Gemma Louise Haworth
Profile
My name is Gemma Louise Haworth, I grew up on the Isle of Wight, which is a small, very picturesque island off of the south coast of England. My mum is an incredible artist, so growing up I was always surrounded by her creativity. Framed paintings covered the down stairs walls of our house, and huge murals covered both mine and my sisters bedroom walls.
From a very young age I was always creating things, As a kid I used to sit on the top of the sofa for hours trying to draw my mums tropical fish as they whizzed around the tank, I started to read fantasy books and fell in love with dragons, spending weeks trying to draw them off of the covers of the books. My mum always supporting me in my creative exploits wanted to redo the mural on the wall of my bedroom, so to challenge me, she decided that I should do it. So of course there was only one choice for the subject… Dragons and lots of them, it took me weeks, and I was only 13 when I painted it. I was proud of it then and I still am even now, it is still to this day on my bedroom wall back in England.
At school I took art up to GCSE level. The mask I made as part of my examination is still on the art classroom wall even now. But unfortunately after that my art career took a long break. During my A levels and once my working career began I no longer had the time to relax and paint. At the age of 20 my mum bought me an art set for Christmas, and kick started me in the right direction again. From then on I painted on and off in watercolour and acrylic. Until I was 22, when I discovered oil paints and a talent which had remained dormant for years. I just loved them. But they still didn’t fit me quite right. The smells always gave me headaches and the only place I could use them was in the conservatory, which in England for most of the year is absolutely freezing. So I was still searching for my perfect medium, but starting to suspect that there wasn’t one for me.
I was always a landscape artist, until the day I crashed my motorbike, and being really shaken up afterwards, I decided to sit down and try a bit of painting to take my mind off what had happened, and in that moment I created my first abstract.
While I was still living in England, I was involved in several exhibitions, which lead to some very profitable commissions. I met a man who was developing property, in France and he loved my style of abstracts and bought 8 of my paintings and commissioned me to paint 5 more. I finished the commissions, and travelled over to Australia. Unable to take my oils with me I reverted back to my watercolour set. So armed with my paints, pad and brushes I began to explore this amazing country.
I must admit that I did have a few pre conceived opinions of Australia, derived mainly from movies like Jaws and Crocodile Dundee. So as you can imagine I thought I would be arriving in a barren country with rough bush and crocs, snakes and spiders waiting to attack at any moment. And I certainly had no intention of going anywhere near deep water…
But you can imagine my surprise when I found out how beautiful you country really is, as I travelled from Adelaide to where I now live up in the Whitsunday’s, I saw everything, wild bush, lush rolling hills, beaches with sand so white that it squeaked when I walked along, dramatic mountains, green valleys, water so clear and blue that I could hardly believe my eyes. And the plants and wildlife well, what can I say, I am still lost for words about how to describe them even now.
But I have did come to one decision I really missed my oils, being in such an inspirational country without them was terrible. So once I settled in Airlie Beach a year and a half ago. I decided to invest in a new set of oils. And so began my creative Australian adventure. My other half supported and encouraged me completely in all my work. Often buying me materials and taking me to amazingly beautiful and inspiring places. I joke and introduce him as my manager, when I am at art related gatherings. Because I am a bit shy when it comes to talking about my work. But he makes up for the both of us. He talked me into trying my pictures at the local markets, which resulted in quite a few sales and commissions. I have also been involved in a few exhibitions up here involving one for the liquid earth festival, where we had a charity art auction on the opening night, I donated a painting and it raised the second highest amount for the charity. I also received 2nd and 3rd place in the oils section. I have a couple of big exhibitions coming up over the next few months. I am part of the local art group and now have my website up and running, the address is www.glh-art-gallery.com but I must say that the best art thing to happen to me in this country is the discovery of my perfect medium. Genesis, I have a subscription to artist pallet and had spent many hours pouring over the genesis adverts, collecting information about them. So I decided to save up and get the starter set. I spent weeks talking about them, to my partner. He wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince him, or talk myself into getting them. So being his amazingly romantic self, he knew that my birthday was coming up and decided to get them for me. But instead of buying the started set he decided to go for the whole lot the 37 paints in the case with everything I needed. He then proceeded to panic for the next few days hoping that it would arrive in time for my birthday, which of course it did.
He teased me for ages asking me to guess what he had bought me. I really wanted the genesis but didn’t want to get my hopes up. So you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I opened the car door to find a parcel with the word Genesis on it, I screamed out and ran over and jumped into his arms nearly knocking him from his feet. And of course the paints were everything I hoped they would be and more. There is no smell, so no headaches. No mess so I am no longer exiled to the outside of the house. And I just love the way you can blend them. Everyone including myself has said how much I have improved since I began to use them. And properly the best thing for me is the fact that they are so portable. I take them down to the markets, every Saturday and sit there painting, while the public are browsing around my work. I usually get a bit of a crowd standing around watching me paint. I have defiantly received a lot more business since the public are actually able to watch me at work. .
I am just so grateful to both my parents for always supporting me in my painting, and not getting to annoyed when I occasionally got oil paints all over my clothes and bedding. ( I used to come in from work late at night an paint for a bit in my room to relax me before bed. But I am not the neatest of painters, and I did usually make a bit of a mess )
And my partner for without him I wouldn’t be the Artist I am today, he encouraged me and pushed me in the right directions when I was to shy to do it for myself. And my art has come on in leaps and bounds since I met him.
And of course to genesis thank you for creating my perfect medium, I cant wait to see what paintings, I can create now…
Gemma Louise Haworth
Groups
Gemma Louise Haworth is a member of Complex Simplicity of Art, 3D Animals Abound, Abstract Art, Abstracts from Nature, Amateur Photographers' Association, Animal Kingdom, Art of Erotic Visions., Art Students and Beginners, Australian Native Plants, Beach Art, Birds Of Prey (3 per day), Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, Butterflies, Skippers, Moths, & Other Winged Insects, Endangered Species, Everything Winter, Fabulous Flowers, Fantasy Art, Fine Arts, For the Love of Cats , 2 images a day, Masterpiece: Photography, Mother Nature's Finest, Nautical, Sunflowers, The Birds, The Eyes Have It, Tropical Art, Vibrant and Vivid Color, Vibrant Plants, Waterfall Photography and Zoophoria (2 per day, approval required).
