When I was a small child I loved horses. My parents took me to see Whistle Jacket by George Stubbs in the National Gallery and I still remember the first time I saw the painting across the gallery. I was overwhelmed by the drama and power of the image, by the detail evoked in Stubbs’ technique (although I would not have expressed it like that aged five). From that point on I wanted to learn to draw and paint like Stubbs. I wanted to be an artist.

I was obsessed by horses and how I could represent them in drawings and paintings. I don’t draw them anymore and now look at artists such as Chris Ofili rather than Stubbs, but that first impact of a painting has remained with me. I want to make work that has the power and impact of that painting.

Today I do life drawing once a week in the Little Man coffee shop in the Centre of Cardiff. It gives me a chance to think about the form of the human body and I think it improves my overall perception of composition and proportions. What main my interest is at the moment is digital drawing and graphics and how we can use technology to create pictures like landscape drawing of cities. I felt for a long time particularly when I was in university doing fine art that my work wouldn’t really get me a job or lead to anything. But now having done a multimedia course at Media Academy Cardiff I have gained new skills in graphics that have changed the way I think and work. Dropping out of university was a difficult time for me and had a bad impact on my mental health.

What I think has really helped me is the Fair bridge course at the Prince’s trust that has given me confidence going forward looking for other opportunities like the course at Cardiff and vale college. It got me socialising with other young people and took me gauge walking in the freezing cold stream in Brecon. Which was a lot of fun. Joining a sports team at St Albans RFC also gives me a lot of pleasure. In the future, I want to combine photography, painting, and digital drawing together in one image to try and create original work.

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