Genesis.

Why am I writing this blog, will anyone read it? Am I wasting my time? Well the first question is a simple one to answer, it’s a means of reflection for myself and my art and how I develop in the future as opposed to where I have been. Artists need their work written about and at this stage of my career I don’t have anyone willing to do that and so I will do it myself. Not only that it’s a really good means of reflecting about the creative process and articulate my ideas. That’s my personal reason or reasons for writing this blog but what’s the reason to read it? Well as you will see when I talk about how this all started and what I have done you’ll realize I have no formal background in art or education in it and I am very much feeling my way around in the dark. I am sure there will be peaks and troughs and discoveries along the way. This is the story of a middle aged man trying to re-invent himself and explore a new world and hopefully be successful at it. The second two questions will remain unanswered and only time will tell.

So how did I come to be an artist? Well quite honestly by accident. I don’t believe I was particularly artistic at school in fact my GCSE art grade was an E so not exactly setting the world alight. As a result of that and the fact I didn’t leave school with particularly high grades in general I left with a farewell and promptly forgot all about education joining the military. It happened trying to entertain my daughter 3 years ago. My eldest daughter had a friend round to play and my youngest daughter was bored, which led to the conversation all parents have at some point or other with their children and the words “I’m bored”. I suggested many solutions to this which were not popular until the idea of painting a picture was suggested. Having no paints in the house we trotted off to the local supermarket and bought a tin of cheap watercolor paints and returned home. It was at this point that my daughter dropped the bombshell that she wanted me to paint along with her. I thought “Oh no” this is going to be a disaster, having not done anything artistic since my rather uninspiring GCSE result some 24 years before I wasn’t hopeful. But like all good dads I didn’t want to let down my daughter and so we sat down together and painted. We painted a mountain in Wales, I had just been on a walking trip there with some friends.

Painting that picture I made a discovery, I loved every minute of it. Not only did I love the fact I was spending quality time with my daughter which of course I did and was so precious. But I loved the act of painting itself and creating something. Something inside me had been awoken and was buzzing. I knew then that I had to pursue this and do more of it. I’d always enjoyed looking at art in fact my favorite painting is Turners “Fighting Temeraire” and I have often sat in the national gallery just staring at it amazed by it as well as other pieces of work and thinking how wonderful it would be to be able to do something like that. Although much like many people I just appreciated the art and thought it was a good picture.

The picture I painted that day which I guess for me is genesis is ok, I wasn’t too sure myself but with encouragement from my wife I decided to explore this more. Since then I have pursued it with a passion, I firstly contacted an amazing artist who I am sure will not mind me name dropping in Emil Nikolla. He tutored me for half a dozen lessons or so and showed me so many new techniques and gave me a better understanding of everything and really helped me to grow and improve. From there I have completed a painting foundation with the open college of the arts and moved on to a degree. The art itself is evolving and I feel getting better all the time, I have been fortunate enough to have been commissioned to paint pieces from Landscapes and portraits and the most noteworthy commission being from 36 Engineer Regiment Royal Engineers. Who commissioned me to paint a piece celebrating their operational deployment to South Sudan in 2018 which now hangs above the fireplace in the officer’s mess. Getting this commission itself is a story of its own and I will write about that in future blogs. I have also been fortunate enough to have 4 paintings accepted into the Royal Engineers museum all of compositions linked to my military background. I have also sold a paintings the most recent 2, being shipped to California mainly through my Etsy shop www.etsy.com/uk/shop/memeryarts.

So it’s going well I would say and getting better, and this is my blog and how it goes from here starting with a brand new year in 2021.

Lastly why Genesis? Well I have named this post after that very first painting which i called Genesis as its where I started and you can see that painting on the image attached.

Remember you don't have to be great to start, but you do have to start to become great!- Zig Zigler