The next step - application for BA (Hons) Illustration

Moments of clarity don’t happen that often - moments where a simple and lucid thought is caught in a shaft of light. But occasionally, very occasionally there is a direction I follow because it is truly mine to take, my baton to carry, my talent to sow.

This intuitive sense of direction arrived in force, one non-descript day around 15 years ago. I remember it vividly. I became filled with the anticipation that I would ‘paint’. I was consumed with expectation and glee. I feel it now. It was a vital ingredient that had never really occurred in the original mix when I’d embarked on the Foundation year at Carmarthen Art College and the HND Graphic Design at Colchester Institute over 20 years ago, nor the following 10 years of freelancing and working in several design studios. I preferred the black and white line, both typographical and illustrative.

Several years passed before I saw any tangible evidence of this new ingredient. I still have my first couple of small watercolour paintings, (learning all the while from artists like John Blockley and more recently, Alvaro Castagnet.) As a book superceedes a film, so these watercolours are emotive and create room for the imagination. The first few in particular offer vivid detail of old farmhouses and immediate surroundings, against an ambiguous background of foliage and the suggestion of a misty mountain, evoking a sense of mystery that draws me back to the cold dank evenings of my own welsh childhood. And all at the same time, releasing a burst of energy and excitement that propels me into another dimension. (A painting that I am not happy with has an equal and opposite effect of pulling me into the murky chambers of self-doubt and despair!)

Ten years ago, we emigrated to Hong Kong. Using a variety of styles, I created greeting cards prolifically and from there moved to commissions, exhibited, sold watercolour paintings and ran workshops. But the teaching I really began to enjoy was the 4 to 12 year olds. Employed by a Russian artist, meant that I learnt to teach using a structured approach. I saw first-hand the value of teaching art. The value of a 4 or 5 year old learning to concentrate, totally absorbed by their painting – and saw in a competitive world, how important it was to give a child a set of skills that they could utilize, a tool which built into their self-esteem. I believe that an element of creativity is innate in every person and I saw how a younger child was particularly liberated and vibrant in his or her work. However, in the professional world of teaching I begun to feel hampered at not having the qualifications to pursue a career, which seemed to so easily befit me.

Returning overland from Cape Town to UK, we invited Channel 4 to document our year. In Africa, the film crew came out every 6/7 weeks, while I filmed the rest of the time. The challenge and creative learning curve of filming was different to anything I had worked on before and the subsequent showing of my work on Channel 4 was an exhilarating experience! In October 2010 we finally arrived in UK once more. This signaled the time to pursue my FE plans. I continue to paint and teach. After Easter I will be at a local primary school in Hereford where I will take Y3 art classes for 4 weeks – their theme, appropriately, is Africa.

The creative process is fundamentally one of building and dismantling. Having put together a case, which will help me focus as I engage in further study, I now need to explore a variety of different approaches and to accept new ideas and suggestions. I am eager to absorb new disciplines of how to translate the spoken or written word into a visual picture.