Christine Macpherson

Christine Macpherson

My name is Christine Macpherson and I am struggling to write an artist’s profile as I do not consider myself to be an artist. Now, I know that people will disagree with my hesitancy and will express the view that if you create art then you are an artist but I feel that I am only part way along that journey. However, I am loving the trip.

I have always enjoyed painting and drawing; indeed I won my first art competition when at high school. Back then  art was not considered as a viable career option, only a pathway to “starving in a garret”. Not that I felt thwarted, I loved the natural world being brought up in a rural part of England, close to the coast. My heroes were Jacques Cousteau, Gerard Durrell and David Attenborough and I was thrilled to work for an honours degree in Zoology. Most of my career was in science teaching, a very creative calling, devising programs, lessons and teaching and learning materials and I still managed to paint a little in the holidays using oils, watercolours and coloured pencil drawing. And then I retired!

YouTube opened up a whole new world of online tutorials and demonstrations in arts and crafts. I went a bit bonkers, and I had to have a go at everything. I joined HBAS a few years ago which encouraged me to focus back on painting and drawing again. I have attended watercolour classes with now retired Caroline Brett and discovered soft pastels with the amazing and generous Bill Kerr. Dabblers on Wednesday nights is a little oasis for relaxed creativity in the middle of the week.

Much of my work in any medium reflects my interest in nature and the environment and turning observations into pieces of artwork is so satisfying. So, I am content to develop my skills as an apprentice, not aspiring to become a master. For me the journey is enough.