Artistic Chicks – The Story So Far!

Ok so I’m not all that into finding out the latest trends in fashion as I just buy what I like the look of in the shop. I’m not going to be telling you what to wear for the rest of the summer nor am I going to be giving you lifestyle advice but we are all good at something and even if you don’t realise it, you have a talent or a skill. You just need to find it. If you’re really good at something and you pursue it, I guarantee you’ll find happiness. So I would like to tell you a bit about me and how far I have come in just over a year with a little project called ‘Artistic Chicks’. And how it has changed my life from very mundane and lacking direction to quite exciting!

The Mona Lisa and The Girl With The Pearl earring as chicks!

A few years ago I had to have an operation around Christmas time. I was feeling pretty depressed. Really depressed in fact. I realised that I had actually been depressed before getting sick but didn’t know it. I didn’t know where my life was going or what the future held.

I was home all the time for a month recovering, I found a box of yellow easter chick’s my sister had bought me the previous year but I didn’t use them. I looked at them again and wondered how they’d actually managed to stay on top of the fridge for a year with my dad around (who likes to throw out anything that isn’t nailed down!)

The following day, an idea came into my head. I was going to get the chicks, bring them with me on a walk and put them on a frozen puddle and pretend they were Ice skating or put them in a tree and pretend they were climbing trees. Pretty random but that’s my mind for you. I did that and posted the pics to twitter and people fell in love with the idea of these little chicks having adventures. Chick Adventures was born! So I started doing more, made my own little sets which got more elaborate over the next few months. Parachuting, Safari, Fishing, The Oscars!

And one of their adventures happened to be an art class with a tiny easel and paintbrush and paints.

I finished ‘Chick Adventures’ not long after as there was a book with a similar idea (but more well done) published in the US about 10 years prior so I was just a little afraid they might be seen by the author and she’d think I copied and I’d be sued. I don’t even know if that’s how it works but I didn’t want to take any chances.

ANYWAY, one day just over a year ago, I found the chicks and the easel I used for the ‘Chick Adventures’ art class. I started painting things like ‘The Scream’ and ‘The Girl With The Pearl Earring’ and other works of art. 

They were basically blobs of yellow with black eyes and a few other colours for clothes and surroundings. I posted these and they were slow to take off (no pun intended) as ‘Chick Adventure’ fans had kind of forgotten about them at this stage and even the people who didn’t, preferred their original work. I then began painting celebrities, and I would tweet the celebs their paintings. I couldn’t believe it when Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitch from Modern Family) retweeted his chick painting and said ‘This is weird and amazing and I love it!’ THAT was the beginning.

I knew I was onto something special. I began to paint many more celebs. Including tv personalities like Steph and Dom from Channel 4’s Gogglebox. I tweeted them the painting and they loved it. They asked for it and of course I sent it. And it now appears on their side table on the show.

The original painting.

The updated painting that now sits on their side table.

The painting beside Steph on the table.

So I was even more motivated and kept going. Some would favourite, lots ignored but people like Jay Manuel from America’s Next Top Model, Courtney Cox, Roseanne Barr, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall, Ricki Gervais and even Nigella Lawson all loved their paintings and it was incredible. It spurred me on to keep the project going.

Over the next year I improved at illustrating and painting with LOTS of practice. Sarah Jessica Parker, Stephen Fry and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark in Game Of Thrones) replied to my tweets of their paintings and they all loved them. Which never ceases to be amazing!

Then I got an email from Louise Johnston at ‘Lovin Trends’ who came across the ‘Artistic Chicks’ instagram account and wanted to do a feature on them. People actually wanted to feature them? AMAZING! I started painting things like famous works of art and these were really popular.

The post got them lots of new followers on instagram and they are growing in popularity by the day.

I’ve since been invited to exhibit the art at the Irish Blogger Conference in The Radisson Hotel in Dublin which was a brilliant experience and I met loads of lovely people.

and now RSVP Magazine are adding me to their ‘One To Watch’ section. I never envisioned any of this a year ago and it’s great to be getting some recognition in an Irish magazine.

It’s all going from strength to strength and I couldn’t be happier right now! I’ve found a path in life that I know is the right one for me. ART! I just wanted to share this story with you all to maybe inspire or give some of you who may be going through a difficult patch in their life some motivation and a message that you are special, you have talents, things WILL get better. I’m nothing special, I’m just someone who had a simple idea and ran with it. You have the power within yourself to do the same and surprise yourself but you just need to find out what you are good at and DO IT!