Thursday 31 January 2008

Introduction

Welcome to my blog. I am Undaunted – undaunted by the fact that 20 years ago I was refused entry into Art College.

Of course, I wasn’t Undaunted at the time. At the time I was Completely Crushed. I remember the interviewer asking me “What will you do if you are not accepted?” I replied simply “I’ll die”. Looking back that may have seemed a little over-the-top, but hey, I was 16. But you know what? Creatively I did die. My exam grade confirmed that I just wasn’t good enough and so I either gave or threw away all of my art and I didn’t have the confidence to ever seriously try to be creative again.

That was 20 years ago.

Last August, I came across the work of an artist by the name of Philippa King. I was immediately drawn to her art – a feeling I have never experienced before. Within a matter of days I had gone from stumbling upon her website for the first time, to meeting the artist in person and owning a piece of her work!

Often Philippa’s pieces either move me to tears or are so compelling that I find I can't tear my eyes away. But more than that, through her art she has done something that no other artist has ever been able to do – she has inspired me to be creative again. Before the month was out I had bought myself some clay - my preferred medium before my Art College rejection.

Through Philippa’s work I have learnt that art is personal, both to the creator and the viewer. Art can’t be judged or graded, in fact although Philippa is very capable of producing pieces of art which are detailed and technically accurate, the pieces which move me the most are the ones which are simple, yet expressive, and full of meaning.


Philippa, thank you for inspiring me and bringing me back to life creatively.

I now begin my journey of rediscovering art – undaunted.

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