John-Paul Flintoff

Mental breakdown: that's what got me back to art.

When I was 14, I won a prize for adult painters. I thought my art career was guaranteed. But for years I earned a living from other things - journalism, writing books and performance.

In psychiatric hospital, in 2018, I used art to understand what was happening to me. People told me it was powerful, and could help others.

Since then, I've shown my art online and in real life, often telling stories while I show as many as 250 people gathered together at a time. I've started to become relatively successful with my art - something I'd almost given up on.

One of the people most helpful to my recovery had cancer. She told me I must have an exhibition before she died. I didn't manage it - not quite. I'm determined to make up for lost time.

I love drawing from life, but also from my imagination. I work fast, to keep the style loose and energetic. I paint with oil and acrylic, but mostly I sketch with pen, and wash it with watercolour or digitial colour.

As an artist who is also a writer, I love images that illustrate metaphors or stories.

Thank you for reading.

Hampstead School of Art, 2003 to 2009.
University of Bristol.
Holland Park Comprehensive School, London.

2020
Online exhibition of portraits drawn from life at Hampstead Parish Church, north London.
The original exhibition, in real life, was cancelled due to Covid-19.
Comprised 35 portraits of parishioners and clergy, sketched in a variety of places around the church.