I would never have called myself an artist.  I enjoyed dabbling with creativity but could never have called it art.  When I was in primary school, we all had to draw an animal, and I drew a baboon’s face.  The teacher put it up on the wall along with a lot of others.  I should have known something was up when my baboon was stolen, never to be seen again.

That was probably the first and last drawing I ever did until I hit my late 50’s when I decided I’d ‘give it a go’.  I must say “I love YouTube”.  One of the best technologies to have happened in my lifetime.  Clever people love to record themselves being clever and give opportunities to people like me to become clever too.

Due to this ‘training’ I still haven’t been able to claim artist status.  Should you ask me to draw a picture of a cat without having said cat in front of me, you would find it difficult to differentiate the end result with that of a 3-year-old child.

My husband has always had great faith, but he’s supposed to, he’s my husband.  I am chuffed when he likes something though.  I believe he would tell me if it was rubbish.

Then I met Patricia. Who would have thought she and I would click? 

We are two very different beings.  But there it is.  Patricia asked me to accompany her in this exhibition due to my ‘talent’. Who would have thought. 

 She is always full of praise and encouragement and being such a talented artist in her own right, I was thrilled but terrified at the opportunity.  As such a ‘young artist’ I am grateful to her for seeing through my barriers and asking me to share her space.

Sarah-Jane Charlier