Who am I...............
Yip, that would be the most fear inducing, buttock clenching, hyperventilating and stressful question ever asked right? No? Just me then, OK. I'm not known for my introspective insights about myself, in fact I prefer to just stew on any that may inadvertently pop up until they go away, helpful right. I have yet to be able to nail down a normal artist biography, you know the one, what inspires me, my many artistic accomplishments etc. After 12 drafts I've officially given up, apparently me and serious statements don't go hand in hand. So I've decided to try and answer this question with whatever flows out of my abstract mind and in the interest of honesty just give it to you straight - bear with me, as already evidenced I tend to ramble.........
I'm the middle child of 3 girls (my poor mother), not sure this defines me all that much but it seemed relevant. I was born and raised in New Zealand (more about that beautiful country another time) where I cultivated this incredibly sexy (cough cough) accent I have before moving to London with my husband Waynne (Waynne the pain, went to Spain...... sorry, I can't help myself) in 1999. I am surrounded by the legendary "inner circle", a family cult made up of the nuttiest, most supportive and closest members of my life and my wonderful husband who has my back no matter what. I could wax lyrical for quite some time about the inner circle, suffice to say my husband thinks being a part of it would be akin to hell, but those of us in it wouldn't be anywhere else.
I have spent my whole life making a mess, I don't think I was ever going to be anything other than an abstract artist, I did consider vet training once until I realised just how many more years I'd have to spend at school! I started out drawing the coolest (yes I'm biased) monsters, with huge teeth and 12 arms - I was 8 come on, no judging. I moved on to rocks and nature for my school certificate - some of which are still displayed proudly in my house - before finally finding my niche in the totally abstract. Looking back at my early work (see for yourself below) I can almost see my desire to mix it up and start throwing paint- something I now excel in, yep, still making a mess!
Up until now I have only ever painted in my spare time, so let's face it some periods have been sorely creative free, adulting takes up soooo much time! Apparently I now have a better handle on this whole adulting lark (it's only taken 40+ years to figure out!) so my creative side has been let loose - what this really means is that I paint more canvases than I have wall space for! Just going to put a side note here, even though I am a spoilt brat and have hand-made art benches (cabinet making husbands are the best!) and commandeer the largest bedroom in the house for my studio, I am not the only one in this chaotic house that makes a mess, my darling husband is also a master mess maker with all things wood (more about him another day) and my dog no matter how hard I try, refuses to learn to wipe his feet! So I don't feel too bad about the orgy of colour that has taken over our life!
I've undoubtably gone off track here, moving on, let's head to education - I don't have any art based diploma to throw at you all, I've dabbled in short courses in subjects that interest me over the years and when I was 17 I did do a foundation year in art and design (I really wish I could remember it), basically this just means I'm self-taught, all my bad habits are my own and I have no idea (or inclination) how to change them - stuffs working for me right now, just gonna roll with it.
I'm pretty sure I haven't even remotely answered the question of "who am I" but delving into my other terrible traits (such as my total inability to do laundry - spoilt remember) will surely come in time. Every evening on our daily dog walk Waynne and I like to rant about our day and what’s annoyed us and then set the world to rights with all the things we should have said or done (yes, we like to pontificate), I hope you're all ready because I'm guessing I'll be sharing this with you lot too now - bet you can't wait, you lucky things you.
I'll try to update this blog regularly but here's the really important thing about me, I am the procrastinator from hell, if I can put something off until tomorrow there's a good chance I will - this terrible personality trait has been the bane of my life for a while now, I like to justify it by saying I work better under pressure and to a deadline (this is obviously absolute rubbish, no one LIKES pressure) - I will work tirelessly on this issue to hopefully resolve it (tomorrow of course).
I look forward to annoying you all with my rambling, it's time for coffee now (total addict and proud of it)............
