Do you remember when you were young and people asked you what you wanted to do when you grew up?

Back then, with our young minds and spirits uncrushed we dreamed of being whatever we wanted to be. So many children answered ‘astronaut’ when asked that question, or doctor or pilot or secret agent. Money for studies are of no concern to a child, nor the hours and hard work needed to achieve those goals. We believed that we could ‘do anything’. Early on I wanted to draw and paint (like many young children). Drawing and sketching and doodling have whiled away many an hour of most days throughout my life.

When, at thirteen, I told my parents I wanted to go to art school I was told, uncategorically, that ‘art school’ was for people who didn’t know what they wanted to do in life?! This was surprising considering how my parents felt about ‘art’. My great grandmother in Vienna was a professional illustrator (she even had a piece in a museum) and my great aunt an avid painter. My father was a doctor but he was equally passionate about photography. My mum played the piano very well and worked at the VSO. Music was her passion. She was adamant that we do arts and craft workshops every summer which I loved. Unfortunately my adolescence coincided with my parents divorce.

I was also a great traveller at heart, so I decided to go and see the world.

I left Vancouver at 18 and headed to London. It was the best decision I could have made and I got a different kind of education on the road, abroad and even worked in a world class museum for two years, managing to carve out a fascinating little career for myself without more schooling. But it was hard, and I was poor. It was kind of like living the life of a starving artist. I remember reading by candle light after running out of 50p pieces to feed the electricity meter in my bedsit in Barons Court!

Fast forward to my early thirties when I was an air hostess in London, living the high life. Newly married and trying to have a family I came across a young fashion illustrator drawing on a tablet using procreate, the digital art program. I couldn’t believe how amazing this tool was, basically like an art studio you can travel with. As we were experiencing no luck procreating ourselves I thought why not try my hand at digital procreate.

My sketchpads were eventually replaced with a tablet and a stylet and many more hours whiled away drawing cats.

I eventually left ‘flying’ and started a new life living full-time in Toulouse. I have been writing about Occitanie, the region in South West France, on http://www.mybeautifuloccitanie.com for nearly five years. Being passionate about photography and travel this has been a great adventure.

We never had any luck with traditional procreation and in 2019 we adopted a black cat who as become my muse. I would have rescued more cats but as fate would have it Luna won’t have any other cats in the house.

I now spend most of my time drawing and studying art. I have found a new passion in silk screen printing, drawing in layers on my tablet and printing my designs manually in an atelier, as luck would have it just around the corner.

As Albert Einstein once said “creativity is intelligence having fun”.

I also take part in a solidarity program called Ajudaris donating illustrations for children’s books, written by children. They raise funds for education for the economically disadvantaged.

‘colours of peace’ – not for sale

This is a digital drawing for their last project about peace. My illustration is for a chapter entitled the colours of peace.

This website is a gallery, with my serigraphy prints for sale.

It is also a journal where I will be writing from time to time and uploading my new serigraphy prints.

Be creative and have fun! A bientôt…………Christina