The History of (my) Art

I've always created art. My mother tells me I was drawing before I could walk. And all the way through my school years I drew and drew and drew.

However ...

As any artist will tell you, the true joy is in the act of creation. It's all about putting yourself - your interests, cares, passions, personality - onto a canvas or into the wood or marble. Art is an expression of self. And, unfortunately, my 'self' didn't like the sticky and hard-to-control texture of oil paints and oil painting was an exam requirement. So, while I did get a CSE Grade 1 (O level pass), I only managed a C grade at A level. I couldn't go to art school or university. So I went straight into full-time employment in a non-art related job.

Arty Farty me at 16 (1977)

But, now that I look back on it, I'm actually quite pleased with how things worked out. I still love art. But most of my friends who got the grades to go to art school ended up in jobs where the daily chore of creating products for others killed their passion and they stopped creating for fun. 

I simply carried on enjoying myself. 

That said, the pressures of the 40 hour working week and having a young family (and an attempted social life) took up much of the time I would have liked to devote to creativity - my art and my writing. And, as I landed a good deal and a big advance for my first book, writing took over my life for 15 years. I had very little spare time for art. But then the publishing industry changed. The advances vanished, the commissionng editors became hugely risk-averse and the whole industry became celeb obsessed. I had ten books in print but my agent was now finding it almost impossible to sell my books.

And so I have now returned to art and I'm absolutely loving it all over again. I never lost my passion and now I have the time to indulge it.

Expect lots more artwork in the months ahead. 

Meanwhile, here's a potted video history of my artistic life to date: