I paint and I teach people to draw and paint
My story
It took me a long time to give myself permission to connect properly to my artistic side, but it is who I am and I now help others to be free to connect too through teaching art. If I can give someone else a fraction of the solace I gain from my artistic endeavours I am happy. I know I have done that over the years to many people and it makes me proud.
My previous life was as a graphic designer which I loved until computers came along, yes I am that old. I had to change my way of working overnight from hands on rotring pens and scalpels to Quark Xpress and Photoshop. I had to get email, “Why do I need email? I’ve got a fax machine and a phone and stamps.” I asked my Mac supplier Jeremy, “You’ll see” he said. That was the mid 1980s. I remember my first Mac, scanner and printer cost me £10,000. My Apple Mac had 40mbs of Ram and 4mbs disk drive. It came with a 9in monitor, a few floppy disks and I could only use one program at a time because I didn’t have enough disk space to open more. I also remember the first brochure I created on it, it was all flowing text and weird colours, because I could, it was dreadful. Then the recession came and work for freelance designers was sparse as everyone thought they could do their own design now as they had PCs and Word. Suffice to say I hated it.
Many people went under, big advertsising agencies suffered hugely and some collapsed.
I survived because I spend money frugally and saved. But survive is the word I would use for the next 15 years until I simply couldn’t do it anymore. I hated not speaking to people face-to-face, I hated the fact everyone wanted work yesterday and for no money, graphic design used to be a craft highly regarded and now it was a hard fought inpersonal commodity.
In 2000 I met someone new who encouraged me to explore my own art. I came up with the phrase: “What would I do if I won the lottery or what would I regret if I died tomorrow?” – the answer was the same – I needed to pursue my own art before I died of creative boredom. I was lucky, I was emotionally and financially supported for the first time in my life and I completed my first degree, BA Hons Fine Art in 2005, then my MA Arts and Ecology in 2008. I started teaching workshops and discovered I loved it and knew more than I thought I did. I came alive.
I now paint, I sell, I teach others, I mentor artists. I actually have found I’m pretty good at it (excuse that boast).
YES! You can draw
I can help you be free to express yourself, to help release in you the stress you may feel in this busy life. I can help you discover a part of yourself that either you don’t know exists or you know is there but don’t know how to release it.
Art can do that. In fact it’s very good at it.
“Jane’s classes incorporate a well thought out progression of exercises that successfully encourage anyone with an interest in developing their own artistic potential.
Adults who haven’t drawn since school, to those more skilled artists, there is something for everyone here.
“This is no ‘one size fits all’ type of course, it is much more accomplished than that.
“I cannot recommend it highly enough”. LH