F E AT U R E
Window shopping – Lucy outside her
eye-catching Richmond gallery.
Stepping stones – artist Lucy has
earned herself an internationally-
renowned reputation in just a few years.
“I had always spent the holidays drawing and painting, and
I was getting a bit of a following and quite a bit of interest. But
would I have the guts to do it? I had a mortgage to pay – could
I throw it away on the idea of becoming a professional artist?”
She rented her house out, sold her car and at the age of 30,
took the plunge and took herself off around the world. The trip
proved to be life-changing in more ways than one.
“You could say it was a bit of a delayed gap year,” she smiles.
“I didn’t know which path I was going to take or where the
journey was going to take me. I ended up going to Peru first
and it was a shock to the system – I remember sitting in a hotel
room when I arrived thinking ‘What have I done?’. I almost
turned around but then I thought ‘There’s a reason you’re here,
follow your instinct’.
“And I’m glad I did. I travelled on to places like Japan,
Malaysia and Thailand, and it really set me back on the road,
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got my head together again and gave me a focus.”
She taught English to students on her travels and really
enjoyed it. She came back to the North-East with the aim of
heading back out to Vietnam to teach – but Cupid’s arrow
struck instead.
She hadn’t seen Neil for 10 years – the pair had dated as
teenagers – but they met up for a cup of coffee and that was
that. She never got to Vietnam.
So where does the artist part come in?
Neil had a business and needed help so Lucy pitched in.
They moved into a farmhouse home and the twins followed
but the dream never went away. When the children went to
school full-time, Lucy decided she would throw herself in to
becoming a professional artist and Neil backed her all the way.
“I said when the kids go to school full-time, that’s it, I am
going to throw myself into becoming an artist. My husband