This morning, I finally undertook something I have been meaning to do for many years – sort though my watercolour paintings to make room for new work. These paintings represent work from before I began my Illustration MA, spanning the years from 2016-18. I have listed the works as sets on my Etsy shop, in the hope that they can find a new home.
In 2016-17, I was intently focused on being commissioned as a watercolour illustrator. To this end, I made many smaller watercolour paintings, often grouping several paintings on one sheet of paper to make space. The aim was that I would scan, edit and upload the illustrations as part of my portfolio – the works were not meant for sale as physical items. For this reason, they have marks that I would not normally allow into finished work, such as pencil notes, under-painting, dots of colour and corrections.
However, I think that these paintings represent a specific time in my creative practice and hope that people will find the various little marks and blemishes which they have as something interesting and human, rather than seeing them as mistakes. I listed approximately 50 illustrations in fourteen sets, loosely grouped by theme.
It was lovely to go through my old paintings, especially the nature themed ones. However, working out how to group the illustrations and selecting a price point was quite challenging. In the end, I calculated a price based on the number of hours spent on the paintings combined, reducing the price a little as these works had never been intended for public sale.
I am excited to be selling physical artworks again. Once these pieces have found new homes, I will hopefully find the time to make new work. I used to adore working in watercolour, and have missed that experience the past few years. I am hoping that selling my old work will give me the opportunity to think about new work, as well as the space to create it!
Here are some of the paintings included in the sale.
