Artwork

Traditional & Digital Artwork

My artwork is primarily done in either graphite pencil, acrylic paint or Procreate. I have a preference for working in traditional acrylic and always come back to that no matter what. 

In a similar vein, I have subjects that I just can’t seem to stay away from. They consume me and even when I’m working on artwork that deviates from my usual subjects, you can bet I’m always musing on my next art project. I’ve always loved mystical magical things, so no matter how my attention wanders, I always come back to imaginative realism art.

See my work broken down by medium and subject by clicking the buttons below…

Traditional Artwork

Paintings

As mentioned above, my favourite medium is acrylic paint. In fact, I have a preferred brand. Wallace Seymore doesn’t just produce high quality acrylic, it is a small business is local to Yorkshire and I love to support local. And I’m not even getting paid to say that. 

I worked on commission for 20 years, so it’s been advantageous to remain flexible in my skillset. Over the years, I have worked in several other media, including oils, oil crayon, pastels, onyx pencils, poster paint, watercolours, gouache… to name but a few. However, acrylic remains my go to, and now that commissions are closed, I can choose my own subject, medium and materials.

Acrylic paint is incredibly versatile, which is why I choose that over other media. It can be built up into peaks like oil paint. Creating similar wonderful textures to oils, which adds depth to the artwork.

In addition, I prefer to have the option to continue working shortly after finishing a layer, where oil paints force you to stop and start. I have ADHD (my superpower and bane of my life) and find that I work better when I maintain momentum. And, of course, there’s the fact that I’m terrified of leaving linseed soaked rags all over the house and starting a fire. A very real prospect when living with neurodivergence.

Pencil Drawings

I cut my teeth with cheap HB pencils from primary school. I remember the first time I tried drawing with a pencil rather than crayon. It blew my tiny mind and I became hooked. I’d spend hours hunched over a desk, scratching away at a drawing pad. At secondary school, I discovered that pencils could have different gradients and was amazed at the depth that soft graphite could create. I would beg my art teacher for homework so I had a reason to show it to him and gain more insight into how to improve. The poor man probably thought I was an insufferable little brown-noser. 

However, it worked. I continued using pencils until I took my art A-level, where I discovered poster paint and gouache. Pencils were still very much my comfort blanket, though, and it was around that time that I sold my first ever piece of art for £20 at the age of 17. A lot of money for a teenager back then. Ever since, I’ve found pencil studies to be my meditation and will often create a pencil drawing artwork as a palette cleanser if I’ve finished a particularly tough painting. I favour heavy shadows and un-smudged lines, preferring you ti be able to see the raw passion in every pencil stroke.

I’m a self taught artist, but I’m also someone who has always had a certain baseline of skill for drawing, right off the bat. It does run in the family, so it’s not too much of a surprise that I was something of a natural. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have to hone my skills and will always be doing so. 

Digital Artwork

Digital Paintings

I create my digital artwork in much the same way I create my traditional pieces. I use Procreate and stick to medium and hard airbrushes to ensure that the final artwork is loyal to my style. In some respects, I only scrape the surface of what Procreate is capable of, since I paint every shape by hand. However, there are good reasons for this.

Whenever I’ve braved a new brush, particularly one that’s supposed to emulate an organic shape or texture, the finished result seems flat and lifeless to me. And, in a way, it feels like cheating. Call me bananas, but there’s nothing I find more satisfying than figuring out the best technique to achieve a result that is realistic without being photographic. Despite the fact that it’s easy to create super smooth lines in Procreate, I much prefer to see the construction lines, the hesitations, the layering and flaws that give a painting life. Zoom in on any of my digital art and you’ll be able to see exactly how it was created. It’s incredibly important to me that my artwork looks hand-crafted. Especially in these strange times of AI “art” that looks uncannily realistic and yet not quite what it should be.

Artwork Subjects

Imaginative Realism Art

Searching for an All-Encompassing Term for My  Artwork

I searched for a long time for the official term for the art I create. For years, it felt like the most apt description was magic realism. My style is realistic, without being photographic, but there’s a certain surreal element to my work., without it falling into the category of surrealism. Magic realism seemed fitting. Except that it’s generally used for works of fiction, not traditional artworks. So my hunt for a box to fit myself into continued.

There’s nothing wrong with being boxless, of course. In fact, being a maverick in the art world is positively applauded. Still, I really felt that there had to be a simple way to describe what I create. I looked at my inspirations for, well, inspiration – Frida Kahlo, Michael Whelan, Jenny Saville and Rosaleen Norton. Which is when I realised that what I do is

. Ie: realistic artworks with a touch of imagination. It fit perfectly. Sadly, it didn’t make life too much easier, since nobody really knows what that means. But it is a great conversation starter at parties. 

Why Imaginative Realism?

I’ve had a fascination with all things magical and mystical my whole life. By the time I was 15, I’d read Dracula three times. Halloween was my favourite time of year, even though I’m based in the UK, and nobody really held much store by All Hallows Eve in working class England in the 90s. And my raging ADHD had me hooked. I would read books on the occult. The film, The Craft, played on the knock-off Betamax on repeat. I wanted to know all about witches and vampires and ghosts. And no matter what I did, there was always something slightly gothy around the edges.

When I first closed commissions, I took the opportunity to take my art in a witchy direction. My imaginative realism art combines folklore, religion, nature and alternative thinking, all wrapped up in the package of the feminine divine.

Nude & Erotic Art

For several years, erotic art was my bread and butter. It helped me to pay my way through university and I still sell an awful of fetish art prints on Redbubble.

Covid was the main reason I began to move away from fetish art. It’s hard to arrange a drawing session at a dungeon when you’re locked down, after all. And while I do see the value in those past works, I also feel like I had reached the end of what I could offer with that. It felt somewhat limiting and the internet is a nasty place sometimes and I had several online encounters with men who were under the impression that I was a sex worker. I have no issue with sex workers – I’m just not one. And by the time restrictions had been lifted, I’d begun my journey towards imaginative realism. 

So I have left the fetish art behind. But you can still purchase prints on Redbubble.

No AI Art!

My work does not include AI art. Under no circumstances is my artwork to be used to train AI systems. Misuse of my artwork could result in a lawsuit.