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So much has happened here at 'the bird talks' since my last post. I thought I should explain what's been going on in the background!
My last installment explained how I fell into painting, since that moment of curiosity in 2017, there has been a lot of personal growth, as well as growth in my Art.
Nobody tells you when you start out, just how expensive this hobby is. You see all the beautiful pics on Instagram, luring you in, tempting you to give it a go. Then you investigate how to actualise this little bit of curiosity and you realise it's going to cost you a bloody fortune!
If you're a perfectionist like me, you'll want to use the best product and the best tools that you can, so that you can produce the best piece of Art your mind can create. After realising that GOLDEN paint is £10+ for a tiny tube and good quality, sizeable canvases come in at £20+ (and the rest) it didn't take me long to reach the conclusion of 'Kelly, I think you're going to need to try and sell these'.
I was very lucky to have some interest in my initial work among friends and family who kindly purchased some of my earlier pieces. With trying new techniques and styles on bigger canvases I decided this was really something I wanted to pursue, more than a hobby and more than a few small sales here and there.
Consequently, 'the bird talks' was born!
The thing I found most difficult when starting out, was not coming from an Art based background, therefore having no idea where on earth I should start or what I needed to do to begin. I have always been a creative, right-brained person, especially when it comes to fashion and my personal style, which tends to fall over into the flamboyant at times (and let's just say I've been called Elton John more than once!). I love arts and crafts and am always throwing together a festival hat or a decoupage notebook. However, I didn't go to Art School and haven't done any courses or formal training so learning how to paint was a whole world unknown.
So I basically read the entire internet.
I Googled, YouTube'd, Insta'd every 'how to' guide on the internet and trawled through umpteen Artists on Instagram, zooming in to every pic checking what materials they use and trying to figure out how each style is created. I thought, bloody hell there has got to be an easier way of going about this.
Instead of just pursuing my artistic dream and selling my work, I wanted to go further and create a platform where like-minded individuals could join me in discovering a path in the art world from scratch, sharing tips and ideas that I've learned along the way and hopefully receiving some too! I saw a quote recently that said 'Sharing knowledge with others, doesn't make you less important', this couldn't be more true. Life is about helping each other and supporting each other to succeed and progress in our dreams.
I've spent the last 7 months or so painstakingly learning how to set up a website and learning more technical aspects to my computer and the inter-web than I ever though my tiny brain could cope with and finally I've produced something workable, that I'm happy to release to the general public at wide! Which is of course, by no means perfect. Logo design, graphics, video content, web design at large is all unfamiliar territory so I will learn as I go along, just like I have with my Art and update and progress as I go.
I look forward to joining you, joining me on this journey!
