- Kerry Newell

Here to Ignite, Encourage and Inspire your Creative Flame

‘Practise makes progress, not perfection.’ – Me

From my sofa to yours…

Hey there my friends I hope you’re keeping well. It’s been a while since I last put pen to paper, well fingers to keypad to be exact. So we’ve plenty to catch up on. I’ll go and grab a coffee, if you want to do likewise, then we can relax and have a catch up.

Well I don’t know about you but I’ve heard enough about a certain virus that’s been doing the rounds this past 18 months or so, and I want to keep these newsletters upbeat so wont be mentioning it again… apart from saying that I quite enjoyed the first lockdown – plenty of guilt-free studio time.

Okay, so what’s been happening this end, and I apologise in advance as I doubt that my ramblings will be in any particular order (especially chronological).

In short, I’ve been a busy bee lol. Completing more drawings, paintings, commissions and YouTube videos than ever before, within the same timeframe of course. I’ve been inspired by inks, allured again by acrylics and played with my pencils, not to mention the occasional flexing of my digital art muscles lol. I’ve also been busy the past few weeks giving my website some much needed TLC.

So where has all this ‘playing with my art materials’ taken me? Well, I enjoyed a wonderful weekend exhibiting at the EWA (Exhibition of Wildlife Art) back in July, wow is it really that long ago. It’s a brilliant weekend if you’re into wildlife and art, takes place at the same venue each year – Gordale Garden Centre on the Wirral.

Then in October, last month, I was invited to exhibit at the North West Birdwatching Festival. It’s an event that’s held annually at the Martin Mere Wetland Centre in Lancashire. Hadn’t been to this event before, let alone exhibited there. On arrival, it turned out that I was the only artist there which was surprising but lovely at the same time.

One of the advantages of exhibiting, apart from selling and meeting such wonderful people, is the chance of being asked to do something that probably wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Well, okay it could but the possibilities are less I would think. Anyway, before I completely loose my thread and have to go and grab another coffee, I’m so very pleased to let you know that I’ve been invited to run Art Workshops at Martin Mere Wetland Centre! Exciting times ahead, even if I say so myself lol. So the first date has been set for Saturday 22nd January 2022 and it’s going to be a watercolour workshop. For beginners and the more experienced alike.

Here’s a link if you want to go and have a look at what’s on offer, as long as you promise to come back to read the rest of my ramblings of course – Information on these Workshops

So where did I get to? Oh yes ‘workshops’ – great news eh. Can’t think of anything better than starting a new hobby or brushing the cobwebs off an old one, and a lovely way of easing into a brand new year 🙂

Anyway as I was saying, before my mind jumped ahead of itself and my ‘fingers hitting the keyboard’ had to follow. I’ve been applying my tech savvy brain cell to the task of tweaking my website. While some people like the idea of a simple to use website where you just ‘drag & drop’ so to speak, I like to challenge myself once in a while with my homemade style WordPress website, one step away from the aforementioned drag & drop but not quite in the realm of coding where I wouldn’t stand a chance lol.

To my website I’ve added ‘Supply Lists’ seven brand new pages showing some of the products I use and can therefore recommend. There’s Graphite & Charcoal, Coloured Pencil, Watercolour & Gouache, Acrylic, Oils, Pastels and Studio Accessories.

Along with a little description and the supply listings, I’ve also included an image on each section showing my recommendations for someone wanting to get started in each medium. Something that I would have found useful when starting out.

On the subject of all things ‘tech savvy’ (well we weren’t but we can pretend can’t we lol) I now have 23 YouTube videos, have plenty more planned too. Here’s a link if you’d like to take a look 👀 My YouTube Channel

I’ve also updated my ‘Commissions’ page which now includes pricing examples and more information than before.

For more Information on Commissions

Those of you who know me well know that I could ramble on for hours, but those of you who don’t know me so well… I’ll spare you that ordeal for now 😉

I’ve so much more to share with you all but I’ll save it for my next newsletters to you.

If there’s anything you’d like me to chat about in particular just let me know. If there’s any subject or mediums that you’d like to see me cover in a YouTube video just let me know too.

So I’ll sign off now, thank you for spending some time with me.

Stay safe and stay creative, Kerry xXx