I live with my wonderful husband Kelvin, a Whippet and two very mischievous cats
in peaceful village just south of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Like most of Wales, the scenery is breathtaking and would inspire any artist.

Views from the top of Craig y Llyn which towers above our village.
Part of the village can just be seen on the far right of the photo.

I was born with a physical disability called Cerebral Palsy so I tend to spend a lot of time at home. Because of this, I felt the need to do something creative that I could do at my own leisurely pace.
In 2006 I began my search for art related hobbies and I came across the excellent animal pastel pencil work by Colin Bradley. After seeing his work, I decided to' give it a go'.

I purchased a tin of 12 Pastel pencils and some pastel paper and began to paint pets and wildlife. My first attempts, as you can imagine, were not very good at all, but if there is one thing I have learnt in life, that is not to give up!
I kept practicing and practicing, and with each painting I could see an improvement.

I think my artwork has made remarkable progress over the years, so much so, that one of my aviation painting of a Hawker Hurricane was chosen for the Faber Castell 250th Anniversary product Catalogue!

Being a self taught artist, I was eager to learn and improve my newfound skills and I began to purchase more art materials, numerous books and tutorial videos from various animal artists.
Two books in particular have been worth their weight in gold, 'Drawing from Line to Life' by the amazing graphite artist Mike Sibley and 'Animals that Touch the Heart' by the very talented pastel artist Lesley Harrison.
You will find many of these great artists in my links section as I feel that they rightly deserve credit for their work in helping people like me improve their own artistic talents.

I am an active member and Administrator of the Pet Portraits & Wildlife Art Forum which is owned by the very talented artists Melanie Phillips & Nick Beall. This forum has been a huge source of information and inspiration for me right from the beginning and I have made so many new friends in the process.

I am currently doing a Pet Portrait Diploma course with the London Art Collage which should take my art skills up to another level. I have also started to work in Graphite this year and I'd like to combine my interest for old churches, cathedrals and castles to produce detailed drawings.

 

Here is a video showing a selection of my artwork. I hope you enjoy the music too! Please feel free to leave any comments in my guestbook.