Having been a circus performer for thirty years, I began my art journey painting the sides of circus lorries in Spain. This led to a decade of learning to paint actual circuses and circus acts in acrylics.
As an entirely self taught artist, I have exhibited in Spain, and the UK. I have sold past work to clients all over the UK, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the USA and Australia. I specialize in authentic circus subjects, but also paint my other passions, from the beauty of the natural world with its plants, animals and landscapes, to the excitement of Latin carnaval, ice shows, theatre and the magical process of character portraiture and abstracts.
My original paintings can be as large as the subject commands, so can sell for anything between one hundred to several hundred pounds. However, every work has spin off products, especially archival quality prints that remain true to the original colours and begin at size 12 x 16 inches (30 x40.5 cm). These are priced at £50.
Other products include Giclee prints each with an authentification certificate, postcards, greeting card packs for as little as £6, plus place mats, coasters and mugs depending on how they lend themselves to each individual painting.
I have learned over the last twenty years, and continue to learn with each new work.
Many hours of reading art books and practical painting with some sharp learning curves have finally got me to a stage of oil painting where I have developed my own recognizable style.
My process is slightly different for each piece, but generally a thumbnail pencil sketch is followed by a layout composition and research of the subject in hand. This can take a short time or many hours depending on how historical the subject is.
On the canvas itself, I always prime and colour ground the canvas before drawing out the final composition, having checked perspective, proportion, and that there are no tangents, and plenty of atmosphere.
Then the painting process begins. Usually this means an underpainting colour map of the light and shade in acrylics before the oil painting begins. The first oil layers are then colour, tone and shade. Finally layers of texture, detail and highlights. This is the most enjoyable part of the work process. From start to finish one piece can take an average of 60 hours over two weeks from research to final brush stroke and signature.
I have never experienced what is referred to as artists block. For me there is simply so much beauty in the world ,never far from anyone, and as far as the specialist subject of circus history goes so many good subjects from its two and a half centuries of history, that I will never get to a stage where I hit a wall and run out of ideas .
Inspiration is around all of us .I hope to offer tips and tutorials to other aspiring artists in the future.I truly believe that anyone can produce wonderful work, with a little faith in themselves, hard work, good observation and a building of confidence through no fear of learning by inevitable early mistakes.
I am looking forward to developing my pages and website. I am exited to have the opportunity to inspire my followers who like my work ,some of whom might be interested in learning this beautiful craft, to open their own businesses or even as a wonderful new hobby.