Pam Quine

Do I consider myself an artist? No. Do I consider what I do as art?  Not really, no.  I am just a retired lady who has discovered something new I wanted to try.  I have always had a natural talent when it comes to choosing colours and decorating a room.  I am very good at painting a door or a skirting board and I have even taken to upcycling furniture, but as for putting things on a canvas, well this is all new to me.  I have been experimenting with lots of ways of painting from painting by hand to paint pouring.  I have had disasters and I have had successes; I have thrown paint around in the process and this is what makes it great fun.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all fun, paint pouring requires a lot of preparation and mixing and inevitably a lot of cleaning up afterwards.  It can be expensive too! Painting with a brush, an implement or tool is a far more relaxed process, but I enjoy having a go at all the different techniques.  As I said earlier, I have had my successes, and I like to keep these. My home is slowly being turned into a gallery or maybe a menagerie!  I have made paintings for friends and family, and I like to get these right.  If I’m not happy with the results I will try again and again until I have something I am happy to pass on to them, which I hope they will treasure.  Life often gets in the way, and I don’t get to spend as much time as I would like concocting paintings.  I also suffer with arthritis in my hands and feet, and this is quite debilitating, but I soldier on, what else can you do?  With the painting I present here today I have attempted to capture an image of burning or flames, maybe it reflects my red hair and, as my husband would say, my fiery personality!  I think I have managed to achieve what I wanted?  For the exhibition I was asked for a title, well I hadn’t ever given any of my paintings a name before, so in the absence of an idea I decided to consult AI on this.  Well, it came up with a cracker, as I felt it not only suits the image, but also reflects my life at times.