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Why I draw and paint daily

If I don’t draw and paint every day I don’t know when I will. I started trying to teach myself to draw and paint properly in 2011, but it was a side project to help fill the walls of my pottery studio. And over 2011 and 2012 I would fill quite a few sketchbooks, especially at the start of 2012, when we had another had our second child due, but my eldest was at preschool, so when we went out together I would take a sketchbook and practice and practice from life.

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My youngest was born in the summer of 2012 and I decided to professionalize my teaching skills, I had been teaching ceramics and that was the main earner but I wanted to get better at teaching. So I applied for a teaching qualification and got into the program and despite the fact I was teaching art at a sixth form I rarely picked up a brush, pen or pencil.

In fact between caring for my young family, and doing teaching prep and assignments for my university course, I was working in placement four days a week, and on the fifth day, I was at University in classes. I forgot how much I enjoyed it over that year and didn’t really pick up on drawing much at all till I had finished my Master’s degree which was a completely different course.

first three days of acrylic painting in 2016

By this time it was 2016 and four years had escaped me, and I knew I was probably going to have to find work so ceramics was out of the way of finding the calming influence of the flow state, where you forget everything else apart from what is in your hands with a narrow focus and the world is blinkered without care.

As a teenager, my dream had been to be an artist and create spaceships for Lucas film and with my pottery, I was also looking at doing sgraffito through layers of slip on my pottery and loved drawing boats and bins, so threw myself into practising those days by day.

I quickly found my pace and I got up at 5 am every day so I would have some alone time without the children to paint. I also found a day job working in a school so then I was term time and school time so then I was around with my children and I did that until getting furloughed in early 2020 and then never went back after my furlough ended.

I also really enjoy drawing and painting every day it is the highlight, of my day. For me the drawing is the more challenging stage, laying down watercolour I can reach the flow state where you forget everything around you, and honestly it is so relaxing.

I honestly wish that all I had to do day by day was to paint, just relaxed not worry about everything that needs to be done from marketing to trying to sell all the work I am producing on a day-by-day basis. Eventually, I will find a way to be prolific and sell enough to remove the stress of selling.

Another reason I draw every day is because it helps me improve, I am always trying to push what I can draw, the quality of the marks that I make, and most importantly whether I focus on ceramics or painting it helps improve my fine motor skills which because I am very dyspraxic and clumsy by nature, and had Occupational Therapy as a teenager where I worked on my gross motor skills and learnt to finally catch by sitting on a chair and through a can of deodorant hundreds of times till I could throw it and catch it without landing on my head.

There was also a void without painting in my life and I don’t want that void back again. I always felt like I was missing something, which is why I am currently working on a secret project, make sure you are on the mailing list to be one of the first to here about the project when it gets launched soon!

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Rainy Day Thoughts

Rainy Day Thoughts

It’s a cold wet Friday Bank Holiday in June, it is also the middle of half term for my children. A few years ago and it would have been my half term too. I would have had four weeks left till summer which was mainly spent cleaning the classrooms and workshops in the school I worked at so if there were visitors over the summer then the spaces would be tidy and safe.

I did that job for many years, there was a time and a season for everything. First term in the September was spent preparing all the projects and materials for the first three years of the high school, whilst they settled into the theory. The second term was a hectic one of ordering materials for GCSE and A-levels, helping them with their projects, it was all hands on deck and I ended up working a lot of Saturday mornings too to help them get through all the practical elements of their course. The Third term was exam prep for the A-levels and GCSEs so I had some support in the first three years of the high schools ages but with all the course work being finished my hectic schedule died down to getting everything neat and tidy.

But what does this have to do with art you may ask. Well I find working easier when I have the house alone, especially as it means I’m not always having to monitor my youngest who is type 1 diabetic but it means I can crank up the music, immerse myself in the noise and paint.

Painting of skippool Creek

But once the painting is finished , there is a flow of things, photography, editing in Photoshop, writing copy, copy and more copy and then sharing everything on social media and uploading it here to the website. I dreamt for years that I could get someone to do it for me, to get my work out into the world, as I am a quiet sort and don’t really enjoy drawing attention to myself.

What I mean to say is that I think I need to create a time and a season for marketing, for actually getting my work out into the world. To get more people seeing my work, as if they don’t see it they can’t know it exists, they can’t buy it.

On this rainy day all I the thoughts I can think is that my old way of trying to just use social media isn’t working out for me, I need to switch it up, I’m not doing this for fame or fortune, I am doing it as I enjoy it and each painting that I sell allows me to keep making, as painting can be expensive from frames, to paints and canvas, it all adds up. And the more I sell the more I can get my head down and just keep painting and drawing.

Painting of Blackpool's Giant Mirror Ball on the prom, against a background of a blue shed and plain timber foreground

So yes, if you are reading this please consider buying something from the shop, even if it is just a print.

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Blackpool Burger Bar

Blackpool Burger Bar


Burgers, Donuts, Fish and Chips

Blackpool is a hive of activity, selling food to holiday makers along the seafront is a lucrative business. every space is taken up between food and B&Bs and even entertainment.

Original A4 watercolour painting with drawing in ink and posca markers.

 

This screams Blackpool

  • Lots of buildings, huts
  • All serving food, sweet treats
  • Along the seafront
  • buy here

 

 

 

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Bispham Kitchen Fish and Chips

North Blackpool

  • Start of the illuminations
  • Plenty of people get food here
  • Before walking through the illuminations
  • Buy here

Bispham Kitchen Fish and Chips


The Start of the Illuminations

At the north end of the illuminations, plenty of people stop here grab fish and chips and then walk through the tableaux section of the illuminations or into town and then grab a tram back. It can be a nice way to spend a crisp autumn’s evening, and something I did a few times with friends as a teenager, in the dark of October.

A4 watercolour painting drawn with yellow posca marker and lamy safari fountain pen.

 

 

 

 

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Sketchbook Adventures The Stone Grill

Sketchbook Adventures The Stone Grill


More Blackpool architecture that overlooks the seafront.

I enjoy working quickly especially as this paper absorbs ink, especially if you hold the pen still even for a fraction of a second. It can be a fun challenge working fast enough whilst still retaining the readability of the sketch.

This drawing is of The Stone Grill, which overlooks the sea at the north end of Blackpool, away from the bright lights of Blackpool itself and much closer to the Norbreck Castle, which is unique in being nothing like a castle.

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Golden Mile Amusements

Golden Mile Amusements


A stones throw from Blackpool’s golden sands

The Golden Mile in Blackpool lies between the Pleasure Beach in the South with the South Pier past all the amusements, the Blackpool Tower and finishes at the North Pier. This stretch is Golden because it is where all the foot traffic is and you see crowds in the summer walking along the Golden Mile using businesses as they go.

It was the boom in the town that had my Grandad’s family of blacksmiths move to the coast from Myerscough. The promise of work and trade brought them to this area of the coast in the 19th century near what was the Blackpool Central station. The rest of that family moved to Fleetwood and they worked alongside the boat builders in Fleetwood.

 

Isn’t Blackpool Amusing

  • Seafront covered with entertainment
  • Interesting Architecture
  • Sea-life Centre
  • Click here to buy

 

 

 

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Pat’s 10p Bingo!

Golden Mile Attractions

  • Carousel
  • We’ve Got It
  • Central Market
  • Buy Here

Pat’s 10p Bingo!


We’ve Got it on the Golden Mile

I love how blocks of buildings can be so different in Blackpool, all built at different times to different specifications, and some going through a variety of transformations over the years. They don’t fit but that’s what adds to the charm for me. If everything was the same it would just be a massive boring block of Meh.

A3 watercolour drawing with Posca marker and Lamy Safari on white card

 

 

 

 

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Food 2 Go Fish and Chips

Something a bit different

Food 2 Go Fish and Chips


Fish and Chips on the Blackpool Seafront

I can’t personally recommend the fish and chips here as I have never eaten from this shop myself. The combination of buildings along the Blackpool Seafront are fascinating, so I wanted to just draw the buildings  and not worry about painting so I grabbed a sheet of kraft card and just drew it all.

The drawing is A3 on kraft card done initially with pencil for the basic forms and then working up the drawings in Posca Marker, for something a little bit different.

 

 

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Warhammer Store on Birley Street Blackpool

Birley Street Blackpool


Or here lies the local Warhammer Store

My dad is a wargame miniature enthusiast, when I was growing up he collected Napoleonic figures so as we were old enough he started playing Games Workshop games with us like Hero Quest and Space Crusade. I remember as a small child going to the closest Games Workshop which from where we lived was in Fleetwood was in Preston near the Harris Museum, and my brother bought the lead based figures of the Fellowship of the Ring from Lord of the Rings.

As a young child I remember at some point I got my hands on them and painted the boots bright orange, needless to say at some point the boots were painted brown but not by me. Later on the opened a Games Workshop in Birley Street, and I would go with my brother and friends to play various tabletop games.

So how does this story relate to the painting? Well this is a painting of Blackpool’s Warhammer shop on Birley Street. A4 in size painted with watercolour and drawn with a Lamy safari pen and Posca markers

Birley Street Blackpool

  • Top Spot for Nerds like me
  • Centre of Blackpool
  • Blackpool Warhammer Store
  • Available for sale if you contact me

 

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Robert’s Oyster Bar

A personal favourite

Robert’s Oyster Bar


Blackpool Sea Front

A personal favourite of mine that I have painted in 2021, I just loved the colours and the shapes of all the buildings and how they work together. Especially with the clouds they help pull it all together drawing you back towards the Oyster Bar.

A4 painting, done in my signature style with watercolour, ink and Posca markers

Robert’s Oyster Bar is in Central Blackpool near the Tower and the North Pier overlooking the promenade and the sea front.

Just don’t venture too far from cover with food or the seagulls will make sure that they get their fair share of your food.