Hi, just a little background on my journey to becoming an artist.
Born in Bury St Edmunds Hospital on 17 October 1953, I lived in a small cottage with my mother, father and sister.
My interest in art stems back to my early years at school. It was a subject that I found easy to master; drawing cars, lorries and aeroplanes. I was lucky to have a loving childhood, a fun time. I left school at 16 years and went straight into work as a saw doctor. I did not enjoy this, so then I went for an apprenticeship as a carpenter and joiner, which I served for five years and passed my City & Guilds. At the age of twenty-one I got married and two years later we had a lovely little girl called Jaime Lee, the next ten years were really good, but sadly at the age of thirty, my wife passed away and I was left with my little girl. These were hard times but as you do, you carry on and survive.
I was unable to get out much to socialise but I did join a theatre group of which I am still a member. I also taught myself to play the saxophone and to write and transpose music. I have played all over East Anglia. It’s a great buzz entertaining people.
Now to tell you about my art today: I am pleased to say I have improved from the days of drawing cars and lorries that I can remember were made up of straight lines (I was only five). My first attempt was a nude inspired by Jack drawing Rose from the film Titanic, after that I drew everything I could. Most were not good, but every now and again I got it right. I studied for three years just on figures.
Colour was the next step, so I bought a set of watercolours and brushes. Then I started working on my first painting. It still wasn’t good, but the second one was a great
Graham Blackburn
improvement, so I painted with watercolours for a year. Then I tried acrylic on canvas. My first portrait was Jaime; it was a good result and the second canvas was a ballet dancer. About three months later I bought some oils. Now I loved everything about these – how you can work on wet for hours, blending colours. I started art around fourteen years ago and for a past nine years have shown in many galleries.
For me, being an artist is all about passion and if there is no passion there’s no image. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that I have artwork on walls all over the world, which people like the images I produce – whether it is seascapes or dances, people playing all types of musical instrument, animals, portraits of men and women.
So to sum up, my work is all about the passion to paint an image that can be cherished for years to come. So if you find yourself in the town of Beccles, please pop in and see my works and all of the fine artwork on the walls of The Upstairs Gallery.