Looking back: celebrating 3 years of Katherine Jones Artist

“This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.” – Maya Angelou

​I’m celebrating my 3rd business birthday!
 
I can’t believe it, but it’s now been three years since I left my part time architecture job to give my full attention to my art venture and became self-employed.
 
I’m incredibly proud of how my business has grown. 

​Before I made the leap, I juggled my architectural work and my art business at the same time, which was full on! Those years saw me freeze at Cardiff Christmas markets, exhibiting at the Kooywood gallery and the London Welsh Centre and trading at several RHS shows.

Here I am at my very first market in Brecon in 2016!

In 2019, after a lot of deep thinking, I made the huge decision to leave my salaried position and go all in with my art. It was exciting, and I loved being self-employed, but then covid hit. All my events were cancelled, I wasn’t eligible for government funding and it was a scary time! I had to do something, so I rallied myself and ran virtual stalls from my kitchen, which were really successful!

Things grew from there and 2020 saw my memory boxes go viral on Twitter thanks to Sian Harries’ commission. That led to me being interviewed on Radio 4, which was amazing.

I didn’t do many physical events in 2021, but I did have some giant versions of my drawings installed on the side of the pavilion in Porthcawl and exhibited my work at Oriel Plas Glyn y Weddw in Llanbedrog, North Wales.

2022 landed with a bang and I stepped things up a gear with a stall at Top Drawer, which was both brilliant and exhausting at the same time, taking a whopping 8 hours just to set up my stall!

A few weeks ago, I won a Cardiff Life Award and then on the eve of my business birthday, I took my work to RHS Malvern, which was a fantastic, vibrant event.

 Thanks so much for your support, it’s been a whirlwind!