About Artist - Mandy McKenna
Welcome
Why I do, what I do!
Artwork inspired by British garden flowers, wildflowers and nature, provide the inspiration behind my colourful, vibrant fabric collections and original artwork.
Colourful designs for interior and exterior projects. Versatile fabrics, for indoor and outdoor areas to decorateand create beautiful impact, wuth homeware and gifts, in a variety of collections.
I discovered, that using colour with my paintbrush, at a very young age, was the beginning of my hand-painted botanical and floral artwork for the future,Mandy McKenna Designs connect.
I merged with my own work with my excisting studio, Firing Earth Pottery and Art Studiowhere you can get creative. I added my own rangesof art and designs several years ago to run alongside.
Today, my floral artwork is found on many projects, in beautiful homes and businesses, alongside
still teaching classes.
A self-taught artist, with huge imagination and ideas. Floral painting, creating repeat patterns, hand painted in watercolour and acrylics on large canvases to filling many sketch books, to enhance, capture and transform spaces
Art to Fabric
How does thst happen?
Discovering how to take my art to print, for fabrics, opened a whole new world.
Luxurious velvets to soft linen fabrics, add style to interior rooms, and finding showerproof fabric for outdoor garden patio fabric for seating, adding functionality, with pretty floral scatter cushions has been so rewarding.
Art inspired to designs, from the flowers that grow in British gardens, bring us natures incredible carpet of flowers, the perfect colour wheel in the garden, the natural repeat patterns, for me to capture with my brush.
Floral designs, soften a space, feed our emotions , encourage warmth and add a little passion.
My collections capture flowers that grow freely, wildflowers and garden flowers, bringing us the bees, our amazing pollinators, essential to our gardens and food sources which keep us healthy.
Designer ranges, bespoke, high end ranges, made personal to you to enjoy, with high quality collections, expressing the beauty of the UK countryside
How my journey started - Spending time on the Cornish coast, during my school holidays, as a child, along side my parents and great aunt,was magical.
My wonderful and vibrant aunt was an oil painter, and this was my summer highlight, to visit her in Cornwall.
Little did I know then, that my great aunt's inspiration, free spirit, confidence to be creative with colour, enabled me to paint from the heart, with passion and style, taking me to where I am today, a very happy Artist.
Fond moments I treasure. My Aunt made me feel I could achieve anything and I am proud of my art today, and my achievements.
I really enjoy teaching my skill set to others, and my artwork mistakes ended up sometimes as my favourite artwork.
There are no mistakes in art just experiences!
*Featured recently in the New Sussex Exclusive Magazine*
When I paint, my confidence appears, and I am back in the fields of poppies, wildflowers and coastal paths, my days with my great aunt, her carpet bag of paint brushes, oils, pastels and pencils, exploring the Cornish coves.
My camera now plays a big part in my creative day, as I enjoy photography, pottery, teaching classes and fundraising for charities, with fun art projects.
One moment I would like to share with you -
A few years ago, I painted and donated an acrylic canvas to raise money for Leukaemia UK, held at The Dorchester Hotel, London. An event called
'Who's Cooking Dinner'
an evening of celebrities, joining together, with a gorgeous dinner cooked by celebrity chefs, and a fund raising auction. My donated painting , dudplsyed in The Dorchester Hotel then sold, and now resides in France, raising funds to the charity. I invited the wonderful and so talented, Dame Julie Walters to visit my studio, and sign the painting before it went to London for auction, she excepted the invitation and I had a wonderful afternoon with her chatting.
Giving back to the community is part of who I am, and I try to help when I can.
I Live and work in West Sussex, from my home studio. My pottery and art studio, Firing Earth, running alongside Mandy McKenna Designs
