Today I thought I would share about my creative career and how this has changed and evolved over the years.
After leaving school at 16 as a pretty troubled teenager I had little choice of what to do as I had not applied myself in the last couple of years at school, I was so over my school by aged 14 and thought there was so many more exciting things to do with my life than be in a boring classroom :) maybe foolish in retrospect but there you go….
The only choice I really had was to study art as that was the exam that hadn’t involved any revision, so I passed this and English, the rest of them I gave a wide berth, which is funny because now as an adult I love learning and am always doing one E-Course or another.
So I went to my local College and did a Northern Diploma in Applied Design. I got through this by the skin of my teeth then went on to do a Higher Diploma in Advertising, Photography & Design in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and specialised in illustration. We had a great illustration teacher called Lawrie Stangroom who was very relaxed but knew how to get the best out of teenagers who thought they had far better things to be doing, like frequenting the local and all with a smile on his face.
College work from 1980’s - illustration copied from a fashion magazine photo
After leaving college with my diploma I worked for a short while in an avertising agency and some how got made to join a union and one thing led to another
and eventually I had to leave as my boss didn’t want to pay that rate so it didn’t work out too well. I then did a few temporary jobs before starting work at
Hugh Mackay Carpets in Durham or Durham Carpets as some know it.
I started off as a copyist, the designer would create a carpet pattern on large sheets of graph paper where one square would be the equivalent to one tuft of carpet, so you can imagine you needed the patience of a Saint. The designer would do one half of the design then the copyist would copy a mirror image of design one tuft at a time. Although a long process I did actually like this job and also working in a studio environment.
Whilst working for the firm I also had the chance to go to an art college in Hartlepool on day release in textile design for three years which I found a very enriching experience. I stayed at the carpet company for 4 years, the latter two using a CAD system designed especially for the carpet industry.
I left Hugh Mackay Carpets to pursue a voluntary position as part of an outreach team in Inverness, Scotland … had a wonderful time with a team of seven others, that is whole other story.
After Scotland I had a temporary job in a factory unit painting ceramic cottages which was quite a laugh but also hideously boring, so much so I would go to the loo and have a silent scream:)
It was freezing as the factory unit door was left wide open to let the smell of turps out. I stayed here about a year before getting a job doing colour separation for a textiles firm. It was not a well paid job but you have to start somewhere and I enjoyed learning about pattern repeats and seeing some amazing work created by the designers there. It was a small company so you basically got roped in to anything, from the colour separation to washing off screen prints to cleaning the WC :)
Eventually the company closed down and again I was starting from scratch, after careful consideration I decided I wanted to design greetings cards. At this precise time there was a vacancy at Unique Images (latterly Hallmark UK) in Bradford. I thought, why not, I know one person in Bradford so I went for the interview and got the job. In those days you had to say very little and just show your portfolio so it was a cinch.
I ended up moving to Yorkshire and staying in this company for seven years and they were such fun years mainly because of the people I worked with in the studio. I was in the Christmas Studio and it was Christmas Trees, Wreaths, Snowmen and Santas all the year round!! The product development team would find out future trends and create mood boards with themes and colours to show the customers which were the major supermarkets and shops and then we would go through the themes and start creating. I remember the first two designs that were chosen for print for Boots, I was so excited to see the finished product on the shop floor. In the latter two years here I went on to everyday design which was a refreshing change creating items such as wrap, calendars, journals and cards.
Gift card created for Marks & Spencer
After seven years I thought I would try my hand at being my own boss and going freelance so I wrote to five companies and sent examples of my work. Shortly after this as I had very positive feedback I launched out on my own and never regretted it. I was busy from the day I started and continued on this path until going into part time then full time ministry with my then husband. I pursued this path until it all fell apart years later whilst I was living in Texas.
I found myself at another crossroads with what felt like broken pieces in front of me that I had no idea how to fix. By just putting one foot in front of the other I somehow survived this time with a lot of divine intervention, 14 months later landed back in England at my parents house with my daughter.
At this stage I wasn’t sure of my direction, it was a long and difficult process of going through a divorce, feeling like I was in a permanent head fog and really just surviving a day at a time. I tried getting in to the freelance game again and sold a few pieces here and there. Through trial and error and heaps of perseverance and tears I learnt to use the Mac and various design programs that I needed to to create my own designs ready for print. With the support of my family I created a card company called ‘Precious to you’ and set about selling at various stalls, I also took part in couple of trade fairs, one in Harrogate and one in London. Sometimes it’s giving things a go and doing what you can do, it’s all experience and just seeing what works.
Never under estimate the work and finance it takes for artists and crafts people to set up these stalls, some of which cost hundreds of pounds. The makers have to sell a lot before making a profit. This was my daughter below being my lovely assistant :)
Whilst in Texas I had experimented with a couple of paintings on canvas so it was something that quite interested me. However after a few years and a few E-Courses including one by Lilla Rogers I felt that I wanted to focus on wall art, greetings cards seemed so fleeting and I wanted to create something more lasting. Below is the painting I created, I found what I believed would be the future of my art career…….. part 2 next week.
