s hard to get a good photo when the surface of the underlying scraped board is so reflective.  I’ve been playing with scraper board art, in the 1st and 2nd pictures the holographic surface changed colour due to the angle of the light hitting it. The image is based on a photo of my cat. The 3rd and 4th are a copper colour, the horse was made up from my imagination. The underlying board was metallic not holographic but still changed colour based on the angle of incidence of the light.

Cat

Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?

Ultimately I’d be a cat because I know them the best. I might have chosen tortoises, goldfish and stick insects, all animals I had as a child. But cars have been with me in one way or another for over 40 years (not the same one obviously).

Cats are loving, so am I,

Cats love sleeping, me too

Cats like playing, yeah to some extent

Cats like eating, no argument there….

Cats are graceful, well I can’t compete with them!

My three cats

What are three objects you couldn’t live without?

My three cats keep me calm. I took my blood pressure today and it was considerably lower when the cat came and sat on my knee.

Each one has a different purrsonality. Calm and relaxed, cheeky and quick to pounce, one that would trip me up if he got the chance. They love being close to me and they are a comfort during some difficult times.

In fact I think they have helped me keep my sanity over the last few months. Keeping them fed and watered, giving them love and attention. I need the love they give back. X

WIP, Cat on a bookcase.

Resting on my chair that I use as an easle, a seascape in the background and then a small cat painting I’m fighting with. Either the cats head is too large or the leg and body are too small.

I’m not sure about the book sizes, they might be too small too. Sorry its dark, I need a photo in daylight. The chair it is on is cluttered with mugs, the TV remotes are there too. I need to get them out of the way, will probably continue tomorrow.

I’m so tired it’s just taken me 3 attempts to type in the tags for this post before I managed to save them. I keep nodding off!