Journal

Welcome to My World of Quiet Wonder

Every painting begins long before the first brushstroke.

This journal is where I share the inspiration behind my work – from seasonal walks and sketchbook pages to thoughts on creativity, the changing landscape, and the quiet moments in nature that often become the starting point for a painting.

If you'd like to follow my creative journey, see works in progress, and receive new journal entries straight to your inbox, I'd love for you to join me on Substack.

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Challenge 1 Charcoal Portrait

Challenge 2 Horses head pencil drawing

I’ve joined a two-week art challenge with Milan Art Institute, where I’ll be working through a series of lessons and workshops with the aim of completing five pieces in two weeks.

For me, this isn't really about producing five finished artworks as quickly as possible. It’s about practising.

It’s about putting the hours in, trying things I might normally shy away from, learning from the process and, hopefully, fine-tuning my skills along the way.

And I thought it would be rather nice to bring you along with me.

Challenge One: Charcoal

The first challenge was a charcoal portrait.

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this quite as much as I did.

I’ve always loved working with charcoal. There’s something about it that I find incredibly satisfying — the softness, the messiness, the way you can build up light and shade and then suddenly pull something back with an eraser.

So perhaps it wasn't too surprising that I ended up doing two portraits instead of one!

I've attached them here so you can have a look.

They're certainly not perfect, but that's actually rather the point of this challenge. I'm trying to remind myself that every piece doesn't have to be a masterpiece. Sometimes a painting or drawing simply needs to be part of the learning.

And I think that's something I'm beginning to understand more and more as I take my art more seriously.

Challenge Two… 🫣

I've now moved onto Challenge Two, which involves using the drawing methods we've been learning to draw a horse's head.

This could go one of two ways. 😂

I'm hoping for beautiful horse rather than slightly confused donkey…

But we'll see!

I'll be sharing the process as I go, including the bits that work, the bits that don't and hopefully a few little breakthroughs along the way.

At the end of the two weeks, there will also be an opportunity to buy some of the finished paintings.

But more than anything, I'd love you to simply follow along and watch me learn.

I think there's something quite lovely about seeing an artist practise rather than only ever seeing the polished finished work.

So that's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to put myself out there, give myself permission not to be perfect and see what happens when I dedicate two weeks to learning and creating.

Five pieces. Two weeks. One slightly nervous artist.

Wish me luck!

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