A quick bio of my colourful life.
I was brought up in Whitby (My father worked at RAF Fylingdales) where I spent a lot of my childhood drawing and painting in my bedroom.
I was flagged at junior school as being a talented young artist and when I went to senior school my art teacher Mr Bob Foster wrote in my report that I had an originality of mind second to none. (That was a great report to hang on to; and I still have it today, lol).
While still at school I painted portraits; pet portraits too, and at the age of 14 my parents totally trusted me to paint the shopfront at the campsite my mum was the warden of, with pictures of items that were for sale in the shop. (My first large wall painting).
From an early age my parents would take me and my siblings to Steam Fairs and Circuses on days out; which gave me an early love of Fairground and Circus Art. Later in life when my dad retired along with his friend Tom; they raised thousands of pounds for the Deaf Blind Association with their barrel organ, playing at charity events. Then when he passed away and left me a small sum of money I spent it on a Joby Carter Traditional Sign Writing Course, knowing he would fully approve.
As a child who was almost born with a pencil in her hand it was absolute given that I would go to Art College aged 16 with the full support of my parents.
I left home and went to Harrogate Art College; where I stayed for 4 years as I absolutely loved Art College life. (The pic below of the Racial Harmony 2 layer screen print was the first screen print/illustration I did at college aged 16, I rescued it from a later fire so its slightly singed lol). It was suggested by my Art College tutors that I would do very well working for one of the tabloid newspapers as a sensationalist headline writer and graphic designer, but the very thought of being stuck in an office in the city all day actually pushed me in the opposite direction. When I started to get panicky at the thought of working in an office my tutors asked me what I saw myself doing ? to which I replied (inspired by my grandads tales of the artist Augustus John travelling around the welsh lanes with traditional Romanies) "Travelling the country in a painted Gypsy Wagon selling my artwork" and their reply was, "Well thats all very romantic, but what do you really want to do?"
I decided to join a different type of circus. In 1986 I bought my first bus, a Bedford Embassy 'Blim' bus.
For the next couple of years I worked in factories but also had a showcase in Shrewsbury advertising my portraits and had a couple of local exhibitions. I travelled to festivals having fun and taking in the colourful life but still always keeping my painting hand in, as it were. Then in the early 90s took to the road permanently with my then partner. We travelled around doing walk-about theatre, myself designing and making the costumes and flyers etc. I made posters for free festivals and gigs too; like this hand drawn pen and ink one I did below, for Happy Daze 1991 by candlelight in the bus. It was long before personal computers or printers were available; and hell, we didn't even have electric or running water. We had a Unicycling company called the Loonatrick Unitrick Company and once again I made the costumes for 'Gerald the Camel' the unique uni-cycling camel and the flyers . That's me on the front of Festival Eye magazine in 1998 doing walkabout. I moved to Somerset when my eldest daughter was ready for school and we were offered a safe place to park the bus.
I was flagged at junior school as being a talented young artist and when I went to senior school my art teacher Mr Bob Foster wrote in my report that I had an originality of mind second to none. (That was a great report to hang on to; and I still have it today, lol).
While still at school I painted portraits; pet portraits too, and at the age of 14 my parents totally trusted me to paint the shopfront at the campsite my mum was the warden of, with pictures of items that were for sale in the shop. (My first large wall painting).
From an early age my parents would take me and my siblings to Steam Fairs and Circuses on days out; which gave me an early love of Fairground and Circus Art. Later in life when my dad retired along with his friend Tom; they raised thousands of pounds for the Deaf Blind Association with their barrel organ, playing at charity events. Then when he passed away and left me a small sum of money I spent it on a Joby Carter Traditional Sign Writing Course, knowing he would fully approve.
As a child who was almost born with a pencil in her hand it was absolute given that I would go to Art College aged 16 with the full support of my parents.
I left home and went to Harrogate Art College; where I stayed for 4 years as I absolutely loved Art College life. (The pic below of the Racial Harmony 2 layer screen print was the first screen print/illustration I did at college aged 16, I rescued it from a later fire so its slightly singed lol). It was suggested by my Art College tutors that I would do very well working for one of the tabloid newspapers as a sensationalist headline writer and graphic designer, but the very thought of being stuck in an office in the city all day actually pushed me in the opposite direction. When I started to get panicky at the thought of working in an office my tutors asked me what I saw myself doing ? to which I replied (inspired by my grandads tales of the artist Augustus John travelling around the welsh lanes with traditional Romanies) "Travelling the country in a painted Gypsy Wagon selling my artwork" and their reply was, "Well thats all very romantic, but what do you really want to do?"
I decided to join a different type of circus. In 1986 I bought my first bus, a Bedford Embassy 'Blim' bus.
For the next couple of years I worked in factories but also had a showcase in Shrewsbury advertising my portraits and had a couple of local exhibitions. I travelled to festivals having fun and taking in the colourful life but still always keeping my painting hand in, as it were. Then in the early 90s took to the road permanently with my then partner. We travelled around doing walk-about theatre, myself designing and making the costumes and flyers etc. I made posters for free festivals and gigs too; like this hand drawn pen and ink one I did below, for Happy Daze 1991 by candlelight in the bus. It was long before personal computers or printers were available; and hell, we didn't even have electric or running water. We had a Unicycling company called the Loonatrick Unitrick Company and once again I made the costumes for 'Gerald the Camel' the unique uni-cycling camel and the flyers . That's me on the front of Festival Eye magazine in 1998 doing walkabout. I moved to Somerset when my eldest daughter was ready for school and we were offered a safe place to park the bus.
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I sketched over 50 portraits in situ of 'New Age Travellers' in the 90's and 00's. I've always been interested in portraiture and peoples faces and took an interest in Physiognomy ( the ancient Chinese Art of Face Reading) so I could not only sketch your portrait in situ but could throw a face reading in too!
I was asked to illustrate 10 'Tess the Traveller' books for the charity Friends Families and Travellers (100 images in total on my first computer using an early program called Paint). By this time I was now living in a Double Decker bus having previously lived in a 36 ft pantechnicon Bedford Removals lorry after the Bedford blim bus. I now live in a 1930s ex-Chipperfields circus wagon that I have owned for over 25 years. I managed to paint and draw whilst raising my two beautiful daughters, it was pretty hectic. I illustrated flyers for the charity Friends Familes and Travellers and illustrated 'Happy Traveller Families' (a set of playing cards for the Travellers School Charity) whilst also designing cards for the charity Kushti Bok. I stood for Parliament in the 1997 General election for the Rainbow Dream Ticket Party of Rainbow George Weiss which was fun. I stood in the Teignbridge Constituency and got 139 votes, amazing really as people who were considered No Fixed Abode were not allowed to vote, so I couldn't even vote for myself !
During the early 2000's I noticed that Humphrey the famous M5 Camel looked lonely, so I made a life-sized baby camel and called him Boo ('cos he could only just see over the fence) which I left overnight on Christmas Eve as a gift for the people of Somerset. A child wasn't born on Christmas Day but a baby camel was!
I was asked to illustrate 10 'Tess the Traveller' books for the charity Friends Families and Travellers (100 images in total on my first computer using an early program called Paint). By this time I was now living in a Double Decker bus having previously lived in a 36 ft pantechnicon Bedford Removals lorry after the Bedford blim bus. I now live in a 1930s ex-Chipperfields circus wagon that I have owned for over 25 years. I managed to paint and draw whilst raising my two beautiful daughters, it was pretty hectic. I illustrated flyers for the charity Friends Familes and Travellers and illustrated 'Happy Traveller Families' (a set of playing cards for the Travellers School Charity) whilst also designing cards for the charity Kushti Bok. I stood for Parliament in the 1997 General election for the Rainbow Dream Ticket Party of Rainbow George Weiss which was fun. I stood in the Teignbridge Constituency and got 139 votes, amazing really as people who were considered No Fixed Abode were not allowed to vote, so I couldn't even vote for myself !
During the early 2000's I noticed that Humphrey the famous M5 Camel looked lonely, so I made a life-sized baby camel and called him Boo ('cos he could only just see over the fence) which I left overnight on Christmas Eve as a gift for the people of Somerset. A child wasn't born on Christmas Day but a baby camel was!
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In the late 90's I designed on paper; a tartan based on travelling. When I found out how difficult it was to actually register a tartan with the Scottish register of Tartans (which in my case would mean learning all about weaving too) I decided to put the project on hold for a while and later go into the technical side of things. I've dedicated a page to Travelling the Road Tartan and if you click on the link you can read all about it.
As far as I am aware I was the U.K.s first female Chainsaw Carver, living and trading in Dorset in the early 90's. I've sculpted items which were sold on the roadside and at garden shows; and also decorated various festivals including the BBC area at Glastonbury Festival.
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In 2013 along with my sister Jenny we re-wrote the story of Alice in Wonderland and turned it into a musical play with a whole new twist, called Mad About Alice. It was performed by the Tanat Theatre company in Llanrhaeadr Y-M and was a resounding success.
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I've designed and handmade silver, copper and wood jewellery. Bespoke one off statement pieces for wear and display. I was proud to be part of the first Background Bob project and Charity Auction, and to be included in the book.
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Recycling and upcycling has been a constant theme for me living a low impact lifestyle, and one of the things I also do is recycle paintings that I find in charity shops and carboot sales that are perfectly good, but just need a little bit of a tweak. I try to add a little something to them in a humorous, subtle way. I have had a few exhibitions of this body of work at Rockaway Park in Temple Cloud during their alternative Somerset Art Week. I sign these pictures Subtle Vandal and if you click on the link you can see some of the ones I've created.
It is hard to condense my work to just a few paragraphs but here are a some highlights from the last few years.
I've been to every Glastonbury Festival since 1986 working at every one since the early 90's in the various arts fields Theatre, Green Crafts, Croissant Neuf, The Atchin Tan
I've designed fabric, cards and posters.
I've painted lots of paintings and even a daily painting during 2021 lockdown.
I have exhibited at two Revolting Artists exhibitions in Weymouth, alongside great artists like Bod ,Foka Wolf, Grow Up Art, The lovely Haus of Lucy, Benjamin Irritant, My Dog Sighs , Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives, MernyWernz , and Dave Panit to name just a few.
I've taken part in charity spray jams , mainly in Weston Super Mare as part of the Weston Wallz event.
I was presented with an Arts Culture and Heritage Winner Award by the charity Friends Families and travellers.
I've been longlisted for the John Moores Painting prize and the Women in Art Prize and was proud to have my interpretation of The Girl with the Pearl Earring titled The Girl with a Pearl Earring on a Gap Year; displayed in the Vermeer Room at the Mauritshuis in The Hague opposite the actual Vermeer painting of the Girl with the Pearl Earring .
It is hard to condense my work to just a few paragraphs but here are a some highlights from the last few years.
I've been to every Glastonbury Festival since 1986 working at every one since the early 90's in the various arts fields Theatre, Green Crafts, Croissant Neuf, The Atchin Tan
I've designed fabric, cards and posters.
I've painted lots of paintings and even a daily painting during 2021 lockdown.
I have exhibited at two Revolting Artists exhibitions in Weymouth, alongside great artists like Bod ,Foka Wolf, Grow Up Art, The lovely Haus of Lucy, Benjamin Irritant, My Dog Sighs , Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives, MernyWernz , and Dave Panit to name just a few.
I've taken part in charity spray jams , mainly in Weston Super Mare as part of the Weston Wallz event.
I was presented with an Arts Culture and Heritage Winner Award by the charity Friends Families and travellers.
I've been longlisted for the John Moores Painting prize and the Women in Art Prize and was proud to have my interpretation of The Girl with the Pearl Earring titled The Girl with a Pearl Earring on a Gap Year; displayed in the Vermeer Room at the Mauritshuis in The Hague opposite the actual Vermeer painting of the Girl with the Pearl Earring .
