Welcome to the Art Cafe!

I've called this blog my 'Art Cafe' because I just wanted it to be a chilled out friendly place where people can look at pictures and cross reference to their own and exchange ideas.

I do a lot of drawing - I find it relaxing and it helps me to switch off. I draw something most days. So I thought that I would create a blog to share my drawing and engage with like minded people - maybe someone will get in touch with me and help me to improve. Maybe I can help someone else.

I draw all kinds of things - but mainly portraits of people in the public eye. I tend to try to draw people who elicit some kind of strong response from me. Sometimes people who I feel negatively about, some who I admire a great deal.

I also tweet a great deal - usually daily - and I share a lot of stuff that I have drawn on there (@PublicPriestley). I love it when people respond and get in touch. 

I enjoy drawing political satire and cartoons. I might do a section just for those. Politically I'm liberal socialist in my outlook, a bit of a lefty - but even if you don't agree with my views, please don't let that stop you from getting in touch about art, or looking at my work for what it is.

I also like writing - and I'm working on my first novel (which at the moment is entitled 'The Devil and the Debt Collector'). I also have a children's story that I wrote for my sons, but I'm struggling to illustrate it. Get it touch if you're interested in getting involved in that.

I just want to get this going so that I can throw things out there and see how (if?) people respond.

All my stuff is drawn on the computer. I use a very cheap piece of software called 'Paint X' (i think I paid £6 for it in the App Store). I use an Apple iMac with a Wacom Stylus. Everything is hand drawn. It took a while for me to get use to the stylus, but I'm pretty happy with it now. I would definitely recommend a Wacom. I'm thinking about upgrading my software to something like Adobe Illustrator - but it's a bit pricey. If you've got any experience with it, let me know.

I'm going to try and group my blog pieces around general themes. I don't know. We'll see how it works out.

If you've got this far, thanks for staying with me. Please do get in touch.