Deryl Williams

Growing up in North Wales, I was a typical pony mad child who would happily work all day long at the local stables in return for a chance to ride my favourite pony. I also made endless drawings of her and her companions.

I loved and excelled at art at school, achieving a grade 1 pass at O Level but then left to pursue a career working with horses, both as a qualified instructor and then later as a groom on the 3 Day Event circuit in the UK and abroad. Fast forward 15 years to marriage and mortgage, I finally hung up my boots and after several re-inventions, I qualified as a nurse.

Art has always been a part of my life to one degree or another but has by necessity always taken second place. In 2019, on impulse, I bought a small set of coloured pencils to create a portrait of my cat. Shortly after I found a local monthly workshop for coloured pencil art and became totally hooked! My cat portrait led to a commission for a friend at work and I haven't stopped drawing since. I have been very fortunate to have a readymade clientele among my wonderful colleagues and this has now spread wider through word of mouth and social media.

My 90 year old father was slowly needing more support from me than I could give working full time and so I retired in February 2023, this initially gave me more time to persue my art, although not quite as much as I had expected for several reasons. I have experimented with other media, but always come back to coloured pencil as my first choice and where I feel my style is most comfortable.

It’s only now with the shadow of my 70th Birthday looming on the horizon that I find myself able start on some of the myriad projects I always had in my head, but actually find myself slightly overwhelmed by where to start! My visit to the wonderful UKCPS silver exhibition at the Mall Gallery has given me the nudge I needed to start creating art for myself alongside my commissioned pieces. Watch this space!