Welcome!

I have done a lot of “firsts” already this year... well I guess part of it started at the end of last year, so 2023 doesn’t get ALL the credit.

In December 2022, I left my full-ish time job to pursue the dream of becoming a full-time artist. And honestly, I think I spent most of December in a panic about what I was going to do. Now that I have all of that out of my system, it’s time to start doing, and hopefully less panic. The way to master something is by doing it. You can’t just think about it, you actually have to Take The Time And Actually Do It. There is no magic switch, just time and putting in the effort to do.

Sometimes I think that the world is too full of montages and sped-up videos because now it seems everyone expects that they’re going to be able to do things perfect the first time, and in about 22 minutes.

I also sometimes have to remind myself that becoming better at a skill is kind of like a motorcycle ride: it’s about the ride, not the destination. Maybe I need to make myself a sign to remind my brain of that.

I’ve been toying around for far too long about creating painted Pet Portraits, but I couldn’t quite figure them out in my head. I started doing Digital Pet Portraits in 2021, and started actually promoting them at craft markets in 2022. I kept telling people that the real paintings are in the works, but not there yet.

It took me some time to figure it all out. I started creating some mixed media pieces, mostly abstract, using vintage images that I have the commercial licence to use. These are some of the same images that I use in the backgrounds of the Digital Portraits. I was absolutely 100% convinced that I HAD TO do the paintings EXACTLY like I do the digital pieces. Period. End of discussion.

So in reality, it’s become a bit of a hybrid. I use the method of the Digital portraits to establish my colours, vividness, and then use the vintage images as an inspiration rather than an obligation. I’m sure that as I create more, it will continue to evolve as well.

I’m going to be sharing my journey, my methods and my materials etc with this blog. I started doing a newsletter, and then realized I had more to say. Instead of barraging people with emails all the time, I’ll keep that to once and month and then keep up on the blog more frequently.

Thanks for reading.

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