A painting journey ..the ups and downs and lessons learnt

So...although I've always painted and created, it was only about 8 years ago that I found myself in a situation where I  was given the opportunity to concentrate on it.
So...there I am...full of enthusiasm...ready to paint...but...then what?
What direction should I take ? 
My thoughts were why limit my choices? (That still stands today) .
I read article after article about the process of learning...each was different..many conflicting !
What should I do ? How do I find my path...my niche...my style? 
****knows!
Well ..first I had to decide on what media I wanted to use. Acrylics...yes...acrylics! Bright , vibrant and colourful! :)
yes....acrylics...crude...course...and hard to blend! :(
Life had taken me on many journeys which resulted in me ending up in South Wales for nearly 30 years. Now , I'm not knocking South Wales but it's industrial and the mining areas have meant that wild flowers etc have not had the chance to establish . This means that it's all a bit bland and colourless. I remember when my daughter was about 14 years old and she embarked on a trip to visit her cousins in Essex and Sussex. I told her that the sky was bluer and the grass was greener. On route she text me and said "you're right! The sky IS bluer and the grass IS greener"  (there is SO much more to all this that I don't intend on going into)
So any way....many years later...I threw a few things into a bag, caught a train and headed back to Sussex  to be with the love of my life (Oh yes, we're married now )
Back to the painting. I couldn't see any reason to limit myself. It was all about exploration .
I had spent many years painting wildlife and animals but my problem was about composition, I could paint the main subject but not able to put it into context.
So..what about landscapes ? Oh God No! looking at art history they all look dull, dark...lifeless.
OK..what about still life? Oh God No! Again...dark and lifeless!
OK..thinks I...what if I make them bright , modern and colourfull?
Perfect!

Still life paintings by Paula Oakley

This all went really well,I really enjoyed putting together a composition and telling a "story" in my paintings . However, although they sold it was to a limited buyer. I'm a prolific painter and I was painting on box canvas with very little space to store them :(
On top of this I started to find that they were being copied and sold on various products  in China . The Chinese do NOT respect copyright and have no worries about selling badly produced products using poor quality images. Many of my paintings had had my signature or watermark removed  !
Oh ..how my blood boiled!!!!!
So...what about people or animals ? Well, this works well for many artists but It's not really for me . Why? First I think that acrylics are a bit too harsh and secondly I don't want to get into painting endless pets or children . This would result in me painting subjects just for the income rather than the pleasure . No no no!
So...back to the landscapes...I've always loved walking, exploring my surroundings.  I'm now living in an area where a 20 mile radius will take me to....the sea...the seaside piers...the Seven Sisters..Ashdown Forest (Home to Winnie the pooh) , the wonderful South Downs ..and views that go on forever!
I will still go back to the still life paintings but whilst I'm still able to climb all those hills and see all those views .............<3 nbsp="" p="">

Acrylic landscapes by Paula Oakley

Over the past years I have learnt many things . Social media is amazing! Approx 40-60% of my sales come from them. 
Competitions are fine but only if you don't pay to enter ( Once they've received your entrance fee they don't care how you fare. Same goes for online galleries.
I've had many paintings featured in art and local magazines...this is great exposure!
Never...never....assume that because you sold "X" amount last year that next will increase!
Each painting is an exploration of colour, style, technique. Each is a personal challenge. Each is a special unique artwork. Each is just another step forward! :)
Each will be ...A little bit brighter....A little bit clearer ..and...A little bit more colourful than real life! 
Happy painting! 

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...."

November has been such a busy month ! Besides completing a few more paintings I have had other things going on   in my world ....
Firstly, my painting "The Ploughing Match " was very kindly included in the November edition of the Sussex Living magazine . This was great as it's distributed in my village and surrounding area.

 Then in between painting I've been making a few things ready for Christmas. I enjoy the challenge of making things out of bits and bobs and it always makes me think of my childhood days, eagerly watching the children's program "Blue Peter" and rushing off to find an empty toilet roll and some sticky back plastic !
My first task was to make a paper mache train. Instead of Christmas crackers this year I thought a bright sparkly train would be more fun as we have 2 young children visiting .  Each truck will hold a bag of  surprise goodies for each person :)

Paper mache Christmas train

I then decided to make something festive to go in the garden. Out came the hammer, nails and tin snips . It didn't take long to find some old pieces of wood and with a bit of paint and added decorations ( made from an old biscuit tin)  this was the result.  I'm going to "plant" them in a large container with some sprigs of holly by our front door... :)

wood scrap snowmen and tree

After all the hammering and sawing I thought I would head off to make something a bit more genteel. A good rummage through my material box resulted in enough oddments to make some Christmas table mats. Our old ones were looking a bit faded and not very festive so I went for a simple tree design that seemed to work rather well :)

Christmas tree table mats

Finally (unless inspiration hits in again) I made a tree topper. I like the old fashioned Father Christmas figures and wanted to make something similar. It's only about 7 inches high so it was a bit fiddly in parts!  I could have used polymer clay for his face but I thought paper mache would be a more traditional material and more challenging (I enjoy a challenge) . I attached his head onto a cardboard cone then added the clothes etc.
He didn't turn out too bad and I learned a lot . It was a fun and interesting project from the initial design to working out the best ways of getting the results I wanted...

Father Christmas tree topper

Soon I celebrate my Birthday and then it will be Christmas...I'm wondering what will be more exciting...the presents or the packaging they come in! Ho ho ho!
   
                                                                            *****

Complete guide to painting in acrylics

On another note I am pleased to announce that my painting "He loves me, he loves me not" has been published in the "Complete guide to painting in acrylics" by Lorena Kloosterboer .... exciting days!

"He loves Me, he loves Me Not..."

The book contains work from 97 artists and is available from Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Painting-Acrylics-Lorena-Kloosterboer/dp/178221187X/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0MGXEQWCFYBG8J14612V