Welcome to Savage ART! I think that for art to become ‘real’ there must be a story behind the pencil strokes, and so here is my own…

For as long as I can remember I have always had a passion for horses and equestrian sport. I do not know where this came from, none of my family were into horses at the time, but fortunately for me both of my parents were extremely supportive and made it possible for me to have weekly riding lessons. It became a huge part of my life and one in which I have no regrets at all, despite some rather testing times (as you will soon read about). I enjoyed showjumping, cross country, eventing, and generally flying around on whichever poor pony was handed to me! Shows became weekly outings and I made many very good friends over the years, many of which I have since drawn for! After many years taking on rides for others, I finally owned my first pony at 12 as a surprise Christmas present and I never looked back!

I also spent a large amount of time in my childhood fostering my second love of art. I consider myself to have been extremely fortunate as I had the most fantastic role model in my dad, an extremely talented pencil artist who would not think twice at spending 300 hours on a drawing. This led to my household being framed with numerous examples of wildlife in pencil that I would admire for years to come. This curiosity eventually led to my first drawing of a fox at the age of 6 years old which my dad tutored me through step by step. I still use every single one of these techniques to this day, although I like to think the final results are a little more refined now! I continued to draw occasionally and went one to take GCSE art and A level art, but didn’t enjoy it because I was expected to work in paint for most of my projects. It was at that point that my art materials were used at their least.

It wasn’t until I was 19 years old that these two passions collided to form the basis of what you see today. Whilst in a jumping lesson I fell from my instructor’s horse which resulted in a very long stint in a wheelchair. Due to the ‘Ilisarov’ external fixator attached to my leg, I was unable to walk and was in and out of hospital on a monthly basis for nearly a year. Whilst in hospital immediately after the accident, my family and friends brought me many things to keep my frustration at bay, including my step mum who came bearing a sketchpad and some photographs of labradors to draw. Initially I drew from these, and also drew abstract parts of my cage on my leg when I had nothing else at hand to practise with. However, it wasn’t long until I was missing my horses and my riding to the point of distraction and so I decided to draw my own mare, Blackberry, to help me. I uploaded the photo of the drawing to a social networking site to gain some comments and received nearly 100 comments praising the work and asking me to run commissions. Bit by bit, my work was seen across the United Kingdom and I completed my first paid commission in 2009. Blackberry, my first equine inspiration has since sadly passed away, but I am truly happy knowing I have a little piece of her in my drawing sat in my bedroom. I thoroughly enjoy my work, mainly because I love the subjects, and am now expanding on to trying to work with other pets as well. I hope that my work continues to be enjoyed by those who seek it and look forward to hearing from you all soon!