My First Artistic Influence
Mum at work during the 70s, painting in oils.
Anyone who knows me wouldn’t believe that when I was very young I used to wake up at 5am every morning. When I did, I would often find my mum painting. She painted delicate watercolours of flowers and landscapes, and even illustrated the faces of grandfather clocks sold by a local antiques dealer. I remember her creating some illustrations featuring a family of rabbits living in trees, which I loved. She also painted landscapes in oils, some based in reality, some not. Occasionally she had exhibitions and people often asked her to paint pictures for them.
Her flower watercolours were always very popular.
She now inspires me more than ever. Turning to Pinterest and Youtube to expand her horizons, her portfolio of techniques now includes acrylic pouring, metallic paints, abstracts and negative painting. In recent years she has had two solo exhibitions and sells her originals at the Showcase Gallery in Richmond.
Fearless in outlook and never wanting to be dictated to artistically, she has remained an amateur artist whilst leading a successful career as a health service manager, a mum, and a dedicated carer for my dad (who sadly passed away in 2014 but was always so proud of her). She is now the slave to two very spoilt cats.
For years, we have talked about holding a joint exhibition. The last time we exhibited together was 35 years ago when she kindly let me blutak some of my O level art coursework next to her framed originals in a church hall in Saltburn.
So last year, following her two successful exhibitions there, we treated ourselves to a space at the Station Gallery in Richmond, North Yorkshire.
Mum at work during her 2019 solo exhibition at the Station Gallery in Richmond.
It’s a fantastic venue and we were so looking forward to it. We were to be joined by Andy Kerr, a well-known and very popular Yorkshire painter and potter. He became friends with my mum since her move to Richmond, and we felt very lucky to have his exquisite ceramics to compliment our paintings.
The timing was perfect, November 2020, just in the festive run up to Christmas. I even painted three new illustrated maps of Yorkshire, all of which brought back very happy memories of growing up there..
Well, you know what happened next!
Undeterred, my Mum got to work rebooking us a space, and she managed to secure one of the sought after dates at the end of May this year. We are keeping everything crossed that we can go ahead…
Unlike me, my mum still wakes at 5 most mornings and her home is full of new paintings. I really hope I have her energy and flair when I am her age (which we won’t mention here!).