As a child, in my home country of Kenya, I used to create watercolor birthday and holiday cards for friends and family using ordinary student watercolors and paper. Many of these materials I sourced from the student bookshop that had the simplest of art materials. I enjoyed creating those cards immensely (and I still do to this day! - I include a thank you card with every painting I sell). I further buttressed this experience by visiting and borrowing just about every art history volume from the British Council library in Nairobi. I was struck by the incredible realism of...more
