AJMAYART

This store is the latest step in my Art adventure. I started drawing as a kid because I loved it, making pictures for friends and family as a way of showing I cared. Striving to make those picture as good as I could led me to agonise over my work. I think that's where my perfectionism and attention to detail started. I discovered a love of the natural world and have reflected that in my work ever since. Every picture is personal, relevant and means something to me or the person I make it for, usually both. Every picture matters. I didn't get to art college, and haven't always worked in the arts but I have incorporated art into my life wherever possible. Making and selling art as a student, developing my love for pen and ink by creating black and white wildlife drawings for a Shropshire conservation magazine, running ceramics workshops at Iron Bridge Museum, selling artwork at the Edinburgh Fringe, and spending 20 years on and off working with Mosaic Artist Andrew Logan, running his Museum /Gallery, facilitating workshops, organising Arts festivals and exhibitions. All the time creating my own art work to sell as, when and where I could. Finally I began my own art business. I got a logo and email address, made an Etsy shop, face book page, Instagram account, and my own little website, all with varying degrees of success, frustration and lots of "lessons"! Time to reflect recently has led me to rediscover my love for soft pastel and I have started challenge myself a bit more in terms of subject and process. I spent a lot of time and money creating merchandise with my images and selling it locally at shows, markets, in shops and galleries, but the tiny margins and the hours of work involved, along with it keeping me from creating new artwork meant I decided to stop this side of my business a couple of years ago. When I found Zazzle it was the perfect opportunity to return to creating merchandise from my pictures whilst focusing on what I love most, making art.