At four years old, I was learning to paint and draw at the same time as read and write, and by the age of eight, had become preoccupied with painting the natural world, normally using the 1950’s watercolour box passed on to me by my mother, which is still in frequent use to this day having accompanied me on my artwork explorations for over half a century now.

Having spent much of my childhood in Carmarthenshire, either on the back of a pony, with a pencil in my hand or my nose in a book (and sometimes all three together...) I passed my student years exploring the wildlife of the derelict areas of Nottingham before completing an honours degree in Illustration at Exeter College of Art & Design.

It was this move to Devon that introduced me to The Undercliff, a unique SSSI on the Devon/Dorset border, where I worked as a volunteer recorder for two years, the results of this research being published as ‘The Undercliff’ by JM Dent, also by a number of other publishers in several American and European translations and editions.

This was to be the first of some twenty or so books that I have illustrated and written, notable titles including ‘West Country Wildlife’ with well known naturalist and author Kelvin Boot and ‘Watching Wildlife’ with author and journalist Geoffrey Young, the founder of WATCH. I’ve made a number of television appearances, and have had artwork exhibited throughout Britain and held in public and private collections world wide. I currently also have a deep involvement with the ongoing development of a new conservation project.

For many decades now I have been privileged to live and work on the Carmarthenshire-Cerdigion border, revelling in the astounding biodiversity of the Teifi valley and continuing to use watercolour as my main painting medium. Never having been a traditionalist, I like to push the boundaries of what I can do with this extraordinarily versatile medium, often combining it with collage and mixed media.

For me, painting is about communication, exploration, discovery and above all, celebration. I’m trying to share the joy I get when I walk out of my door into the amazing world we live in, to share a celebration of the things I encounter in my daily life. My paintings are not about contriving ‘art’ or ‘expressing myself’ - who or what I am, is hilariously and wonderfully irrelevant.

My paintings are simply about celebrating the miraculous in the every day.

www.andieclay.com