I started drawing and painting as soon as I was old enough to hold a pencil. My very first Christmas at primary school, I realised that my art was a little out of the ordinary when my excited teacher took me to show the Head Master a reindeer that I had painted. It may have been blue with three legs, but it was most clearly a reindeer. From then on, my pictures adorned the walls of school and family members.
Like most young girls, my early obsession was drawing horses. Cats were also one of my main subjects. I was given my first kitten when I was two years old and have seldom been without one since. During my teenage years, my attention turned to pop and film stars. I left school at 16 and supplemented by £25 a week Youth Training Scheme allowance by sketching my workmates’ heroes. I lost track how many times I drew David Bowie, Paul Weller and Marilyn Monroe, but surprisingly my best seller was the Pope in the year that he visited Britain.
When I was in my early 20s, I quit my job to attend a Foundation course in Art and Design at Chesterfield College of Technnology and Arts – this was a great year of experimentation. It was followed by two years of Doncaster College studying Graphic Design and Advertising. This wouldn’t have been my first choice, but when you quit a job, you have to take wherever will accept you. I graduated at the height of a recession and spent a year of doing the most dire jobs alternated with periods of redundancy.
In 1992, I then moved to Manchester with my partner in search of work, and as we did not know the area, we ended up buying a house on an estate where everyone turns out at weekends to watch cars burn. My partner would go to the gym most nights and I would be ‘under siege’ from gangs of children/youths bricking the windows and burning houses that had been left derelict by owners keen to flee despite the negative equity.
It is at this time that I began to paint what, for what of a better phrase, I called ‘Character Cats’. These were bright cheerful pictures of cats doing all kinds of everyday activities, and wearing detailed costume and as I painted, I often made up little stories about the characters. I admit they’re not to everyone’s taste but they gave me some escape from what was going on outside. Some of these paintings were accepted by Care2.com and are still available as E-cards today and this gave a big boost to my confidence.
My other weekly escape was on a Wednesday night, when come rain or shine, I would go to Salford Art Club. Being an artist is a solitary occupation, and it was great to be amongst like-minded people (even if most of them were pensioners) for at least a few hours. It also gave me my first experience of exhibiting.
By the mid-90s, everyone was getting on to the internet and in 1997, I set up my own website. I quickly began to attract pet portraits, especially from the States and Canada and made lots of new cat-loving friends.
In 2000, my cats and I moved to our own home on the other side of Manchester. My cats, especially my handsome tabby Samson, all modeled for me on a regular basis. As more and more people got onto the internet though, the pet portraits began to dry up. There were too many people out there willing to undercut me. It seems strange to me that we are willing to pay plumbers and electricians up to £80 a hour for their labour, but everybody expects an artist to work for next to nothing. It has taken a lifetime of commitment and practice to be able to paint as I do. I would love to be able to give up the day-job and paint full time, but it is not possible when so many people just expect me to give my art away for free, just because it is seen as an enjoyable activity.
In 2004, I was approached by a Canadian writer and asked if I would like to illustrate a children’s picture book. This had long been a dream of mine and I jumped at the opportunity. The publisher turned out to be a huge let-down to both of us and this led me to venture into self-publishing. But that is a story for another day!
A few years later, I began contributing my Character Cats to Greeting Card Universe and they have proved incredibly popular. I love that even 3 years after his death, Samson is still selling well for me, and my other cats also enjoy their small moments of fame.
I can’t honestly see a time in my life when I won’t paint and won’t surround myself with cats. To me, painting is as instinctive as breathing (that’s perhaps not a very good simile as I am asthmatic and breathing is occasionally anything other than easy, but you know what I mean!)
When a painting is going well, there is an adrenaline rush like no other. During the daytime, much of the time I am on auto-pilot, just waiting for the time when I can get home and paint again.
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