Little Tinker Art

Hello and welcome to my website! My name is Hannah and I am a self-taught artist living in West Wales. By day I am a forester, working in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion but in the evenings I draw. 

 I grew up on a smallholding, in the Gwili valley, with dogs, sheep, goats, cats, chickens, a woodland and, of course, the river Gwili. Having an arty, outdoorsy family, my days were spent roaming fields and woodland, watching my grandfather write or draw,  watching my mum and Gran knitting or helping my dad on the farm.

Having no patience for knitting, I naturally fell into art. My first drawing at school, of which I was incredibly proud, was of one of our goats...going to the toilet! I'm not sure the teacher thought it was as great as did 5year old me. 

Growing up, I always enjoyed sketching and painting, trying my hand at many different subjects and media over the years with horses always being my firm favourite. After having my children I returned to college studying first animal care, pet management and wildlife rehabilitation. I then went on to qualify as a primary school teacher but decided to work in outdoor education, hopefully passing on my love of the environment to the next generation. I joined the Forestry Commission in 2007 and this led to me studying Forestry in the University of Cumbria. Absolutely nothing to do with art but everything to do with outdoors. 

Art, animals, wildlife and the environment have always been my passions. Raising a family, college studies and working, naturally meant I had less time for art but I would still dabble now and then. After my children left home, I became busier with my day job and martial arts training in the evenings, plus of course with my beloved dogs and horses. 

During the pandemic of 2020 I suddenly found myself at home 24 hours a day, as my office had shut and we all became home-workers. I counted myself very fortunate to live where I do, spending my time with the animals, in the glorious weather that came along in those scary days. With more time on my hands, I returned to a life that was very similar to my childhood - dogs, horses, outdoors and drawing. Life had previously been too busy with all the daily happenings but now I had free time, for the first time since my early 20s! I dug out my art box and there was a new set of Derwent pastel pencils laying at the bottom (how long they had been there I do not know, more than 5 years I would imagine, probably closer to 10).  I decided to give them a try...and now here we are.

I absolutely love the rich colours and the depth the pastels give to my drawings. I still have my original set, those pencils are a lot shorter than they were in 2020, but they have been joined by  other sets, much appreciated Christmas and Birthday gifts. 

My 'studio' is in my front room, on an art table (discovered on eBay for £10 , and delivered by my son - got to love a bargain right?) and I spend evenings and rainy weekends surrounded by my dogs, busily drawing away.  

I find art is soothing, when I am drawing I put on some music and switch off from the stresses of everyday life, getting lost in the colours and textures as they unfold under my pencils.  When I step back and look at the picture I never tire in the sense of pleasure i get from seeing someone's beautiful animal looking back, instead of that plain piece of paper I started with. 

Thank you for looking at my site