NORWICH ART SHOP

I started painting when I retired (a few years ago now !) and haven’t stopped since. During lockdown, painting became a form of therapy and a much more important part of my life. I found I could escape everything by immersing myself in being creative. The downside to this was I accumulated  lots of large paintings on canvas and began to run out of storage space at home.

The idea of painting on small used teabags appealed to me, both as a simple storage solution but also as a way to recycle materials. There is quite a lot of pre-painting preparation involved. This includes drying and emptying the bags, (the used tea goes on the garden) carefully opening them out, then ironing them and coating with clear gesso…after this the fun part starts. I take inspiration from everything I see around me but am especially drawn to children and people, capturing ‘moments in time’. 

I’ve explored painting animals recently, especially ones with quirky expressions. However, every now and then I revert to painting large. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of swirling a big loaded paint brush across a big canvas and just going where the paint takes you! 

“I started painting at 11 years old while on holiday with my family on the East coast of England. Art was an important part of our lives, interesting paintings and prints hung on the walls of our house. I attended an Art foundation course at the Hammersmith College of Art and Building in 1974. After 50 years mostly spent in the offset lithography trade I have taken up painting again.

My works are a fresh look at local places that because of their familiarity we may not have noticed how beautiful they really are”. 

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My paintings are made from seeing the world around me, filtering what I have seen and putting my imagination to work. I then suggest lines and shapes with ink as freely and loosely as I can. When the ink has dried I start to lay down some colours. I make my colours bold, not necessarily realistic. I like strong colour. I like to exaggerate. I mostly use gouache which is an opaque watercolour.

Being part of the collective of artists that make up the Norwich Art Shop is an opportunity that I don’t take for granted. It is an ideal space to showcase my work. Visit for a browse and to see some local affordable art.

With summer on the way, I’m looking forward to seeing the awakening wildlife and the opportunity that provides to get my art flowing again.

During lockdown, I’ve been experimenting with acrylic paints – finding my own style and discovering what works and what doesn’t. 

I’m now busy creating a collection of “Mummy and me” paintings, starting with four African animals, the first of which is a tiger with her cub. I’ll then move the series on to four “Mummy and me” aquatic scenes. You’ll be able to track my progress on Instagram. 

Drawing and painting butterflies is another passion that indulges my love of bright colours using colour pencils so I’ve been busy getting my new garden ready to attract the butterflies and bees that will be my “models”.

All my wildlife artwork is available, as framed or unframed fine art prints and greeting cards, mugs, phone case etc.  

Email: Animalsportraits@outlook.com 

Website: https://linktr.ee/animalsportraitsbyvikki  

The Owls & The Bees

Springtime is coming, bringing the wonders of the natural world to life again after a sleepy winter. This brings my imagination to life with ideas and inspiration to create new work.

My growing addiction to painting owls is definitely keeping me busy during these long days in lockdown. I have been using a mix of finger painting techniques and brush work to create my owls, giving them their own personalities and character (if you were wondering, yes they do all have names!) 

Busy bumblebees are such a fascinating thing to watch. It won’t be long until they start their dances within our garden flowers again. I could quite happily sit and paint them all day. Acrylic or watercolours are used to create my bright and bold bees. I like to add iridescent paint to give a more reflective detail to their wings. 

All of my owls, bees and other nature inspired artworks are available, as framed/unframed Fine Art Prints and greetings cards. 

For enquiries please contact me via:

www.kirstiesteadman@hotmail.com

www.norwichartshop@gmail.com

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