JOIN ME FOR ANOTHER PAINTING CHALLENGE

IF YOU ENJOYED FREE PAINT 5 WEEK

Then lets keep the momentum going with another Autumn Challenge. My next paint challenge is just £12 and you can paint everything that is Autumn with me. Watch out for the emails to join the wait list. But for now I want to share what Art means to me.

WHAT ART MEANS TO ME

Art has given me far more than technical skill. Yes, I've learned about colour, design, composition, how to treat a surface, how to begin a piece, how to work through problems along the way, and how to know when something's finished... but that's really just the surface of it.

The deeper lesson has been about myself. Art has pushed me to notice my own thinking — to question it, and to clear out the misconceptions, bad habits and limiting beliefs I didn't even know I was carrying.

I used to believe artists were rare, almost magical people — struck by sudden inspiration, with genius simply pouring out of them. That making art was some mystical gift, reserved for the chosen few.

That couldn't be further from the truth. Real artists are grafters. They show up, again and again, hoping. When the work feels flat or stuck, they don't walk away — they keep going, keep experimenting, and stay willing to step backwards, relearn, or flip their whole perspective.

Art connects us — not just to other creative people, but to ourselves. It shows us that each of us carries a creative fingerprint that belongs to no one else. It's rare, it's ours, and it helps us become more fully who we already are. It's a visible trace of everything that makes up "you." Have you ever looked at your own painting and thought, "Where on earth did that come from?" That's you meeting a part of yourself you hadn't encountered before.

Discovering how singular we are through art also makes it easier to embrace how singular everyone else is — something I've found especially true in raising my own children. When they were small, I imagined they'd grow into some blend of my best qualities and their father's. What I've actually watched happen is that they've become the best versions of themselves — as long as I step back and let them.

Art transforms, too. It carries us from where we are to where we're meant to be — from the ordinary into something thrilling, and gently, from grief into fullness again. I lived that after losing my losing my mother during lock down.

Art has been my healer and saved me trauma after trauma. I live it and breathe it daily. Its my purpose for living, my Ikigai.

I honestly can't picture my life without it.

A LL MY LOVE

Ali x