I’ve always loved painting and drawing from when I was a young child. Children can paint and write completely unselfconsciously until they reach the age of about 12 and puberty sets in, along with doubts about ability, not wanting to appear childish and other insecurities. That’s when most of us stop being creative, because we are brainwashed into thinking it is childish and stupid and we are no good at it. And that’s one of the reasons I created this website, not only to record and share some of the techniques I’ve used, places I’ve visited and exhibitions I’ve seen, but also to encourage the idea of creativity and to give it the value it deserves. Here are 5 good reasons to be an artist:

1. Exorcising those demons
Possibly everyone has that memory of being told they were no good at something, or even the experience of being laughed at and ridiculed. The simple answer to this is to think, why should I care? As I’ve grown older, I’ve gone through being in the self-conscious, self-doubting cage and have escaped from this by not caring what others think. If someone doesn’t like or even ridicules one of my creations, I really couldn’t give a flying ferrit. If they have constructive criticism, I listen and then decide if I want to take it on board, or not. It’s entirely my choice. Doing something like painting, photography, writing or sketching truly is freeing and can be very rewarding even if you are told that your art is “bad”.

2. Getting in touch with your inner bad artist
After exorcising those demons, it is very liberating to actually get down to doing those things, such as painting, that you’ve always fancied doing, but thought you weren’t good enough to do. The answer is to keep it simple. There’s no need to buy tons of art materials to get started, just a pencil or pen and paper will do. Just start with doodles, or sit on a park bench and draw whatever takes your fancy or draw something from memory. Just experiment and see how it goes.

3. Stressbusting
Sometimes personal or work related problems can be overwhelming and it is difficult to focus on anything else. Art has always been a great stress-buster for me. As soon as I begin to observe an object to draw and begin to make sketches, all my worries have much less significance. In fact it helps me clarify some of the thoughts in my head.

4. Developing new ideas and skills
Painting and sketching takes practise and can be a long and rewarding journey, but don’t be in a rush to become Picasso straightaway. It really doesn’t matter about level of skill, just whether you are gaining anything from the experience.

5. Seeing the world in a different light
Having an interest in photography and sketching has really made me see things differently. Instead of walking blinkered through the streets, you start to think, I like that colour, that person would be good for a portrait, the view from here brings up some interesting perspectives… You just notice things a lot more! The world is no longer mundane, but full of interesting “shots”, “views”, colours, interesting people and perfect places for sketching.