I have always loved the concept of 'musing' One of the questions I get a lot is what the name Makings & Musings means. Did you know that 'to muse' is a verb?  The dictionary describes to muse- the verb as "to think about something carefully and for a long time' or as 'meditation'." and off course a Muse is also a noun: 'an imaginary force that gives you ideas and helps you to write, paint, or make music, or a physical representation of this force'  This makes Makings & Musings a combination of making things and being present in the moment - I want to be the creative force that helps you on your art journey!

The Makings & Musings Creative community is a place to find inspiration, to learn about all things creative, to share art and to come together and create as a community. You can find all details about the Makings & Musings creative community here

Yes I do :) teaching mindful art classes for groups and at events is actually how Makings & Musings started. I have a whole range of different classes that I can offer in various price ranges and I can teach both online or in-person. You can find more info here: https://www.makingsandmusings.com/group-bookings

You can find all my creative courses here: https://www.makingsandmusings.com/online-courses At the moment all my courses are available for you to join in your own time.

I make illustrations for books, websites, products, murals and window designs. I love working with businesses with a social or environmental positive impact and I am always happy to have a chat about what it is you are looking for. You can find my portfolio with previous projects here: Folio. Please email me with the details.

I sometimes draw take on these type of personal illustrations but only a few times a year as I am spending most of my time of larger projects and creating courses for you all. Feel free to ask though, If I have time I might take on your commission. If you follow me on social media you will see in my announcements when I open my portrait commissions. you can find me on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingsandmusings/ and on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/makingsandmusings and since recently on TikTok: https://www.facebook.com/makingsandmusings

Yes, I take on these type of commissons on occasion (when I have the time). I love creating something personal and special for you. The best thing to do is to email me with the details of what you are looking for. I need to know the date of when it needs to be ready, the occasion, theme and style you are looking for. You can find some of me previous work here. Prices start from £250 for a design

I love experimenting with all sorts of creative materials. with Makings and Musings I focus on painting and drawing but I also work in needle crafts (macrame, knitting, crochet, embroidery) and I love trying out all arts and crafts supplies. In my Creative Community there is a group where we talk about all types of art materials and this is the space to ask questions regarding materials. When you are joining one of my courses you will receive details about what you need for that course. if you have a material already and you would like me to create a workshop or course with it, let me know. I am always happy for new inspiration and if I know people want to learn something specific I can add it to my to-do list. A list of materials that I use a lot are: Paper: a moleskine watercolour sketchbook Bockingford cold pressed paper Painting: Winsor and Newton Gouache Brushes from proarte masterstroke Travelset watercolours Drawing: derwent procolour colour pencils Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils Tombow Mono Erasor willow charcoal compressed charcoal For filming I use: Overhead Tripod Camera, Canon For digital art I use: procreate app adobe photoshop adobe illustrator affinity designer affinity photo apple Ipad with apple pencil *Many links are affiliate links. If you choose to buy anything through these links, I'll make a small commission at no extra cost to you :) Thanks for your support!

No, I am self taught. I studied law originally and even did a masters in human rights and international law but art and creativity have always been my passion.

I have always been creative and used to draw and paint a lot as a child. My first comission was in 2018 for a book cover. At that time I worked in an office still and I made that illustration for fun, not realising that it would set me on a path of becoming a full-time artist. This is an old drawing that I found recently. (not the book cover!)

I would just say do it! So many people let fear and perfectionism stop them. I do not think you are ever completely ready to start a business and you learn so much from doing it in practice so just get started and take it from there. That said, there are lots of ways to start your creative business without having to jump in completely. You can start as a side business, keep a part time job and see how that goes first. there is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping a safety net and that way keeping the pressure on your business a bit down for a while. I would also say just to practice and create lots! It is ok to make bad drawings, trerrible paintings and lots of mistakes as that is how you learn. Do not give up when your work is not as 'good' as you want it to be.

I get many questions about procreate and drawing on an Ipad. I might create a procreate course one day but for now just a few points: You do not need an Ipad pro to use procreate. Procreate is supported on the following Ipad models (copied from procreate website) I would recommend using an apple pencil (1st or 2nd generation) as it is very hard to draw without a stylus. I used an Ipad 6th generation for ages and I even created commissioned illustrations on there and it worked absolutely fine. 12.9-inch iPad Pro (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th generation) 11-inch iPad Pro (1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation) 10.5-inch iPad Pro 9.7-inch iPad Pro iPad (9th generation) iPad (8th generation) iPad (7th generation) iPad (6th generation) iPad (5th generation) iPad mini (6th generation) iPad mini (5th generation) iPad mini 4 iPad Air (5th generation) iPad Air (4th generation) iPad Air (3rd generation) iPad Air 2